July 11, 2022

Greetings West Sylvan Middle School Families,

We hope that you all are enjoying summer break!  Administratively, we are still doing a great deal of preparation and planning for the 22-23 school year, and we’d like to share a few key pieces of information for families to help with a successful start to next school year.  

• Updated Start of School Dates: A recent vote by our school board has allowed us to devote the first day of school, Tuesday, August 30th as a “Jump Start” day for 6th graders only.  This devoted day will be targeted time for our educator team to welcome our newest members to West Sylvan Middle School and help them have one day together before the entire student body joins us on August 31st.  Only 6th graders will come to campus on August 30, 2022.  7th and 8th grade students will begin school the next day on Wednesday, August 31st.  
• Updated Electronics Items: 
• All students are issued a PPS Chromebook to use for classwork.  For the newest scholars, these will be distributed within the first weeks of school.  

CELL PHONES/ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT & DEVICES (New for 22-23 school year)

• All personal devices, other than a school-issued chromebook, should be left at  home. Our policy is OFF and AWAY during the school DAY.  
• Families can communicate through the office phone if there is a need to leave messages.
•  If cell phones and electronic equipment,  including earphones and earbuds, are brought to school, they must remain off and be kept in the locker at all times between 9:15 AM and 3:45 PM. Cell phones &  electronic equipment are not to be kept on a scholar’s person (pocket, schoolbag,  binder, etc.) for the duration of the school day.  
• Scholars who are using their cell phone or electronic device, or have their cell  phone/device outside of their locker, without permission from an educator or staff, will  have their phone/device taken away and turned into the office for pick-up at the end of the school day.  Families will be notified if this occurs.  

• School Supplies List for 22-23: Educators may update items with individual classes, and this is a general list to guide your planning.

General WSMS supply list

8th grade specific list

• Family and Scholar Opportunities: 

Lunch monitors: Any adults who are approved as PPS volunteers, we would love your 

involvement in supporting lunch recesses.  If you are interested, please add information here 

about your availability, and we will be in contact with you.  

Sign language club: We will have a couple morning clubs offered with details about dates to 

come.  Families would need to self-transport to campus by 8:15a.m. If you have an interested scholar, please complete the form here.  Once more details are available, the leaders will be in contact.  

• Student Schedules: 

Scholars' class schedules will be available for viewing in Synergy the week before school starts.  Placement issues will be addressed as first priorities for any schedule changes.

Enjoy July! Go Wolfpack!

Jill and Ben

~ MARK YOUR CALENDARS ~

• JUNE ~ Pride Month
  
  
• Fri, June 10th ~ 8th Grade WSMS Foundation-sponsored event at Oaks Park (evening)
• Fri, June 10th ~ LAST DAY OF SCHOOL *grades finalized by the next week

~ View the full 2022-23 District Calendar here ~

June 10, 2022

Happy Friday West Sylvan Families,

With this last communication of the 2021-22 school year, our entire WSMS Educator group would like to extend our gratitude to our families for all you have done to support and help our scholars this year! To say that these were uncommon and challenging times would be an understatement. Our Educators did such a phenomenal job providing safe and rigorous learning experiences, in spite of all of the challenges. Thank you to all of our Educators and our families for your collaboration this year! We look forward to many more enhanced opportunities for collaboration in the 2022-23 school year!  Last night’s Promotion Ceremony was full of smiles, laughs, some tears, and a lot of hope for the bright future ahead of this class of 8th graders!  We have one last WSMS Foundation event this evening to celebrate the 8th grade Class of 2022.

Staffing News for 2022-23:

• Rosemary Boardman will continue with our team, teaching Math.

• Judy Savinar will join Clair McInnis in the Library as our new Library Assistant.​​​​​​

• Michael Derheimer will be teaching in the Learning Center.

• Carter Latendresse will be joining our ISC Paraeducator team.

• ​​Rylie Wolff will take over teaching our ISC program.

• Arabic Educator from TCLP grant *(TBA)

Saying Farewell to our WSMS Educators:

Howard Goldstein - an Educator in PPS since 1992, is retiring. Howard has brought Science to life for scholars for several generations of WSMS families, and we trust that he will both enjoy retirement, and hopefully, join us again soon to help sub once he’s bored of being away from campus!

Katherine Yarlott will officially retire after this year. Ms. Yarlott has been one of our beloved Math Educators since 2004 in PPS. We have missed Ms. Yarlott since her departure earlier this year, and we trust that retirement will be full of relaxation and new adventures!

Daniel Polzin - one of our 7th grade Language Arts/Social Sciences Block Educators will be moving abroad this summer and taking on a new teaching position next school year in Columbia while getting to finally join his new bride. We thank Dan for his years of service with PPS since 2014 and for his unwavering dedication to our WSMS scholars and families. We wish him lots of success in his new chapter!

Lili Pill-Kahan - our ISC Educator since 2019 in PPS, recently received a promotion to be a TOSA in Special Education for PPS for next school year!  We are excited to continue having Ms. Pill-Kahan’s support to our school in her new district role next year!

Please click here to read the full Family Communication email

Go Wolfpack! Have a great Summer!

Jill, Evening, and Ben

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 Quick Reference:

Dear PPS Community, 

This summer, youth gun violence has increased throughout the country and in the city of Portland.    This year 729 shootings have occurred throughout the Portland area, impacting PPS students, families, and entire school communities. This is traumatic for all and we encourage you to support one another and anyone impacted by gun violence in our community.

Dear PPS Community,

A moderate to high heat risk forecast continues in effect for the Portland Metro area. Here are safety measures and resources to follow to prevent heat related illness:

• Multnomah County has four 24-hour cooling centers, plus libraries with air conditioning
• The Oregon Health Authority has tips to stay safe in heat
• Beat the Heat- these are tips to help you prepare for extreme heat and information on heat related illnesses
• OSHA/NIOSH Heat APP - a heat safety tool app user guide
• If you know someone in need of shelter or drinking water, please dial 2-1-1, or email help@211info.org

Dear PPS Community,

A moderate to high heat risk is forecast for the Portland Metro area starting Monday, July 25 through Thursday, July 28. During this week, we will make every attempt to make decisions about summer program pauses and schedule changes by early morning. The health and safety of our students, staff, and partners is our top priority.

Dear PPS Families,

Portland Public Schools is committed to providing all students with high-quality instruction that helps students in all grades achieve our Graduate Portrait. We are taking important steps for next school year to ensure high-quality teaching and learning in every classroom, every day. We are introducing new, culturally relevant curriculum materials and a new instructional framework to provide teachers the tools they need.

Uprising 5th Grader Parent Visit Slideshow -

Presentation Slideshow. for May 9 and May 23.

Forecasting using Studentvue has now passed.  Please use the following information if you still need to communicate your elective choices with us: 
General Resource Links:

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

Forecasting Process for 5th graders who missed the deadline and who HAVE NOT shared their choices yet. (We recognize that forecasting was more technical than in years past.  Please use the following resources to complete this less technical 'survey' so we have your information for next year's classes.)

       STEP 1.  Resources for review BEFORE completing forecasting: 

• 6th Grade Electives Descriptions (PDF)
• 6th Grade Elective Video Descriptions   - (Please be aware that we do not have a current video and that this video may not represent all our updated course options.  Please refer to the electives list for the most current elective choices.)
• 7th Grade Elective Descriptions (PDF)
• 8th Grade Elective Descriptions  (PDF) 

       STEP 2. Understand how many electives to choose:

6th graders will choose:

• 1 PE experience 
• 2 Priority Electives
• 2 Alternative Electives
• Spanish Immersion Choose 1 PE, 1 Priority Elective and 3 alternate electives.

7th graders will choose:

• 1 PE experience 
• 1 World Language experience
• 2 Priority Electives
• 2 Alternative Electives
• Spanish Immersion Choose 1 PE, 1 Priority Elective and 3 alternate electives.

8th graders will choose:

• 1 PE experience 
• 1 World Language experience*
• 1 Priority Elective
• 2 Alternative Electives
• Spanish Immersion Choose 1 PE, 1 Priority Elective and 3 alternate electives.

*(students who would like a 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: Sharing your elective choices with us:

3. Complete the following survey - Incoming 6th Grade survey

OUT-OF  District/New Student Surveys                

• 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:

• Kirsten Crombie, Registrar: kcrombie@pps.net; 503-916-5690
• Ben Keller-Rising 7th & 8th Grade Forecasting: bkeller@pps.net
• Evening Krauel-7th Grade Forecasting: ekrauel@pps.net
• Kandice Abney-7th Grade Counselor: kaabney@pps.net
• Rebecca Cohen-8th Grade Counselor: rcohen@pps.net
• Ricky Almeida-6th Grade Counselor: ralmeida@pps.net