Dear Longfellow Community, 

I’m writing with the great news that we received an official certificate of occupancy from the City of Portland on Aug. 25  for Longfellow Elementary School for key areas of the school that have been under construction. The building is ready to welcome students in grades 1-5 back on Wednesday, Sept. 6, and pre-K and kindergarten students on Sept. 7, as scheduled.  

This means that the interior phase of the Longfellow renovation project is now complete, except for some “punch-list” items (any corrections, alterations, or repairs). This ongoing work and setup should have little impact on students’ experience at the school next week.  

We want to thank everyone involved for all the hard work that has gone into getting the school ready for students, including the outdoor garden space. We also want to remind the Longfellow community that the exterior site work on the building is expected to continue until the end of October.  

We appreciate the ongoing patience and understanding of staff, students and families as we near the final goal of making Longfellow a building that is better reflective of a 21st-century learning environment.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Principal Nicole Bradeen can be contacted at braden@portlandschools.org and our Executive Director for Operations, Dr. Sarah Warren, can be reached at warres@portlandschools.org.

Sincerely, 

Ryan Scallon, Ed.D. 
Superintendent