West Staff News
January 20, 2020
Core Values and Goals
Action Plan Goals:
- English/Language Arts Students will learn the fundamental reading and writing skills to be successful across content areas.
- Math Students will learn the fundamental math skills to be successful across content areas.
- Every individual at West knows that they are valued and recognizes that they have a place in our community.
Effective Instruction Junction
The Power of Being Seen - SEL
https://www.edutopia.org/article/power-being-seen
This article reinforces the value of our Invisible Kid project and our Be Awesome notes! The Invisible Kid project will be starting again soon!
West Calendar
January 20 - MLK Day - no school for staff and students
January 22 - S2 begins
January 27 - spirit week begins, informational meeting about APUSH for interested 8th graders during period 10
January 29 - 7th grade dental exams, early dismissal for students, afternoon PD, parent conferences
January 30 - parent night at BASH for current 8th grade parents at 7pm
Spread the Sparkle
Spirit Week Schedule:
Monday 1/27-Team Day
Show your support for your favorite team
Tuesday 1/28- Comfy Cozy Day
Wednesday 1/29-Orange Out for Leukemia Awareness (for MSW 8th grader: Makayla Becker)
Staff please wear Makayla shirts
Thursday 1/30-School Spirit Color War
8th-Black
7th-Red
6th-White
Friday 1/31-Spread the Sparkle day -Teen Suicide Awareness
Staff please wear our green Spread the Sparkle shirts for Devon
Makayla's Fight
Makayla continues to travel for weekly treatments. This week, her counts were not in the range for her to receive treatment at clinic. Here is the link to the webpage her family has created: https://makaylasfight.com/about/ This link includes updates on Makayla as well as links to various fundraisers. You can also order one of her shirts through this link.
There are two ways you will be able to help Makayla here at West in the upcoming weeks:
- We currently have a large stack of raffle tickets for a $500 Visa gift card drawing. This drawing is being held by the For the Love of Donna Relay for Life team. Tickets cost $1 a piece and are available in the library office. There will be 2 envelopes – place your money in one and your ticket stub with your name and phone number in the other. Tickets will be available for purchase through the month of January or until supplies run out. This fundraiser is available for staff only and is not open to students.
- Our student council will be holding a Pura Vida bracelet fundraiser in the near future. We are working out all the details with the business office to get the initial purchase made. Once the bracelets arrive, student council will be sharing more details about how bracelets can be purchased. Our students have taken the lead on this and are excited to have a way that they can feel that they are doing something to help Makayla and her family.
Thank you, everyone, for all that you do to make West a special community!
Scheduling for 2020-21 is beginning!
- parent night at BASH for current 8th grade guardians on January 30
- we will be taking all 8th graders on a tour of BASH where they will also be attending presentations about the Program of Studies on the morning of February 5
- parent night at West for current 5th grade parents on April 2
- current 5th graders visit West on May 5
West Staffing Updates
- Jillian Miller, our new learning support teacher who will be replacing Robyn Snyder, begins on January 27. Please help us welcome her to West!
- Theresa Kerr, our LTS learning support teacher who has been filling in for Stacy Morton, has accepted a permanent position in Twin Valley and finished up at West on Friday. Congratulations, Terry! Jen Eidle will be helping us out in Read 180 for a few weeks. Nicole Ervin, who is currently serving as an extended sub in autistic support at Washington Elementary, will be joining us on February 13 to fill Stacy's role until her return in May.
- Jen Eidle and Marlene Waller are serving as West building subs for the remainder of the year. That means they will be here every day to help us fill our absences.
- Emily Biedka has started as our Title I specialist and Christine Greaser is slated to join us on January 27 as our Title I para.
- We just hired another para, Annmarie Waldman, who will be joining us soon. She will most likely be serving as a 1:1.
- We are still seeking several paraprofessionals as well as an extended sub ELA teacher for Sam Painter's upcoming leave.
PSTAT
Although it is far away, you are now able to complete the PSTAT training necessary to proctor the PSSA and Keystone exams. This training must be completed by March 10. If it is not, teachers will have to complete it as part of a one hour session on March 11. My recommendation is to do it and get it off your list. When completed, print and turn in your certificate of completion to my mailbox.
The link to the training site is here https://www.pstattraining.net/
There is an option for you to reset your password if you have forgotten it.
If you are new to BASD, click “Register” and sign yourself up.
If you are new to West, but previously worked in another school, after you log-in, in the upper right-hand of the page (in white), click “My Account.” Please change your school to “Boyertown Area MS-W”.
If you have changed your name and/or email address within the last year and cannot log-in, let me know so we can get the problem solved. See me with questions.
Important Updates
Guidance Pass - Just a reminder that there are students who have a permanent pass to guidance for various reasons. Please call the guidance office first before sending a student down. If the counselors are not available and the student needs to be seen, call the main office and they will send Steph or Dave to come pick the student up and escort them to the office to wait.
Complete IEP input forms - Please complete IEP input forms when requested. It is very important that we have this input to include in not only the academic section, but also the functional performance section of IEPs. We also need to have a regular ed teacher at each IEP meeting. Thank you!
Where in the world are Steph and Dave?
January 22 - Steph and Dave at leadership meeting at Ed Center in AM
January 24 - Dave out of the building
Boyertown Middle School West
Email: sllandis@boyertownasd.org
Website: www.boyertownasd.org
Location: 380 South Madison Street, Boyertown, PA 19512
Phone: 610-369-7471
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoyertownWest/
Twitter: @WhatsUp_West