As kids head back to the classroom this month, parents and community members are invited to take an active role in neighborhood public schools. Nearly all of them will host an open house or back to school night soon. A schedule of those events for some area schools follows.

If you do not see your neighborhood school on this list, call the office to find out when its open house will be and get involved.

Wednesday, Aug. 31
Russell Academy, 2700 NE 127th Ave., 6 to 7 p.m. Ice cream will be served.
Shaver Elementary, 3701 NE 131st Place, 6 to 8 p.m.

The August issue of the Mid-county Memo is posted online. A re-cap of its content follows …

This month’s issue has a front page feature story about the Native American Youth and Family Center housed in an old elementary school on Columbia Blvd. in east Portland.

Lee Perlman pens a piece about the results of the recently revived Barn Bash, a western style party that was annually held at Rossi Farms in Parkrose for ten years before it ended in 2007, is the subject of the second story on this month’s front page.

March 2011 Mid-county Memo online edition re-cap

The March issue of the Mid-county Memo was posted online last week. This month’s issue has stories about Portland City Council’s Citywide Tree Project hearing; an interview with Don Grotting, new David Douglas School District Superintendent; Fir Ridge Campus’ African American Family Night; CherryWood Village’s ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating Oregon’s largest senior retirement community solar array; Mid-county Memo founder Tom Pry’s obituary and photos of last month’s one-day snow event Thursday, Feb. 24.

And, as always, the informative departments: Memo Calendar, Memo Pad, Business Memos, Memorable Menus, Letters to the Editor and Loaves & Fishes’ monthly menu.

Oh, and for your (additional) information, the online Memo Calendar has listings unpublished in the regular newspaper edition.

A recap, with links, to the online version of the June issue of the Mid-county Memo follows:

June’s front page says Elmer’s Restaurants in affiliation with the Rose Festival Association, are bringing back the popular Rose Meal. Every day during the 2010 Rose Festival celebration — May 22 through June 13 — Elmer’s Restaurants will donate 20 percent of all proceeds from their special Rose Meal menu in support of the Portland Rose Festival Foundation.

Also on the front page is Lee Perlman’s report on last month’s Portland Plan workshop at David Douglas High School in outer east Portland.

The June 2009 edition of the Mid-county Memo has also, after being sedulously delivered by the United States Postal Service,  been posted online.

Gracing this issue’s front page are the gracious ladies of the Elkettes, a 50-member strong ladies auxiliary of  the Gateway Elks

The four-story, 180,000 square foot new medical pavilion at Adventist Medical Center in east Portland opened last month.  Read Lee Perlman’s first-hand account of the dedication ceremony.

David Douglas School District’s  Fir Ridge Campus is featured in a story  by Heather Hill about  its annual Leadership Conference

Families in the outer east Portland community are invited to a afternoon of free food, fun and entertainment, along with an opportunity to learn about resources available to them in Mid-county.

The David Douglas School District and Fir Ridge Campus host their 5th Annual East County Resource Fair from 2-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 at David Douglas High School’s Fir Ridge Campus, 11215 S.E. Market St. Featuring performers, artists and representatives from several local nonprofit agencies.

Two free orientations on affordable home ownership will be hosted by Portland Community Land Trust. An orientation will be held in English from 4-5 p.m., and repeated in Spanish from 5-6 p.m.