West Sylvan Middle School

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Greetings, West Sylvan families!

Our winter weather has added some excitement and forced some adjustments this week, and we thank our families for your flexibility during these times! We have a longer weekend ahead to honor Dr. King, and some exciting winter weather to accompany that time! We appreciate all families who have engaged in conferences with our Educators this week, either in-person or virtually, depending on your preferences. Some families have scheduled time for next week, and we hope that the time is helpful and provides an opportunity to learn more about your student’s experiences in classes. If any of the winter weather impacts our scheduled times on January 16th, in particular, our Educators will reach out with alternatives.

Winter Conference Dates
(Educators have already scheduled. If you haven’t scheduled a meeting,
and still need to connect, please email any Educators directly):

Tuesday, January 16th:

IN-PERSON at West Sylvan from 4:30pm - 7:30pm

Thursday, January 18th:

VIRTUAL from 4:30pm - 7:30pm

We hope you have a wonderful and safe longer weekend!

Jill Hunt, Principal
Ben Keller, Assistant Principal

JANUARY

Mon, JAN 8th ~ Fri, FEB 2nd: MAP Winter testing in English and Math classes
Mon, JAN 15th: NO SCHOOL / Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Wed, JAN 17th: Winter Choir Concert at Valley Community Presbyterian / 7:00PM-8:00PM
Thu, JAN 18th: Band & Choir Winter Concerts at WSMS Lower Gym / 7:00PM
Thu, JAN 25th: TWO HOUR Late Start for morning MS Staff Professional Development / *School doors open for students at 11:00AM (no Zero period Choir or Jazz Band)
Fri, JAN 26th: End of Quarter 2 and Semester 1
Mon, JAN 29th: NO SCHOOL for Students due to Teacher Planning Day
Tue, JAN 30th: Quarter 3 / Semester 2 begins

All Seventh Grade students are invited to the FREE Pack Party on Friday, February 9th from 7:00PM - 9:00PM at WSMS in the Gym. No outside guests are allowed to attend, and the party is only for WSMS Seventh Graders. There will not be food served at the event, so students should eat dinner prior to coming.

We have communicated that all students are eligible to attend, unless any the following apply:

Parent/Guardian has NOT completed the registration and family consent form by the day of the event
Student has received Stage 2/3 referrals between next week and the event
Student has a formal suspension from class between next week and the event
Student has any other safety violation which will make their attendance unsafe
Student has been home absent from school or skipped any classes on the day of the event

REQUIRED DISTRICT MAP TESTING

District MAP testing (Measures of Academic Progress) for the Winter test will occur between January 8th - February 2nd and is REQUIRED for all students - NO opting out. Students have started to test in their ELA and Math classes again for comparative data between the Fall scores and their Winter scores to measure any growth they have shown. Students who are absent during testing will be expected to complete makeup testing upon return. Tests typically take 2-3 class periods per subject. Students should take these tests seriously, as MAP testing data is also a crucial piece for any TAG referrals/requests, Math acceleration requests, for placement in High School courses, and possible interventions if needed. Students can prepare at home through the following portal. If you would like to help your student prepare for District MAP testing while at home, links are here.

Congratulations to Mr. Arce’s Band Students and Mr. Hellman’s Choir Students!

The following students have been invited to attend the Oregon All State Band and Choir for 2024!

Band students:

Clea Drasen-Pellicier

Yui Naka

Choir students:

Frances McCullar

Raegan Boderman

Francesca Linhares

Caroline Straiko

Aidan Tallent

Etienne Elliot

Congratulations to Ms. Larsen’s Art Students!

Several work samples have been selected from Ms. Larsen’s Art classes to be showcased at the next Superintendent’s Gallery Rotation Event on Tuesday, January 16th, celebrating the artistic talents of students in the Franklin, Lincoln, and McDaniel clusters. All interested community members are invited to attend and view some exceptional artwork!

STAFFING UPDATES

At the start of the second semester, Miledy Rincon Garcia will be joining us as our 8th grade DLI Educator, moving to Portland just recently from Columbia to join our team! This has been an exceptionally hard position to hire for, and we are confident that we are bringing in a qualified Educator for our DLI 8th graders! We are so grateful for all of the family support since Ms. Ashcraft’s departure in October!

Our Leadership class, with Ms. Lacaden, is hard at work creating this year’s Yearbook for WSMS. All sales of yearbooks will be pre-ordered directly through an outside company, and will not be purchased through the school. To pre-order this year’s book, go to: yearbookordercenter.com and enter the code 6339. Pre-order cost is $30. The price will increase as we get closer to the deadline. PRE-ORDER TODAY to get the early pricing!

HIRING OPENINGS

Our staffing outlook is improving substantially, and we are almost fully staffed! We now need just two more Paraeducators to complete our staffing for the remainder of the school year. To apply for these Paraeducator openings, the link is below.

We still have two open Paraeducator positions, one that is in our SPED Intensive Skills Classroom. The other position will be to support a student in all classes and around campus. These are full-time positions from 8:30AM - 4:00PM, Monday - Friday. Interested applicants can apply here.
We are always looking for Substitutes who like working in our building! To become a substitute, the information is here.

Interested in Volunteering and Being More Involved?

Become an approved PPS volunteer by following the information here. Once your application is approved, please contact the Main Office to see how and when you can be of service. Our Friends of West Sylvan organization also regularly shares ways to get involved on campus, specifically to volunteer in the Library, monitor hallways, help in the Main Office, help in classrooms, and do recess duty.

EARLY STUDENT PICK-UP

Please make every effort to pick up students before or after their grade-specific Lunch period (see below). Once students are scattered around the field playing at recess, picking up during Lunch recess becomes more timely for all involved. Please do not call or text your student to tell them you are here or to tell them to come to the Office. If a student uses their device to check a text and/or answer a phone call, their phone will be confiscated.

6th Grade LUNCH: 11:37 AM ~ 12:07 PM

7th Grade LUNCH: 12:31 PM ~ 1:01 PM

8th Grade LUNCH: 1:25 PM ~ 1:55 PM

~ SCHOOL DOORS OPEN AT 9:00AM DAILY ~

Breakfast is available in the hot lunch room at that time. With the colder weather, we are having students who are dropped off early sit in the hot lunch room until 9 a.m. so that they are not sitting in the cold outdoors. Students with Choir before school (appears as period 0 on StudentVue), start school at 8:00 AM each day. Students should ring the bell upon arrival.

CHROMEBOOK REPAIRS

Ms. Crombie accepts Chromebooks for repairs between 10:00AM - 3:00PM each day. Damaged devices are picked up for repair each Friday, and are usually returned the following Friday. A loaner Chromebook can be issued to students in the meantime. Remind and encourage your student to take care of their Chromebook, and keep them in protective cases. If they don’t have a protective case, the school can provide one. Chromebooks are used for class assignments daily. Students will need to charge their device each night and bring their charged Chromebook to school each day. We do not have enough loaners to give to students who forget their chromebooks. Students and families will be responsible for paying for replacements for lost chargers throughout the 2023-24 school year. They will be ordered through PPS OTIS, and cost $12/each.

STUDENT ID CARDS

Please remind your students to bring and wear their school ID daily. We’ve shared out many ways that our students can be safe by displaying their IDs throughout the day through our Advisory videos. IDs are used on campus for quickly identifying students (this is especially helpful for Substitutes). Students use them to check out library books and to buy hot lunch. Bus drivers also look for student IDs to be sure that students are on the correct route.

FOOD DELIVERY SERVICES

We do NOT allow students to order items directly from delivery services throughout the day, as they are inviting strangers to our campus, and we have no way of monitoring what they are delivering. There is an unfortunate option where students can order illegal items, such as VAPE devices through delivery services. Students are reminded of this school policy regarding food delivery services when it is violated, and items are held in the office for end-of-day pickup. Family members are also notified when this occurs.

MONTORING SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITY

If you have chosen to give your student a cell phone, please actively monitor their social media accounts and messaging activity. Nearly every single school discipline issue on campus has started with social media posting outside of school. This is another reason that our cell phone policy exists, as we don’t want students engaging in cyber-bullying and cyber-harassment throughout their school day. Set up parental controls where they can only access their phone during certain times, if you are allowing these devices.

ELECTRONICS POLICY

WSMS is a cell phone free zone from 9:00 AM - 3:45 PM daily. We request and advise all families to keep scholars’ cell phones at home during the school day. If a scholar brings a cell phone to school, they will be expected to store their turned-off phone in their locker throughout the entire school day (including lunch periods). Important messages can be sent to our main office via email (westsylvanoffice@pps.net) or phone, and will be forwarded to your scholars. Please do not call or text your student. If your scholar chooses to use their cell phone, smart watch, air pods, tablet, et al, the device will be confiscated. If your scholar uses their device to check a text from and/or answer the phone from you, their phone will be confiscated. Not only will their phone be confiscated, it shows you do not find this school rule important. This sets a bad precedent.

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