Illahee Middle School

Illahee families,

I hope this past week has brought you health and well-being! As we near the end of our school year, the reality of our remote learning is really sinking in. I keep thinking about our outgoing 8th graders and how much I looked forward to celebrating the end of their tenure at Illahee with our community! Although we won't be able to gather together in our gym to celebrate our future high schoolers, we are working hard to create a virtual ceremony that will be sent out to our 8th graders and their families. We will share more information about the virtual ceremony soon!

We continue to track student engagement during remote learning time. Last week, 81% of our scholars engaged with remote learning in some capacity. We are grateful for so many of our students that are showing up to class Zoom meetings, turning in work on Canvas, and spending time on Ready lessons! We want this number to be 100%, though! Although there are only 3 weeks left of school, it is still important that our students keep trying their best to stay engaged in learning. If your student needs help logging in to an application, has questions, or needs a little motivation, please reach out to your child's teacher! We are eager to help!

Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything we can do to support you or your child! I can be reached by email at bward@fwps.org.

In partnership,

Brianna Ward

Proud Principal

It is time for your 6th or 7th grade student to register for an elective class for the upcoming 2020-21 school year! 6th and 7th grade students and parents received an email with a link to the online course request survey. It is a short survey that asks students to rate their top 3 choices for an elective class. We encourage you to talk with your student about this choice for next year before your student submits the survey. This survey will help us to create our course offerings for next year, so it is important that all of our current 6th and 7th graders respond. Questions about elective choices? Please email our Counselor, Ms. Bentley at nbentley@fwps.org.

We are excited to announce our partnership with the Pacific Coast Fruit Company to distribute USDA farm boxes to families in our district. The free fresh food boxes will be available on specific dates and times and are available on a first come first serve basis.

What are the farm box options?

• Produce Box: Consists of apples, oranges, strawberries, potatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, romaine lettuce, and carrots.
• Dairy Box: Consists of eggs, 2% milk, non-fat milk, half & half, butter, yogurt, cheddar, and jack cheese.
• Combo Box: Consists of packaged deli ham and chicken, butter, 2% milk, cheddar and jack cheese, romaine lettuce, potatoes, and onions.

Pickup schedule:

• Thursday, May 28, 2020 between 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (or as long as supplies last)
• Thursday, June 4, 2020 between 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (or as long as supplies last)
• Thursday, June 11, 2020 between 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (or as long as supplies last)

Pickup location information:

The distribution will not operate as a drive-thru pick-up. Families will be required to carry their box from the pickup location to the parking lot. Boxes weigh 25-30 pounds. If needed, please bring a cart to transport.

Boxes are limited to one box per week per FWPS family at any of the following locations:

• Decatur High School, 2800 SW 320th St., Federal Way, WA 98023
• Federal Way High School, 30611 16th Ave S., Federal Way, WA 98003
• Todd Beamer High School, 35999 16th Ave. S., Federal Way, WA 98003
• Thomas Jefferson High School, 4248 S. 288th St., Auburn, WA 98001

For more information: www.fwps.org/FarmBoxes

We've created a graphic organizer tool that your student can use to track his/her daily Zoom meetings. You can download this graphic organizer and save it to your computer or print it. It can also be adjusted to fit the needs of your child.

The Parent Portal section of the FWPS website has a growing number of video tutorials to help parents and students login to our remote learning applications and tools such as Canvas, Zoom, StudentVue/ParentVue, and more! To see these tutorials, please click on the following link: https://www.fwps.org/Page/7420

We are excited to share that Federal Way Public Schools is implementing a valuable two-way communication tool called Remind! Remind allows teachers who choose to use text messaging to communicate with parents and students.

With Remind:

• Parents can choose how to receive messages – text, email or app. For students, texting is available for ages 13 and over.
• It allows for safe and secure messaging that is available in multiple languages.
• It has a call feature, so teachers may use it to make calls.

As part of this rollout, official accounts will be created for all educators, parents, and students.

What’s important for you to know right now:

• Before you use Remind, it’s very important that you check ParentVUE to ensure your primary number and primary email address is correct.
• If you have an existing Remind account, and the phone number and email address matches with what’s in ParentVUE, then it will merge your existing account.
• If your child’s teacher(s) choose(s) to use Remind, you'll receive an email or text message from Remind. Follow the steps in the message. If you have other questions about Remind, how to log in, how to opt out, or other questions go to www.fwps.org/remind. More resources are available on www.fwps.org/parentportal.

Ms. Bentley has available time to meet with your student (virtually)! To sign up for an appointment time, click on the below link, then select Illahee Middle School, then Nolita Bentley under counselor. Available appointment times are Mon - Fri from 9am - 3pm. https://booknow.appointment-plus.com/y7e0jgzk/

Our Counselor, Ms. Nolita Bentley, helped to put together this comprehensive packet of community resources. Please click on the below link to open the packet. Questions? Please reach out to Ms. Bentley via email - nbentley@fwps.org

Non-Discrimination Statement:

Federal Way Public Schools does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin or ethnicity, religion, creed, sex or gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, age, marital or family status, veteran or military status, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal. The district provides equal access to the Boy Scouts of America and other designated youth groups.

If you have questions or complaints regarding alleged discrimination please email one of the coordinators listed below, or call the district office at 253-945-2000 and ask for one of the coordinators listed below.

Civil Rights Compliance Officer, Dan Dizon, compliance@fwps.org

Title IX Compliance Coordinator, Dan Dizon, titleix@fwps.org

504 Compliance Coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Westover, 504@fwps.org

ADA Compliance Coordinator, Janet Hodson, ADA@fwps.org

Website: www.fwps.org/illahee
Location: 36001 1st Avenue South, Federal Way, WA, USA
Phone: 253-945-4600
Facebook: facebook.com/illaheeFWPS
Twitter: @Illahee_Braves