Good evening WSMS families and students,

I am so grateful and thankful to be reaching out to you this evening with the news that our District leaders and the Portland Association of Teachers have reached a tentative agreement. With this, we are pleased to welcome our students back to school tomorrow! We’ve missed seeing everyone and know that our students will have a variety of emotions about returning back to the classroom with their teachers and friends tomorrow after many weeks of unknowns.  School Counselors will be available to offer supports throughout the weeks ahead for social emotional supports and are listed by grade level here:

6th grade: Rebecca Cohen: rcohen@pps.net

7th grade: Ricky Almeida: ralmeida@pps.net

8th grade: Kandice Abney: kaabney@pps.net

Below you will find information that will be helpful for you as you prepare your student(s) this evening to come back to school tomorrow:

• Reopening date/time: Classes will resume on Monday, November 27 on a two-hour delay, with all programs and services running as normal. Both breakfast and lunch will be served.

• School doors open at 11 a.m., and classes begin at 11:15 a.m.
  

• For bus riders, buses will pick you up two hours later from your normal pickup time, at your normal stop.  As an example, if your bus were to pick you up at 8:05 on a normal day, they pick you up at 10:05 tomorrow.  

• For Monday, November 27th only, all students will report to their Quarter One classes.  We will be on a period 1-7 schedule (No Advisory tomorrow - see full schedule above).  This will give all students and Educators a final day to wrap up items together before Educators submit final quarter one grades, which are turned in by Monday, December 4th. 

• Quarter Two classes will start meeting on Tuesday, November 28th.  There are a variety of schedule changes due to quarter-long electives, and Middle Schools want to give students and Educators one day to finalize items prior to switching to some potentially new classes/teachers.

• Quarter grading and conferences: Quarter 1 report cards will be available no later than Friday, December 8th.

• Changes to school calendar: The District and the Union have agreed to make up our 11 lost instructional time on the following days:

  • Dec 18-22 (previously week 1 of the winter break)

  • January 26 (previously a professional development day for staff)

  • February 19 (President’s Day holiday)

  • April 8 (previously a professional development day for staff)

  • June 12-14 (the dates set aside for inclement weather)

• 6-12: Athletics and Extracurriculars: All athletics and extracurricular activities will resume as normal. High school and PIL Youth Sports schedules can be found here. 

I want to express my gratitude for your patience and support during this challenging time. We are all eager to return to a focused and productive educational environment that ensures the best outcomes for our students.  We love our students, teachers, and families and are happy that our school community will be together again tomorrow!

If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to reach out to Jill Hunt (jihunt@pps.net), Ben Keller (bkeller@pps.net) or any School Counselor for social emotional supports for your student(s) as they reenter school.

In Community,

Jill Hunt, Principal

~ View the full 2023-24 District Calendar here ~

November 17, 2023

Greetings, West Sylvan families!

Please click here to read our full weekly Family Communication, which was sent out via email on Friday, November 17th.

Go Wolfpack!

Jill Hunt, Principal
Ben Keller, Assistant Principal

FOR FAMILIES NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN PPS, but who are in the enrollment process:

Non-enrolled families can text  "Y" to 68453 to receive text messages about the strike and when school will resume while waiting on school-specific communications to be set up via the enrollment process.

 Quick Reference:

Last spring, when Portland Public Schools moved to ensure that every middle school in the district had an active advisory program, the focus was on relationship building and giving students and teachers the tools needed to nurture a sense of belonging.

The goals for the advisory programs were clear. What the district had yet to arrive at was a curriculum that would help everyone achieve those goals.

Harrison Park, which transitioned from a K-8 to a middle school this fall, recently held a school-wide vote for a new mascot. According to Principal Leah Dickey, these first few months as a middle school have been pivotal for students as they navigate the new exciting normal and establish an identity as a school and community. Picking a mascot has been an important part of that journey.

Principal Phu Dao is many things to the students and staff of Roseway Heights Middle School: mentor, role model, champion, friend. Ask anyone who has learned from and worked with him and they will tell you that he has dedicated his entire career to advocating for students, families, and educators. And now he’s being honored for that dedication.

Courageous Conversation, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that works with individuals and institutions to address racial disparities through sustained, fruitful dialogue, has named Principal Dao this year’s recipient of the Dr. Charles Hopson Racial Equity Principal Leadership Award. 

Bird watching, Lego robotics, gardening, mindful art, coding, running and walking, the high-stakes world of self-governance. It’s all in a morning’s work for the students of Skyline K-8, where every Wednesday begins with participation in one of the school’s many C.A.S. clubs.

Forecasting for next year 2023-24 has been extended through to MAY 12th.  Please carefully review all resources below before forecasting in StudentVue.  Thank you!

General Resource Links:

• Information about MYP (Middle Years Program) - Programming and course requirements
• Example Daily Class Schedules 
• AVID Information - Fill out this FORM if you are interested or want more information about AVID.
• Talented and Gifted information 
• Virtual Tour

Forecasting Process for Electives:

       STEP 1.  Resources and elective descriptions to review before completing forecasting: 

• Uprising 5th Graders review the following information:

  • General 6th Grade 

  • Spanish Immersion 6th Grade

• Current 6th Graders review the following information:

  • General 7th Grade

  • Spanish Immersion 7th Grade

• Current 7th Graders review the following information:

  • General 8th Grade

  • Spanish Immersion 8th Grade

• WATCH - "How to Forecast" Video

• 6th Grade Elective Video Descriptions   - (Please be aware that we do not have a current video, and this video may not represent all of our updated course options.  Please refer to the electives list for the most current elective choices.)

       STEP 2. Understand how many electives to choose:

6th graders will choose:

• 1 PE experience 

• 2 Priority Electives

• 2 Alternative Electives

7th graders will choose:

• 1 PE experience 

• 1 World Language experience

• 2 Priority Electives

• 2 Alternative Electives

8th graders will choose:

• 1 PE experience 
• 1 World Language experience*
• 1 Priority Elective
• 2 Alternative Electives

• *(8th grade students who would like full year band or dance as an elective may opt out of the second half of their world language course, but will not be able to receive HS credit for W.L.  W.L. will be taken during the first semester.)
• STEP 3: Choosing Electives in StudentVue 

1. Watch Forecasting Video to see HOW to enter electives in StudentVue

2. Log into Student Vue.

3. Use the Course Request Tab on the left menu of choices to open elective options.

4. Make primary elective selections.

5. Make alternate elective choices.

6. Lock your selections.

• If you have completed your forecasting and have made a mistake, please complete the following form and we will reach out to you to make adjustments, if necessary. 
• I MADE A MISTAKE!!! link
• OUT of District/New Student Surveys   (Open next week - March 14-18)              

• Non-Feeder School 6th Grade Survey

• Non-Feeder School 7th Grade Survey

• Non-Feeder School 8th Grade Survey 

• Questions and Support 
• If you have specific questions about this process, or need technical support, please contact:
•  

• West Sylvan Main Office westsylvanoffice@pps.net

  • 503-916-5690

• Ben Keller  bkeller@pps.net

• Kandice Abney-8th Grade Counselor: kaabney@pps.net

• Rebecca Cohen-6th Grade Counselor: rcohen@pps.net

• Ricky Almeida-7th Grade Counselor: ralmeida@pps.net