Grizzly Gazette- 12/19/2022

Only three days of school this week as the Holiday Break begins Thursday, December 22nd. Students will not return to West Briar until January 9th. We wish you a wonderful winter break filled with love, family, and relaxation. We held the preliminary Spelling Bee rounds this past week and the final list of competitors was announced. Parents and families are invited to come watch the Bee on Tuesday in the Auditorium.

Our very own Ms. Yates- 7th grade Math Teacher- was honored this week for her 30 years of service at the HISD Service Award Banquet! We are so thankful Ms. Yates came to West Briar this year as she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thank you four dedication to education! (pictured at right)

We have had a wonderful month of Winter Fine Arts performances which concluded this past weekend with our Theater Department's performance of Miracle on 34th street. Thank you to all of our Fine Arts and Athletics parents supporting our students in their extracurricular activities! We recognize the time and dedication that is needed by parents and you are appreciated.

See you next year!

• Tue, Dec 20- West Briar Spelling Bee
• Thu, Dec 22 - Mon, Jan 9- Winter Holiday
• Mon, Jan 9 - Return to School
• Sat, Jan 28- School Choice Fair- Westside HS- 9AM- 12PM (flyer below)

WBMS AM Announcements Link

West Briar's Spelling Bee competition is starting soon! The West Briar Spelling Bee will be held on December 20 at 9am. If you'd like to participate in the spelling bee, there will be a qualifying round on December 15th. See Ms. Miller in the Library for more information- including the Spelling Bee packet!

Special Thanks to our WBMS PTO who helped us clean-up our patio courtyard Friday. This clean-up was to dedicate our patio and install the below beautiful memorial bench in honor of our beloved Dean Nathalie Hoyt. It turned out great!

A huge congratulations to our very own 6th grader Maddie Ashby- who was featured on Great Day Houston for her @maddiescakesbakery business! We are so proud of our 6th grade class president for her hard work in and out of school. Our staff have even been known to enjoy her artful treats. Maddie is going to go far with her creativity and work ethic. She also publishes a monthly sixth grade newsletter that includes featured events and articles and a teacher of the month section voted on by the class. We are so very proud of her not just for her accomplishments but also because of her dedication to improving the educational experience of all students.

The HISD School Board updated our Student Attendance Policy to mirror the Texas Education Code (TEC) 25.092 (Attendance for Credit 90% Rule). A student in grade levels K-12 should not be given credit or final grade for a class unless the student is in attendance 90% of the days in which the class is offered.

We will continue to remind students the importance of attendance- in all class periods. In middle school and high school, the 90% rule applies to each individual class period. This includes coming to school late and remaining in all classes throughout the class period.

Students who have accumulated more than 10% absences in their courses during the school year will have asterisks (NG) printed on their report cards next to the courses in which the excessive absences occurred. These students will be denied credit in these courses based on the current HISD attendance policy unless the attendance committee grants credit because the absences are due to extenuating circumstances.

• Students who lose credit due to excessive absences may appeal if the student achieves an average of 70 or above at the end of the semester in which the no-credit (NG) status appears.
• All Attendance Committee meetings and appeals for the 22-23SY must be cleared by June 15, 2023.

Thank you WBMS PTO for our fantastic Holiday Lunch provided for us on Friday! Everyone truly enjoyed the baked potato bar and treats. They even had a Teacher contest and Ms. Scott won by guessing how many pencils there were. We appreciate all that you do to support our staff!!

We are looking for a group of parents that would be able to help us translate with parents of different languages. Unfortunately, the district does not provide translators which makes it difficult for us to communicate with some of our parents.

If you are able to offer your time and translating abilities for any of the languages below, please reach out to our Social Worker- Ms. Madison Taylor at madison.taylor@houstonisd.org. We would truly appreciate it!

Languages Needed

• Arabic
• Pashto
• Persian/Farsi/Dari
• Swahili
• Ukrainian
• Russian
• Vietnamese

Canvas gives parents access to student learning. Parents/Guardians interested in monitoring student's Canvas courses, calendars, and announcements can use the Canvas Parent App. More information can be found here: Canvas for Parents

*Please note that West Briar is transitioning to this new learning management system and therefore, some teachers utilize it more regularly than others. Expect that teachers will have a Canvas course home page set up.

Families can show their support of West Briar MS by donating to this year's Grizzly Giving campaign. All funds raised will go directly to support WBMS students, teachers, projects, and programs! Please see the flyer below for more details. You can also download the form here: Grizzly Giving Form

More information can be found on our PTO website here.

Attendance: Mr. Anderson- compassion.anderson@houstonisd.org

Registration/Enrollment- Ms. Rodriguez- laura.rodriguez@houstonisd.org

Nurse: Nurse Papillion- rebecca.papillions@houstonisd.org

Special Education Secretary: Ms. Aguilera- joana.aguilera@houstonisd.org

6th Grade House Secretary: Mr. Rachal- tony.rachal@houstonisd.org

7th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Bass- vbass2@houstonisd.org

8th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Young- syoung1@houstonisd.org

Social Worker: Ms. Taylor- madison.taylor@houstonisd.org

Campus Administrators Webpage (includes new School Counselors)

Faculty/Staff Directory