West Sylvan Middle School

We finished our authorization visit as an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) School. You can read much more about our work as a school team and the MYP items at our dedicated website, created by our MYP Coordinator, Ms. Clair McInnis. The team shared many complimentary points of feedback from their family, student and Educator interviews. In two weeks, the team will share an initial draft report with our school leaders. The process can take up to two months to get the final report from IB related to the visit. We hope to be able to share more official good news by Winter Break, given those established timelines.

We are halfway through the first quarter! At the mid-quarter mark, Educators share grade marks for any students who may be in danger of failing at this point in the quarter. Contractually, those are the only marks that Educators have to complete at this mid-term reporting period, so if you see classes without a mark, it means that your student is not in danger of failing the class, and is making satisfactory progress.

Enjoy the weekend!

Jill Hunt, Principal
Ben Keller, Assistant Principal

OCTOBER

• Wed, OCT 4th: LATE OPENING for Educator PD *school doors open at 11:00AM, classes start at 11:15AM. NO CHOIR meeting before school this day.
  
  
• Thu, OCT 5th: Back to School Night at West Sylvan from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
  
  
• OCT 8th ~ 13th: Outdoor School for Sixth Graders (*overnight stay all week with curriculum at the camps)
  
  
• Fri, OCT 13th: NO SCHOOL for Educator Planning
  
  
• Thu, OCT 26th: Makeup Picture Day (*for Students who missed Picture Day on 9/14 )

NOVEMBER

• Thu, NOV 2nd: End of First Quarter
  
  
• Fri, NOV 3rd: NO SCHOOL for Educator Planning
  
  
• Mon, NOV 6th: Start of Second Quarter
  

Rain or shine!

Please bring any of your tools or equipment from home, and help beautify the exterior of campus on Saturday, September 30th.

We rescheduled our Community Care Day from the end of Summer,

as our building was still undergoing construction.

New this year, to support Educator Professional Development and use of Social Emotional Learning curriculum during Advisory (we use Wayfinder!), are two late opening dates just for Middle Schools. School doors open at 11:00AM on Wednesday, October 4th next week, and bus routes will be adjusted to pick up two hours later than the normal route pick up time. Choir does not meet that morning.

We invite all families to attend our in-person Back-To-School Night which is scheduled for Thursday, October 5th from 5:00-7:00 PM. We have very limited parking, so please consider carpooling, taking public transportation, walking or riding your bikes, as possible.

An informational meeting for Sixth Grade families occurred on September 14th at 6:30PM. A link to the recording is here, in the event that you were unable to attend the virtual meeting. Thank you to over 90 family members who joined to listen about Outdoor School and ask questions!

• Informational Video - (45 minutes - close captioned)

• Outdoor School Website
  

DROP-OFF ~ Sunday, October 8, 2023

* CAMP WESTWIND GROUP (only)

12:50pm - 1:10pm / Families drop-off at West Sylvan

• Supplies will get loaded on buses.

• Any prescriptions given to the teachers assigned to camp.

1:15pm - 1:30pm / Students loading buses/head counts

1:30pm / BUSES DEPART

4:00pm / arrive at Camp Westwind

* CAMPS: COLLINS, ANGELOS, NAMANU, KURATLI

2:20pm - 2:40pm / Families drop-off at West Sylvan

• Supplies will get loaded on buses.

• Any prescriptions given to the teacher assigned to camp.

2:45pm - 3:00pm / Students loading buses/head counts

3:00pm / BUSES DEPART

4:15ish / arrive at Camps

PICK-UP ~ Friday, October 13, 2023

* CAMP WESTWIND GROUP (only)

11:00ish / Students depart Camp Westwind

1:30ish / arrival at West Sylvan for pick-up

* CAMPS: COLLINS, ANGELOS, NAMANU, KURATLI

12:00pm / Students depart camps

1:30ish / arrival at West Sylvan for pick-up

• Parents/Guardians: please park in designated parking spaces only, unless instructed otherwise, so that buses may navigate the bus turn-around.

• ON FRIDAY 10/13: look for texts from Administration for any updates on bus arrival times.

• FRIDAY 10/13 IS A TEACHER PLANNING DAY SO ALL STUDENTS WILL NEED TO BE PICKED UP ON TIME. THE SCHOOL BUILDING WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE TO WAIT FOR LATER TIMES.

• STUDENTS who have alternative plans for ODS will be getting information about transportation and or support independently. Thank you.

Our Scholars are practicing being “Reflective” this month, as our selected Learner Profile Trait. Goal setting for the year ahead has been occurring through Advisory, and our students have been reflecting on their learning styles and the daily habits that help them be successful in school.

When our staffing allocations for the number of Educator positions was determined last year, our school was projected to have a total of 740 students. Currently, we are far below that projected number, with 721 students enrolled at this time.

Now that Fall is upon us, please send your student with something warm to wear for outdoor recess time. They can keep a jacket in their locker so that they are prepared for the colder days outdoors.

Portland Interscholastic League Youth Sports (PILYS) is a wonderful opportunity for additional involvement and provides opportunities to meet new friends. All information to register students for PIL Youth Sports is located here.

** After-school sports are run entirely through PIL. West Sylvan does not have any information regarding tryouts, practices, schedules, etc. **

Thank you for continuing to support our neighbors by not blocking their driveways or their private property spaces during drop off and pick up. Please remember to drive slowly for drop-off and pick up, also. There is signage to follow for parking guidelines. ** If you need to pick up your student early, please do so before 3:30pm. It is nearly impossible to get a student out the door ‘early’ after that time. **

There are three dedicated parking spaces in the West Sylvan parking lot legally reserved for vehicles displaying a Disabled Person Parking placard. Recently, cars without placards have been using these spots, making them unavailable for those who need them. Going forward, if a vehicle is parked in a designated handicap parking space without a Disabled Person Parking placard displayed, the license plate number will be forwarded to Beaverton Police Department.

We have reviewed expected bus behaviors in Advisory. Students will be suspended from riding the bus for failure to follow expected safety rules, and families will take over the responsibility of transporting students to school. Also, thank you to our families who reported concerns about overcrowding on certain buses. We have been working closely with PPS Transportation to try to resolve the concerns, and some routes have been adjusted as of Monday, September 18th.

All members of our PPS community want students to remain in school! District leaders have been updating families throughout the bargaining process with PAT, the union that represents our Educators. You can read all about the process at this location. If a strike occurs, there will be no in-person or online instruction for students, until the strike ends. The first possible date when this could happen would be Monday, October 23rd. District leaders are preparing contingency plans for all potential outcomes of the bargaining process. Read more here.

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

Breakfast is available in the hot lunch room at that time. Students with Choir before school (appears as period 0 on StudentVue), start school at 8:00AM each day. Students should ring the doorbell at the front doors upon arrival.

Ms. Crombie accepts Chromebooks at the Office 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 a student does not 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 given to our Main Office via phone or email (westsylvanoffice@pps.net), and will be forwarded to your scholars’ PPS student email account. 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 a phone call 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.

Social Media Blocked on PPS Devices:

If you notice content that your student is accessing that you believed should be blocked, please reach out to the team at PPS OTIS. They are updating blocked sites as students find ways around the firewalls that are already in place.

For questions about your scholar’s bus route, district transportation options, or times for pick-up, visit the Transportation Department’s website. The WSMS Office is unable to change bus schedules, and all calls regarding buses will be redirected to the Transportation website.

A couple of buses have had late arrivals to and from school already this year, and we are hopeful that this will get better at drivers become more familiar with their routes.

Counselors are available by email. Please refer to the following list for your School Counselor by grade.

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 parent/family 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.

We can hardly wait to have more families involved in volunteering on campus, taking part in Friends of West Sylvan, and serving on School Site Council and School Climate Committees. If you may be interested in having a voice in one or more of these school groups, please sign up here.

We are still looking for parent volunteers to run Oregon Battle of the Books this year. OBOB is quite time-consuming, and we do not have adequate staffing in the Library to make it happen without a team of committed volunteers. Reach out to Clair McInnis (cmcinnis@pps.net) for details.

The Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) is a statewide voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program sponsored by the Oregon Association of School Libraries in conjunction with a Library Services and Technology Act grant. Students in 3rd-12th grade, regardless of ability, are exposed to quality literature representing a variety of literary styles and viewpoints.

Friends of West Sylvan is parent/family organization that supports Scholars and Staff and fosters community connection through fundraising and volunteer opportunities. Join the mailing list and stay connected with other families!

MAIN OFFICE

westsylvanoffice@pps.net

(503) 916-5690

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/ PRINCIPAL'S SECRETARY

[Staff / Substitutes / Financial]

Jerda Solonche

jsolonche@pps.net

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/ SCHOOL SECRETARY

[Students / Attendance / Enrollment]

Kirsten Crombie

kcrombie@pps.net

Website: www.pps.net/westsylvan
Location: 8111 Southwest West Slope Drive, Portland, OR, USA