SEPTEMBER

• Mon, SEP 4th: NO SCHOOL / Labor Day holiday

OCTOBER

• Thu, OCT 5th: Back to School Night at West Sylvan from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
  
  
• OCT 8th ~ 13th: Outdoor School for 6th graders (*overnight stay all week with curriculum at the camps)

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), and will be forwarded to your scholars’ PPS student email account. If your scholar chooses to use their cell phone, smart watch, air pods, tablet, et al, it 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. Please do not text or call your scholar during the school day, except in case of emergency.

Social Media Blocked on PPS Devices:

New this year, our OTIS team is blocking all social media access on school devices. Also, WSMS has an expectation that cell phones are off and away throughout the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods.

Chromebook distribution to all grades will occur this coming week. 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.

Some returning students to WSMS may have forgotten to return their charger last school year. This has resulted in nearly 300 missing chargers. If your student still has their charger at home, they will need to bring it to school. We will not be replacing lost or forgotten chargers. 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 $67/each. Also, encourage your student to use their Chromebook case to prevent damage to Chromebooks. We have cases available for all students, so they can keep their device in good condition.

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 currently 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.

A wonderful way to keep your student engaged and out of trouble is to get them involved in extracurricular activities, such as youth sports. All information to register students for PIL Youth Sports is located here.

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