SMS Weekly Update
October 27, 2022
Dear Archer Families,
We have successfully completed our second month of school!
Here at SMS, we are thankful to be settling into the school year so well, and we are looking forward to the approaching holiday season.
A BIG thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make Freaky Friday a success.
We have a fantastic Parent Support Organization, and that is something to be grateful for!
Upcoming Events:
November 2
Early Release, dismissal at 2:20pm
November 3
Fall Band Concert, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
November 7
PSO Meeting, 9:00am - 10:00am
November 9
- Deadline to register for the 8th Grade East Coast Trip
Early Release, dismissal at 2:20pm
November 10
Veterans Day Event, 8:00am - 9:30am
November 11
Veterans Day - No School
November 16
Early Release, dismissal at 2:20pm
November 17
SMS Band Bingo, 3:00pm - 9:00pm
November 18
Staff vs Students Flag Football Game, more information to come
November 21-25
Thanksgiving Break, NO SCHOOL
November 30
Early Release, dismissal at 2:20pm
Additional events may be viewed on the Sherwood Middle School Calendar.
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SMS Site Council
SMS Site Council meets once a month, from 7:30am-8:15am in the SMS Community Room.
Site Council is a great opportunity for parents or guardians to be involved in the betterment of our school! Site Council duties include the review of data, identification of school improvement needs and supporting our school improvement plan, to name a few.
If you’re interested in volunteering through Site Council, please contact Aubrey Urdahl.
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Special Education Parent Partnership
The Student Services Department invites parents to join Sherwood School District's monthly Special Education Parent Partnership meetings. These meetings provide an opportunity to build relationships, learn more about special education, and network with professionals and parents who have a passion for supporting students with disabilities. If you would like to join the Student Services Parent Partnership, please click here.
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Treering Yearbooks - 10% OFF THROUGH MONDAY!
Due to the hurricane in FL treering has extended the 10% the yearbook until the end of October.
Order your 2022-2023 SMS Yearbook now. You can begin personalizing your yearbook right away with back to school photos, fall sports/activities, summer vacation memories etc. Click here for or more information.
Please indicate your students flight time teacher when ordering. You can also add this after ordering, under “kid setting”.
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Student Footwear Notice
We have noticed an uptick in students running in slippers. Our concrete floors can be quite slippery without proper traction and we would hate to see a student injured. Please talk to your student about their footwear choices. Thank you for helping us keep all of our students safe and supporting our school expectations.
Lost and Found
Beginning in November, all lost and found items will be collected, bagged, and labeled weekly. Any unclaimed items will be donated to Goodwill on the last Friday of every month. Please have your students check the lost and found each week for any missing items. Thank you.
Tabletop Gaming Club
Meets every Thursday, from 3:25pm - 4:25pm in the commons
This club will be led by Lars Rowberg, licensed mental health professional.
In order to participate, students will need to submit a Parent Permission form and pay a $10 club fee. This fee will be directly applied to the costs of purchasing supplies for the club. Please stop by the main office to obtain the permission form. Signed permission forms and payment may be submitted to Aubrey Urdahl, through the main office.--------------------------------------------------------------
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Chromebooks
Students will need their Chromebooks to access curriculum during the school day. Please make sure that Chromebooks are charged overnight and that chargers are labeled with the student name and brought to school each day. Thank you!
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Attendance is Important!
Regular attendance is critical for academic and long term success. Let’s partner to ensure your student attends school consistently.
Help with attendance from the home:
· Have a regular bedtime and set an alarm.
· Prepare the night before (backpack, clothes, etc.)
· Keep your child home if they are truly sick (stomach ache or headache can also be a sign of anxiety).
· Help ease anxiety. Collaborate with teachers and counselors to help students feel comfortable.
· Have a backup plan. How will your student get to school if something comes up?
· Avoid scheduling appointments and extended trips when school is in session.
· Reward your child for good attendance; help it become a habit!
If you need to pick your student up during the day for any reason, please call in advance and we will do our best to get the student to the office on time.
Tardies
Being on time is an essential skill that SMS believes students must master by the time they matriculate. It is also disruptive to the classroom community when a student is late. If a student is late to school, they should connect with the front office to receive a hall pass prior to attending their class.
Being on time to class is equally as important as being on time to school. When students are on time, it shows that they are engaged and feel a sense of responsibility about their own learning. This also demonstrates respect for their teacher, and the classroom community.
Being on time to class means:
Students are in the correct classroom when the bell rings.
- If students are in the hall when class starts, they will be marked tardy or absent by their classroom teacher (more than 15 minutes late to class = skipping). Seven tardies in a week, across all classes, will result in a consequence. Tardies were officially marked in Synergy this week.
Absences
Covid-19 is still present in our community.
Thankfully, the testing and reporting process within our school district is not as invasive as last year, but we still need your help as we continue to navigate this virus. This is just a reminder to keep your child home from school if they are exhibiting any COVID-like symptoms (fever, persistent cough, congestion, sore throat, unusual prolonged headache). Please let us know if your child has tested positive by reporting a positive test result to your child’s school, or by contacting our Health Services Department at 503-825-5093. The required isolation after testing positive with Covid-19 is still 5 full days. Per the Oregon Department of Education and Washington County, we are obligated to continue to notify parents/guardians when their child has been exposed to the virus. We realize this may involve multiple emails and we apologize for any inconvenience. Please let us know if you have any questions and/or concerns surrounding COVID-19 and we will do our best to support you. Thank you.
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School Meals: Free & Reduced and Expanded Income Eligibility Programs
We recognize the impact that returning to paid school meals this year can have on family budgets, and encourage parents/guardians to complete an eligibility application to determine if your family qualifies for free or reduced meals -- even if your family may not have been eligible under federal guidelines in past years. The Oregon Expanded Income Eligibility Group (EIG) supports families who do not qualify for meal benefits using federal income guidelines. It provides meal benefits to households with incomes above 185%, but not exceeding 300%, of the federal poverty guidelines.
To apply for either Federal or EIG free/reduced meal eligibility, please complete the Online Free and Reduced Meal Application. For more details on income-based eligibility, please click the image below to access the Federal and Oregon Expanded Income Eligibility charts for the 2022-23 school year.
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SRO Corner - Officer James Wolfer, Sherwood Police Department
Let’s talk about fentanyl. In a post last March on the Sherwood Police Department Facebook page, we talked about how fentanyl related deaths continue to surge across the country. The US experiences around 100,000 overdose deaths a year, with the majority of those being opioid related. In 2021, Oregon saw roughly 745 opioid-related deaths, a 57% increase from 2020 (472 deaths) and a staggering 166% increase from 2019 (280 deaths). 90% of overdose deaths are from fentanyl.
Earlier this year, two High School juveniles in Portland died from fentanyl, likely from pills made to look like relatively safe pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin, Percocet, or Xanax but are actually counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, since it is cheaper and stronger than pharmaceutical grade drugs. These pills look identical in color, shape, and labeling to those produced by labs. Teens never know what they’re getting, and just one fake pill can kill them. Usually, we see these as blue “M30” pills.
You may be thinking to yourself, “my child isn’t caught up in the drug culture” or “my child wouldn’t even know where to get something like that.” Does your child have a cell phone? Is your child on social media platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, or Instagram? If the answer is “yes,” they likely do know about teen drug culture and may have access. Teens who are not addicts and who are not involved in the drug culture may still purchase pills -- often to deal with mental health issues, pain from an injury, or maybe just seeking a high for the first time. Much like the vaping epidemic that we have been experiencing since 2018, parents are often the last to know. Please see my previous posts on the SPD Facebook page about Snapchat, smart phones and drugs for some of the ways we’re seeing teens utilize social media to hide things from their parents.
As an aside, we are starting to see “Rainbow Fentanyl,” which are counterfeit pills dyed in multicolor. I’ve gotten a few inquiries about this, as recently a few news articles erroneously attributed these pills as being specifically targeted to young kids and adults as a marketing ploy. I want to reassure parents that this is not the case -- opioids are expensive, so dealers are not looking to “waste” them by giving them out to kids. Additionally, research has shown that dealers aren’t making them “rainbow” colored to attract children, but as a way to “mark” them as containing fentanyl and being of “high quality” for their customers, as well as an attempt to disguise the drugs from law enforcement.
I’ve attached pictures of common fentanyl pills. If you see these in your child’s room or possession, please call 911 immediately.
As always, partners in parenting,
SRO Wolfer