I want to begin by thanking our families for your continued support of our staff, our students, and our greater community. As we all reflect on our individual purpose as part of a larger educational system, I am reminded that we are all coming from different experiences and perspectives to create a memory together at Port Susan Middle School. As we take time to honor our Veterans this weekend, what Veterans Day means to each one of us can look different. My hope is that we all, as part of a greater community, take time this weekend to thank a Veteran as we show our appreciation and honor to those that have served or are currently serving.

Our staff at Port Susan continue to discuss the importance of positive interactions with students. In addition to daily interactions, effective communication benefits everyone and is especially important when thinking about mental health and wellbeing. Our students continue to look to adults to guide their understanding of appropriate communication. When students see us displaying respectful communication, sharing our interests, taking a deep breath, and showing interest in the perspectives of others, it is extremely valuable in guiding decisions. We truly appreciate parent partnership with this work.

We will be going over this with students to begin our homework support time on Tuesday during advisory. We are going to ask that as a school system, we become consistent in the use of our "To-Do" list for the parent/student communication. It is important that we use the "To-Do" list consistently to be able to have the guidance for all students to be reflecting on what they finished and what they need to reflect on or complete independently to be ready for the learning to continue the following day. Having all students take out their blue homework folder and their record of what to finish up would be a good way to guide this discussion. Please remind your student to share this with you throughout the week.

PSMS Band has kicked off our Butter Braid fundraiser. We're running sales until December 2nd. Online orders have been a big plus for students and customers, so don't forget about that handy option if you're interested in buying some from a student.

Click HERE to Order & Pay Online! (select seller, then order)

Sales end: December 2nd

Delivery: Friday, December 9th (after school) - students pick up and deliver

Girls' Volleyball will begin on Wednesday, November 30th. There will be 4 teams: 7th Grade JV, 8th Grade JV, 7th Grade V, and 8th Grade Varsity. Tryouts will be Nov 30-December 2 from 2:30-4pm. Once teams are decided, there will be rotating practice times to give teams more space in the gym. Coaches will be sharing their practice times with their team.

The match schedule is found here. This is a live document and will be updated as things change or if we are able to secure a bus for transportation.

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS:

Athletic Registration: An Athletic Registration Form must be completed either online or by hard copy prior to turning out for practice. This includes emergency contact information, insurance and the Athletic Code.

Sports Physical: All athletes must have a current sports physical (good for 2yrs) turned into the office BEFORE turning out.

ASB Card/Pay to Participate: Each participant must purchase an Associated Student Body card and Pay to Participate fee before the first contest. The ASB card is $20, Pay to Participate is $50 per sport ($100 maximum per year; Free/Reduced options for those who qualify).

Transportation: In the event that we cannot get a bus to out-of district competitions (due to bus driver shortage), we will have district vans. However, seating is limited, so the Stanwood/Camano School District is allowing families to arrange transportation to and from competitions when this occurs. These families will agree to provide their own transportation to and from away competitions and understand that the district assumes no liability/responsibility for the athletes during the transportation times. The waiver will need to be signed and returned to your athletic director prior to your first out-of-district event. *Hard copies of the waiver can be picked up in the office or from your athlete's coach Parent Transportation Waiver for Middle School Sports

As the weather forecasts indicate, we may see cold weather this winter. I wanted to share with you how we make the determination to delay or close schools due to ice, snow, flooding, etc.

• Safety first! We consider the safety of our children on buses, our student drivers, families driving and walking to school, and the safety of our staff, especially our bus drivers.

• We monitor weather patterns using multiple methods 24/7. In particular, we use a tool called Accuweather that is specifically designed to support school districts in looking ahead at weather patterns.

• When there is a concern about school starting on time, our staff begins driving the roads throughout the district as early as 2 a.m. We take photos, check road conditions, monitor traffic, look for hazards, etc. We typically drive the roads multiple times in the early morning to determine if conditions are improving, worsening, or staying the same.

• We strive to decide about the school day by 5 a.m. Once the decision is made, we begin communicating with families and staff. We communicate through:

  • Autodialer (via School Messenger)

  • Email (via School Messenger)

  • Website

  • Flash Alert

Predicting the weather is a challenge, and our primary goal is to ensure that the roads are safe, our campuses are easy to navigate, and the weather does not impede a safe school day. Find the 2022-23 snow routes HERE.

Monday:

Regular Schedule

Advisory SEL lesson

Tuesday:

Regular Schedule

Advisory Quarter 1 Reflection & To-Do List

Basketball vs N. Whidbey (7th - PSMS & 8th - Lincoln)

Wednesday:

Red Wednesday

Thursday:

Regular Schedule

Advisory - Homework Support

Basketball vs Cascade (Varsity Only)

Friday:

Regular Schedule

Advisory - Homework Support

Student Calendar HERE

Linked below are previous communications. Please continue to reach out with any questions you have. You can email me directly (calmanza@stanwood.wednet.edu) or call our office at 360.629.1360

August 21st

August 28th

September 4th

September 11th

September 18th

September 25th

October 2nd

October 9th

October 16th

October 23rd

October 30th

November 6th

Cherae Almanza, Principal calmanza@stanwood.wednet.edu

Crysty Auckland, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director cauckland@stanwood.wednet.edu

Teacher Emails

Dave Austin (6-8 Fitness & 6 Leadership) daustin@stanwood.wednet.edu

Jonathan Bletscher (6-8 Band) jbletscher@stanwood.wednet.edu

Joan Campbell (6-7 Math) jcampbell@stanwood.wednet.edu

Tamara Pedersen (6-7 Math) tpedersen@stanwood.wednet.edu

Lori Stunz (7 ELA & 6-8 Art) lstunz@stanwood.wednet.edu

Grace Gale (6 Science & 6-8 STEM/Robotics) GGale@stanwood.wednet.edu

Sub for Grace Gale is Jeffrey Trammell jtrammell2@stanwood.wednet.edu

Chelsea Hanson (6-8 ELA/Humanities) CHanson@stanwood.wednet.edu

Nate Hanson (6-8 Computers/Digital Effects) nhanson@stanwood.wednet.edu

Audrie Harrington (6/7 ELA & 7/8 Leadership) aharrington@stanwood.wednet.edu

Joshua Keaton (7/8 History) jkeaton@stanwood.wednet.edu

Seth Hills (6 Social Studies) shills@stanwood.wednet.edu

Lori Johnson (6-8 Assist) ljohnson@stanwood.wednet.edu

Wade Johnson (7/8 Science) wjohnson@stanwood.wednet.edu

Rebecca Klein (6/7 Science) rklein@stanwood.wednet.edu

Meghan Lawrence (6-8 PBS) mlawrence@stanwood.wednet.edu

Ellianna Martin (6-8 Math) emartin@stanwood.wednet.edu>,

Daniel Mccrumb (6 Math/Science & 7/8 Outdoor Ed) DMccrumb@stanwood.wednet.edu

Sarah Oldow (6 ELA/Social Studies) soldow@stanwood.wednet.edu

Catherine Perry (6-8 EL) cperry@stanwood.wednet.edu

Tracy Riley (6-8 ELA) TRiley@stanwood.wednet.edu

Kelcie Rocha (7/8 Math) krocha@stanwood.wednet.edu

Brad Rochon (7/8 Science) brochon@stanwood.wednet.edu

Connie Schmidt (6-8 Health) cschmidt@stanwood.wednet.edu

Sheri Schroeder (8 History & ELA) sleeschroeder@stanwood.wednet.edu

Kym Shoemaker (7/8 Math) kshoemaker@stanwood.wednet.edu

Crystal Titus (6-8 Fitness) ctitus@stanwood.wednet.edu

Kayte White (8 ELA & 6 Cultures) kwhite@stanwood.wednet.edu

Julia Zurcher (7 History & 7/8 Home Ec) jzurcher@stanwood.wednet.edu

Office Support

Jayde Piggot (6 Counselor) jpiggott@stanwood.wednet.edu

Keli Niegemann (7/8 Counselor) kniegemann@stanwood.wednet.edu

Emily Bowne (School Psychologist) ebowne@stanwood.wednet.edu

Kandyce Hansen (Speech Language Pathologist) khansen@stanwood.wednet.edu

Sara Harlan (Librarian) sharlan@stanwood.wednet.edu

Amy Hart (Student Support Advocate) ahart@stanwood.wednet.edu

Taylor Little (Mental Health Therapist) tlittle@stanwood.wednet.edu

The Stanwood-Camano School District does not discriminate in employment, programs, or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Inquiries regarding compliance and/or grievance procedures may be directed to the District's Title IX/Affirmative Action Officer and Civil Rights Compliance Coordinator, Maurene Stanton (mstanton@stanwood.wednet.edu), or the Section 504/American Disabilities Act Coordinator, Robert Hascall (rhascall@stanwood.wednet.edu) Stanwood-Camano School District, 26920 Pioneer Hwy, Stanwood, WA 98292. Telephone: (360) 629-1200.