This week, our band students traveled to Jackson Middle School to showcase their talents and to hear the talents of the groups at Jackson. Thank you to Denley Arce, Band Director, and to all of our family chaperones who joined the field trip!

We also thank our Classified and Non-represented WSMS staff members for their service to our school community, in this week that honors their contributions.

Our WSMS group includes:

Administrative Assistants: Jerda Solonche and Kirsten Crombie

Cafeteria Lead: Ana Lemus

Lead Custodian: Scott Schneberger

Custodians: Aaron Arguelles, Erick Khalar, Josh Sevier

Paraeducators: Meredith Chapman, Tessa Hanover, Carter Latendresse, Nate Lee, Doug Theirault

Campus Safety Agent: Alonzo Parnell

Library Assistant: Judy Cunha

Without all of these amazing individuals, WSMS would not be able to operate each day! We thank them all for choosing WSMS and are so appreciative of their love for our school community!

We also have some celebrations pictured below for student groups at WSMS! If you have celebrations that you would like shared out about the successes of our students, please send items to the main office at westsylvanoffice@pps.net.

Enjoy your weekend,

Jill & Ben

We’d like to welcome our newest member of the WSMS team beginning next week, Lauren Carmichael, our newest WSMS Paraeducator. Lauren is filling a vacancy that occurred a month ago in our ISC Special Education class. We are excited to have Lauren join the WSMS ISC team!

• We had one student fight on Tuesday. The altercation occurred during a passing period between classes, when students are allowed to use the restroom. The fight was prompted by frustration over a series of rumors between female students, which escalated to a verbal confrontation in a girls’ restroom, and became a physical altercation. Unfortunately, there were several bystanders who also took video. We are working through the necessary supports and consequences for the parties involved in the altercation, bystanders, and aggressor(s). We are trying to help all families with next steps, as much of the tension between students is originating outside of school, over social media, and then those tensions are being brought to campus.
  
  
• Some of you may have seen a BPD officer parked in the school parking lot at various times during the week. There is no need for additional alarm. The SROs at BPD stop by to talk with families and students when they request to meet in a school building to share concerns or to file a report. Since WSMS is part of the Beaverton Police Department zone, that team supports all family needs with our students when issues are brought to police attention.
  
  
• When students are resorting to physical violence when frustrated, there are disciplinary consequences for these decisions, and we follow the PPS Student Rights Responsibilities and Discipline Handbook guidelines. Some mistakes can be handled with in-school responses, and major or repeated infractions result in exclusionary responses out-of-school. If your students have witnessed these poor decisions and would like to speak to a School Counselor, please reach out to the School Counselor. The added element that accompanies these bad choices is that families have the right to then file police reports against each other. BPD is responding to complaints forwarded to them from families.
  

Our March MYP Learner trait is Inquirers. Throughout the month, students will be nominated for demonstrating this trait. We celebrate nominations at the monthly assemblies and through our school nomination posters.

Counseling SEL (Social & Emotional Learning) lessons are continuing with the next round of lessons that will focus on “How to be an Upstander.” All three grades will be engaging in these lessons with School Counselors throughout March. Both the 8th and the 6th Graders started engaging in these lessons over this last school week.

• PPS Center for Black Student Excellence:

  Center for Black Student Excellence (CBSE) – Learning Journey

  CBSE Project Timeline + FAQs
  
  
• How to get involved? Join the West Sylvan Foundation. This is the group that also embodies what would have been a PTA at other schools. The group welcomes new adult support, and you can find the link here. This is also a way to share your voice about how WSMS fundraising is used for school needs.
  
  
• Volunteer! Ask Educators how you can volunteer to help in their classes, come help supervise lunches, join recess duties, volunteer in the Library, and help monitor hallways throughout the school day. PPS approved volunteers are welcome!
  
  
• Initiate a parent group! Several families are interested in leading work sharing and educating each other. If you have ideas, please reach out to Jill Hunt at jihunt@pps.net. We would love to start a parent-led family series of educational nights.
  
  
• PPS Parent and Student focus group for LGBTQIA+
  
  
• Run a club! Clubs meet on Fridays from 3:15pm-3:45pm.
  
  
• PPS District Committees for larger parent advocacy are here.

Scholars should have received notification at home in Winter about next year’s High School assignment. Assignments are based on families’ current address. Should families believe there is an error in the High School assignment, contact the Enrollment and Transfer office. Anyone residing out-of-district will need approval to be released from their resident district to apply to remain in PPS for high school. Families who currently do not reside in PPS boundaries will also need to apply to remain in PPS High Schools through the Enrollment and Transfer office.

Ida B. Wells Forecasting for 2023-24: About 30 of our current 8th Graders are in the boundaries to attend Ida B. Wells for High School next year. The forecasting items are here for these families.

University of Portland has begun accepting applications for their annual Summer Learning Program! In this program, the learning focuses on the Oregon State Benchmarks appropriate for each child in Mathematics, Language Arts (reading, writing, and speaking), and any other subjects in which the student needs help. Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) candidates tutor/teach students according to their learning needs. There are usually 4-5 students per 2-3 MAT candidates.

• This year’s program will run July 5 - August 3, Monday-Thursday, 9:30am-11:30am, and they welcome students entering grades 2 through 11 in 2023-24. The cost of the program is $125, though scholarships are available.
• Online registration is now available here. To request a printable PDF or registration packet via postal mail, please contact Amy Kwong-Kwapisz at kwongkwa@up.edu or 503-943-7752.

Please encourage and remind your Scholar to bring their charged Chromebook to school each day. We have a very limited, and often depleted, number of loaner Chromebooks. Remembering to bring your PPS-issued Chromebook to school is crucial, as Chromebooks are needed for classes.

We appreciate all family members who have been volunteering in our Main Office, in our Library, and joining us for school lunch periods and recess to help with supervision! The additional adults around campus really help with these busier spaces and the busiest times of the school day! If you are already an approved PPS volunteer, you are welcome to come to campus any day of the week when your schedule permits, and we will find a way that you can help on campus! The periods from 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM and 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM are most needed for Lunch recess help and Office assistance!

After ten consecutive school days of non-attendance, Scholars are un-enrolled from WSMS. Please be sure to officially excuse absences when there is a lasting illness.

Please help remind and reinforce our “No Cell Phone” policy during the school day in your discussions at home. This means that we ask that Scholars to either leave phones at home or put them in their lockers during the day so that they are not a temptation. If a Scholar has a phone out in class or around campus during the school day, it is confiscated and held in the Office. If a Scholar has three or more violations already this year, we will ask a Parent/Guardian to pick up the phone to help reinforce expectations. Please remember that Scholars do not have access to their phones during the day, and refrain from calling and/or texting them. If you need to get an urgent message to your Scholar, you may call the Office at 503-916-5690 or send an email to westsylvanoffice@pps.net.

Families are now able to record future absences for their Students directly in ParentVUE without needing to contact the Main Office. Please remember, if a student is going to miss multiple days, it is up to the Student and/or Parent/Guardian to communicate absences with each Teacher and make a plan for missing work and assignments.

• If your Student is going to be Absent for a FULL DAY:
  Log in to the ParentVUE website or download and open the phone application. In either case, look for the ‘Report Absence’ button to the right of your Student’s photograph. Select start date, end date, and a reason from the drop-down list. Remember to click SAVE, and you should receive a popup confirmation.

• If your Student is Absent for a PARTIAL DAY:
  Send an email to westsylvanoffice@pps.net with the date, times, and reason.

No internet access? Call West Sylvan’s main line at 503-916-5690 and select the Attendance option.

All-Grade School Climate Specialist: Shawn McVicar [smcvicar@pps.net]

MAIN OFFICE

westsylvanoffice@pps.net

(503) 916-5690

PRINCIPAL'S SECRETARY

[Staff / Substitutes / Financial]

Jerda Solonche

jsolonche@pps.net

SCHOOL SECRETARY

[Students / Attendance / Enrollment]

Kirsten Crombie

kcrombie@pps.net