Dowling Newsletter - November 21, 2025

Dowling Newsletter

Friday, November 21, 2025

From the Office

Reminder: There will be no school November 26-28th for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Last call for Lost and Found! Please pick up any items by the end of the day on Monday. Otherwise, they will be washed and donated. 

Attendance & Dismissal Information

Attendance line 

*THE ATTENDANCE NUMBER 612-668-9814 IS NO LONGER WORKING*

To report a student's absence, please either:

• Call 612-668-4410 and choose option 1
• Email mps.dowling@mpls.k12.mn.us

In the message, please leave the following information:

• Student’s first and last name, spell the last name
• Your name and relationship to the student
• Reason for absence
• If absence is due to illness, please leave the student's symptoms so we can track trends in our community.

You can also notify us of early pickups or changes in dismissal, if done before noon.

Dismissal Changes

If you have a change in your dismissal for the day, please try to let the school know by 12:00 pm, either by contacting your teacher or the main office.

After 12:00 pm, please call the main office, and we will relay the message to your student's teacher. We understand that emergencies happen, but please do your best to call before 3:30 PM - after that time, it can be difficult to contact teachers, and we can't guarantee that messages will be received. 

If you call the office and get voicemail, please leave your student's name, their teacher's name, and their dismissal change. 

Early Pick Up

If possible, please notify the school in advance by contacting your student's teacher or the main office. You can park in front of the building and enter at door 1 and meet your student in the main office. 

• Main office: (612) 668-4410
• Email: mps.dowling@mpls.k12.mn.us

Dowling Wishlist

Please check out the Dowling wishlist. We’d be very grateful for any donations!

From Afterschool - Youth Enrichment   

(also known as Community Education and Afterschool) 

NO after-school classes November 24-26th (Thanksgiving Week)

WINTER: Session 2 is opening soon! 

• Paper FLYER go home on Monday, November 24th.
• Online Registration opens on THURSDAY, December 4th at 6:00 pm 
• If you need help registering or need a paper registration form, call or email.
• Afterschool Transportation request deadline: December 16th at 12 pm

Session 1: October 20-December 17

Session 2: January 12-March 4

Session 3: March 16-May 13 

Calendar: link 

*Questions for Nicole Melendez, Coordinator 

nicole.melendez@mpls.k12.mn.us

612-668-4444

Se habla espanol 

Dowling PTO

November and December at a Glance

11/25- Community service event in cafeteria 8:15-9am

11/26-11/28- No school for Thanksgiving 

12/2- Constitutional Observer Training 6-8 pm

No PTO meeting in December

Community Service Event

Join us from 8:15-9 am in the cafeteria on Tuesday, 11/25 for a community service event where we will put together bagged lunches for a nearby shelter for unhoused neighbors. All additional supplies and funds raised will go towards classroom snacks at Dowling. Opportunities for donating supplies or signing up to attend can be found here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0F4EA5AD2AA7F58-60513102-brown

Constitutional Observer Training

Dowling PTO invites you to join community members from other southeast schools and the immigrant defense network for a constitutional observer training; we will learn how to help and support our immigrant community members in these difficult times, and how to talk to our kids about what’s happening. Tuesday December 2nd 6-8PM. RSVP here:

https://secure.ngpvan.com/JctBAagLvkaQ0zcMvSQX_A2

Give to the Max for PTO

Yesterday was Give to the Max Day in Minnesota and we are so grateful for those who generously supported Dowling PTO! Even though the event was yesterday, we are still accepting donations for one of our most impactful fundraisers of the year. 

Donations of any size make an impact. As a PTO, our collective effort sustains a steady, one-stop resource that Principal Page, teachers, staff, and our community can depend on. 

Your contributions work in big and small ways: from big annual community-building events to quieter offerings, like ESTEAM grants and reimbursing teachers for out-of-pocket expenses. We’re there for Dowling Families on their first day (ready with a cup of coffee and moral support at Tears and Cheers) all the way through 5th Grade Graduation.

Combining your efforts with other Dowling Families goes a long way! You can contribute via the Dowling PTO Fundraiser on GiveMN.org or via https://givebutter.com/pto_gtmd25 or mail a check to Dowling Parent Teacher Organization, 3900 W. River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55406.

Thank you for your support!

Read-a-thon Update

We've started planning Dowling's Read-a-thon, a schoolwide event that encourages reading while also raising funds for the PTO!

The Read-a-thon will be Feb. 6-27. This year's theme is “The Case of the Missing Read-a-thon,” and the fun starts with a kickoff celebration at school. Each student will get a free Read-a-thon T-shirt and an envelope to track the minutes they read.

The envelope also includes information about collecting pledges for reading. This is the PTO's largest fundraiser and helps fund grants for teacher supplies, classroom trips, and more. Fundraising is not required to participate. All students who turn in an envelope at the end of the Read-a-thon are eligible for raffle prizes.

The Read-a-thon wraps up with a schoolwide celebration in the spring, classroom prizes, a prize for the top class by minutes read for K-2nd grade and for 3rd-5th grade, and certificates for the top 5 readers per grade.

We'll share more details as the event gets closer – watch this newsletter for updates!

Fridays “Stay to Play on the Ramps” from 4:05-5:00 p.m.

Join us for Friday Fun on the Ramps Playground after school to play and catch up with friends. Many thanks to parent volunteer Katie Murray for coordinating this event again!

MembershipToolkit

To get information from the PTO and connect with other families, you'll need to register or update your profile on Membership Toolkit. The district can't share your information, so this is the only way to be included in the school directory and receive important updates.

Register here: https://dowlingpto.membershiptoolkit.com