Westridge Wildcat News
January 31, 2020
In This Edition
- Important Dates
- STEM Night Info
- Poster Contest
- Health Curriculum Information
- School News
- Office Information
- District News
Important Dates:
- Boundary Review Open House: Feb 5th at Lakeridge High School from 6-8pm
- Westridge STEM Night February 13th 5:30-7:30pm
- Mid Summer's Nights Dream Poster Contest due February 18th
- Special Guest Speaker: Doreen Dodgen "Deviced" February 25th (time and location TBA)
STEM and Literacy Night!
Westridge 2nd Annual STEM & Literacy Night
Thursday, Feb. 13th
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
This year our theme is "Sweet on STEM" and we can hardly wait to have your family join us for this popular family event. Come and enjoy activities that encourage exploration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math adventures! Each grade level will be highlighting a parent-child interactive experience involving STEM and Literacy domains. Come through the front doors to get your passport and embark on creative, collaborative and critical thinking challenges with your very own innovator!
Poster Contest!
Design a poster for our Mid Summer’s Nights Dream production!
Do you like to draw? Westridge is looking for you to use your talents to design a poster for our play. Submit your entry by Tuesday, February 18th to be considered. One entry per person.
Please make sure your poster meets the following criteria:
-use one side only of 8 ½ by 11 white paper
-colored pencil, crayons and/or markers are acceptable.
-use a thin black Sharpie to outline your illustration
*PLEASE NOTE – all information about the play will be added digitally later. You do not need to include anything but your name.
*Turn in to the front office by 3pm Tuesday, February 18th, 2020.
Important to Know About our Health Curriculum
The State of Oregon requires local school boards adopt curriculum in alignment with state law. One issue that can be contentious is around Oregon’s Human Sexuality Education curriculum.
Following is important information to know about the health curriculum:
Sexual Abuse Prevention
In 2015, the State of Oregon passed Senate Bill 856 - Erin’s Law - that addresses sexual abuse prevention instruction, and it requires schools to provide a minimum of four instructional sessions each year on sexual abuse prevention instruction. The sessions are in every grade level, kindergarten through twelfth grade.
The bill also creates a state requirement for districts to develop comprehensive sexuality education plans that integrate sexual abuse prevention. The plans must be aligned with state standards and will be revisited every two years.
Also required is sexual abuse prevention instruction that is:
Age appropriate, medically accurate and not shame or fear based;
Clear about the effects of trauma on victims of abuse; and
Culturally inclusive and responsive to diverse students.
Equity and Access
Another impact on the school district's curriculum is the revised 2015 version of the National Health Education Standards. One major adjustment is a new chapter on equity and access for all students.
Equity involves fair treatment of each and every student, while access involves making services open to everyone who is entitled to them, free of any form of discrimination based on factors such as gender, culture, race, religion and sexual orientation.
NOT OPTIONAL
Consistent with the law, in 2017, the Lake Oswego School Board voted in favor of creating a human sexuality education plan that maps out how to implement new state health education standards and achieve compliance with new state legislation on sexual abuse prevention instruction and education.
As part of that plan, LOSD adopted the Great Body Shop. It is a curriculum used nationally, that includes lessons noted as “for consideration.” However, these lessons are mandated by the State of Oregon Department of Education standards. Therefore, what some refer to as “optional” are not optional for public schools in Oregon.
LOSD's mission is to provide a safe and inclusive schools for each and every student in our care. The safety of our students is paramount.
Questions - please ask your child's teacher, our RTI Specialist (Lindsey Kopacek), or me!
Principal Montgomery
School News:
STEM supply donations needed!
Kids Heart Challenge!
Westridge is getting ready to kick off Kids Heart Challenge with the American Heart Association!
Kickoff: January 21-23
Activities in PE: January 27-February 14
Meet our Heart Heroes that will help us fight heart disease and teach us how to keep our hearts happy while helping others! You can get a jump start by registering online today! Download the FREE App called Kids Heart Challenge for Apple or Android or visit www.heart.org/kidsheartchallenge and search Westridge Elementary to get started. #kidsheartchallenge
Thank you for helping our school and the American Heart Association save lives!
Office Information:
Cut off time for change of "go home" plan or bus passes:
If you need to change your child(ren)'s go-home plans or have a bus pass issued by the office, please let the office and teacher know via email by Noon. You can also call in to the office by Noon. If you have last-minute emergency changes, please call into the office instead of emailing. Thank you
Reporting Absences
District News:
Youth Truth Survey
Dear Elementary School Parents/Guardians of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students,
As part of our district diversity, equity, and inclusion work we have contracted with YouthTruth, a national school experience survey company. YouthTruth harnesses stakeholder and student perceptions to help educators accelerate improvement. Through validated survey instruments, YouthTruth partners with schools and districts to enhance learning for all students.
The YouthTruth School Experience Survey is scheduled to be administered to all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade elementary students between Monday, February 3rd and Friday, February 14, 2020. The survey will take approximately 15-30 minutes to complete and will be administered during the school day.
We invite all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to participate in this survey. The letter linked here explains how to opt your child out of the survey.
As parents/guardians, we know you bring a unique perspective to your child's school experience. In a separate email on February 3rd, we will invite you to give us your perceptions using a similar survey.
If you have questions, please contact David Salerno Owens at 503-534-2120 or email him at salernod@loswego.k12.or.us. --Thank you for your future participation!
Save the Date! Special Guest Speaker!
Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, February 25 where we as Elementary Principals have invited Doreen Dodgen-Magee, author of the book "Deviced!: Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World" to speak to parents of our LOSD community.
She is an excellent speaker about the topic of finding balance while living in today's digitally-focused world. Specifically, she will highlight and discuss changes in the brain that result from excessive technology use and offers an approach to the digital world that enables more informed and lasting change and a healthier long-term perspective. We will share the exact time and location as soon as we can. Hope to see you there!
Student Success Act Survey
Student Success Act Survey
We are seeking more of your feedback to help inform how Lake Oswego School District invests grant funds from Oregon's Student Success Act (SSA).
Please click on this link and complete the survey.
The follow up survey asks teachers and staff, students, parents and guardians, and community members to rank investment possibilities based on what you think could provide the greatest impact for student success, particularly for students who have historically experienced academic disparities. In LOSD, students who have historically experienced academic disparities include those with differing abilities, students navigating poverty and homelessness, and students of color.
The survey will be open Jan. 22 - Feb. 4.
Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation in this grant process.
Sincerely,
Mary Kay Larson
Director of Communications, Lake Oswego School District
(503) 534-2312
Elementary Boundary Review:
The Boundary Review Committee has begun its work. The boundary committee is comprised of principals and parents from each elementary school as well as parents of students attending each middle and high school. They will be meeting weekly through the end of March to develop a recommendation on how to redraw elementary school boundaries starting in the 2020-2021 school year.
You may access all of the information shared and discussed at these meetings through the boundary landing page on losdschools.org. Additionally, the boundary committee will be hosting open houses on Feb. 5 at Lakeridge High School and Mar. 4 at Lake Oswego High School, 6-8 p.m. to share current thinking and gather your feedback.
At any time in the process, to provide comments regarding elementary boundaries, please email: info@loswego.k12.or.us.
Save The Date! Foundation Gala!
Please save the date for the First Annual Foundation Gala.
Hosted by the Lake Oswego Schools Foundation Board, this will be a fun evening of coming together to celebrate education in our community (yes this will replace the luncheon). We hope you can join us! More details coming, tickets go on sale in early February.
First Annual Foundation Gala, a celebration of education
March 7, 2020
6:30 to 10:00 p.m.
Ironlight, 525 3rd Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
p.s. This event is the same day as Coyote Day. We hope you will still be able to join us, please buy a ticket and let us do the rest!
Making Sure You Receive Important District News
The Lake Oswego School District newsletter The Current is emailed to all families every Friday afternoon. It contains important district-wide news and information. As of this November, it is now coming to you from LOSD's new director of communications, Mary Kay Larson, mary.kay.larson@loswego.k12.or.us.
Because Mary Kay is a new sender, the newsletter message is going straight to many people's Spam folders. To recover the message and start receiving it directly in your in-box, please follow these steps:
- Go to your Spam folder.
- Find the message to move out of Spam.
- Click on “not spam” and the message will move to your in-box
Please note, in Spam, the newsletter formatting is compressed as a way of protecting your system from potentially unsafe content. Moving the message out of Spam will open up the newsletter in full view.
After moving the message out of your Spam folder once (maybe twice), your system should start accepting the newsletter directly into your in-box.
Thank you!
Lake Oswego School District App:
Safe Oregon
The Oregon State Police is pleased to announce the availability of SafeOregon, a new school safety tip line program available to all public k-12 schools in Oregon. SafeOregon is a way for students, staff, or other members of the public to anonymously report and share confidential information of a threat or a potential threat to student safety. Trained staff are available 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year reached through a phone call, text message, mobile application or website. The main goal of SafeOregon is to intervene at the earliest possible point in the life of a young person who is struggling, helping them when they need it, before the situation turns into a tragedy.
SafeOregon is designed to encourage Oregon students to share and respond to anything that threatens their safety or the safety of others, anything that makes a student feel unsafe, or if a student knows someone who feels unsafe. Here are a few examples: safety threats, violence, threats of violence, fights, drugs, alcohol, weapons, bullying or friends that talk about hurting themselves, harassment, intimidation, cyber bullying, or self-harm.
Tips can be submitted 24/7/365 through the SafeOregon.com web portal, by email to tip@safeoregon.com through the SafeOregon mobile application (available for android or ios device), or by calling or texting 844-472-3364. Tips are promptly analyzed and routed for the most appropriate follow up and urgency. This may be to school officials, law enforcement, community mental health programs, or other appropriate local or state agencies. Tip Line staff make sure follow-up is noted.
For more information, please visit safeoregon.com.
Additionally, it is a violation of ORS165.570 to improperly use the SafeOregon system.
Oregon State Assessments Opt Out:
Every year, Oregon students take assessments prescribed by the State Department of Education. The purpose of these assessments is to provide data that schools can use to ensure each and every child is on track and achieving learning goals. Results are also used to inform course placement and provide focused feedback to students and parents.
State law requires us to inform you that a form is available from the Oregon Department of Education that allows you to opt your child out of the math and English Language Arts assessments for the 2019-20 school year. Should you wish to opt out your child, fill out the form and submit it to the main office at your child’s school.
If you have questions or want more information about state assessments, please contact your child’s principal or teacher(s).
Click here for opt-out form for Math and English Language Arts
Westridge Elementary
Email: kari.montgomery@loswego.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.losdschools.org/wr
Location: 3400 Royce Way, Lake Oswego, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 534-2371