West Sylvan Middle School

Thank you to Friends of West Sylvan for organizing our first coffee of the year! We hope to make these sorts of opportunities more frequent, and we welcome any feedback on how to offer ways to meet together throughout the year! Also, we appreciate all of the families who joined the virtual Outdoor School meeting to hear more about the week in October when all sixth graders have the opportunity to go to various camps for a weeklong overnight outdoor education experience.

Drama club is starting on September 19th! Mr. Louis Kruse is returning to lead our Drama program again this school year! If your student is interested in joining, please see Mr. Kruse’s announcement below.

Enjoy the weekend!

Jill Hunt, Principal
Ben Keller, Assistant Principal

OCTOBER

• Wed, OCT 4th: LATE OPENING for Educator PD
  
  
• Thu, OCT 5th: Back to School Night at West Sylvan from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
  
  
• OCT 8th ~ 13th: Outdoor School for Sixth Graders (*overnight stay all week with curriculum at the camps)
  
  
• Fri, OCT 13th: NO SCHOOL for Educator Planning

An informational meeting for Sixth Grade families occurred on September 14th at 6:30PM. A link to the recording is here, in the event that you were unable to attend the virtual meeting. Thank you to over 90 family members who joined to listen about Outdoor School and ask questions!

• Informational Video - (45 minutes - close captioned)

• Outdoor School Website
  
  

• ODS OPEN HOUSES:
  On-Site Open Houses for camps Angelos, Collins, Kuratli, and Namanu
  Sunday, September 17, 4pm – 6pm.
  *(in-person at all camps except Westwind, which is online)
  Open House for families to visit, explore the site and ask questions. Please refer to the information from your teacher packets about which site you will attend to know which Open House you would visit.

Thank you to family members who have expressed an interest in sharing positive feedback to the MYP Authorization Team for our upcoming visit! WSMS is engaging in our authorization visit the week of September 25th, and our Educators are gearing up for this process. This is a two-day virtual visit, which will include the sharing of class videos and evidence of our students’ hard work and collaborative projects to highlight the MYP growth of our school. Please reach out to Clair McInnis (cmcinnis@pps.net) if you are willing to participate.

Portland Interscholastic League Youth Sports (PILYS) is a wonderful opportunity for additional involvement and provides opportunities to meet new friends. All information to register students for PIL Youth Sports is located here.

** After-school sports are run entirely through PIL. West Sylvan does not have any information regarding tryouts, practices, schedules, etc. **

Both the zero period Choir class here at West Sylvan and the Arabic class at Lincoln High School have openings for more students. For the Arabic class at LHS, only 7th and 8th graders whose schedule can accommodate this class can join. Please contact Mr. Keller at bkeller@pps.net for adding Arabic or Choir. Choir meets from 8:00AM - 8:50AM Monday-Friday each week.

In meeting with the West Slope Neighborhood Association on 9/14/23, they are thankful so many families are helping keep their personal driveways clear during drop off and pick up. Please do not park in our neighbors’ driveways or block their personal property. On the narrow streets, please be cautious that you are not impeding traffic by blocking the street. Form two lanes for drop off and pick up so that more vehicles can move through the process in a timely manner. You can always pick up students at 4:00PM, if it helps you avoid the traffic lineup. We ask that you please call the office if you are running late and won’t be able to pick up until after 4:30PM.

We have reviewed expected bus behaviors in Advisory. Students will be suspended from riding the bus for failure to follow expected safety rules, and families will take over the responsibility of transporting students to school. Also, thank you to our families who reported concerns about overcrowding on certain buses. We have been working closely with PPS Transportation to try to resolve the concerns, and the routes will be adjusted starting Monday, September 18th.

Please make every effort to pick up students before or after their grade-specific Lunch period (see below). Once students are scattered around the field playing at recess, picking up during Lunch recess becomes more timely for all involved.

6th Grade LUNCH: 11:37 AM ~ 12:07 PM

7th Grade LUNCH: 12:31 PM ~ 1:01 PM

8th Grade LUNCH: 1:25 PM ~ 1:55 PM

Breakfast is available in the hot lunch room at that time. Students with Choir before school (appears as period 0 on StudentVue), start school at 8:00AM each day. Students should ring the doorbell at the front doors upon arrival. Thank you to our generous private donors for the opportunity to bring Choir to WSMS again!

Ms. Crombie accepts Chromebooks for repairs between 10:00AM - 3:00PM each day. Damaged devices are picked up for repair each Friday, and are usually returned the following Friday. A loaner Chromebook can be issued to students in the meantime. Remind and encourage your student to take care of their Chromebook, and keep them in protective cases. Chromebooks are used for class assignments daily. Students will need to charge their device each night and bring their charged Chromebook to school each day. We do not have enough loaners to give to students who forget their Chromebooks. Students and families will be responsible for paying for replacements for lost chargers throughout the 2023-24 school year. They will be ordered through PPS OTIS, and cost $12/each.

Students took their school picture on Thursday, September 14th during their Science class. All students who took their picture received a lanyard with a protective case, and we will be teaching students about this new PPS District expectation for all Middle School (and High School) students through Advisory. Many of our students are already practicing safe habits by wearing their ID to school! The updated PPS Safety Plan for Middle and High School students requires students to have their school IDs daily. Students can check out library books, buy breakfast and lunch with their IDs, and they can use this ID on school transportation to show identity. If your student was absent, there is a makeup picture day on October 26th.

WSMS is a cell phone free zone from 9:00 AM - 3:45 PM daily. We request and advise all families to keep scholars’ cell phones at home during the school day. If a scholar brings a cell phone to school, they will be expected to store their turned-off phone in their locker throughout the entire school day (including lunch periods). Important messages can be sent to our main office via email (westsylvanoffice@pps.net), and will be forwarded to your scholars’ PPS student email account. If your scholar chooses to use their cell phone, smart watch, air pods, tablet, et al, it will be confiscated. If your scholar uses their device to check a text from and/or answer a phone call from you, their phone will be confiscated. Please do not text or call your scholar during the school day, except in case of emergency.

Social Media Blocked on PPS Devices:

New this year, our OTIS team is blocking all social media access on school devices. Also, WSMS has an expectation that cell phones are off and away throughout the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods. If you notice content that your student is accessing that you believed should be blocked, please reach out to the team at PPS OTIS.

For questions about your scholar’s bus route, district transportation options, or times for pick-up, visit the Transportation Department’s website. The WSMS Office is unable to change bus schedules, and all calls regarding buses will be redirected to the Transportation website.

A couple of buses have had late arrivals to and from school already this year, and we are hopeful that this will get better at drivers become more familiar with their routes.

Counselors are available by email. Please refer to the following list for your School Counselor by grade.

Students are welcome to bring their own sack lunch and are encouraged to bring a reusable water bottle daily to refill throughout the school day in our water fountains. Scholars will have to pay for school lunch, and information about plans and assistance are here. We have three separate lunch times, by grade level (see bell schedule here). Menu information and pricing is available here. This will be updated throughout the year. Families needing to apply for free and reduced lunch assistance can also find details by clicking on the Nutrition Services link here.

2023-24 Menu Prices (PK-8)

Breakfast: $1.60

Lunch: $3.00

Milk: $0.50

Interested in Volunteering and Being More Involved?

Become an approved PPS volunteer by following the information here. Once your application is approved, please contact the Main Office to see how and when you can be of service. Our Friends of West Sylvan parent/family organization also regularly shares ways to get involved on campus, specifically to volunteer in the Library, monitor hallways, help in the Main Office, help in classrooms, and do recess duty.

We can hardly wait to have more families involved in volunteering on campus, taking part in Friends of West Sylvan, and serving on School Site Council and School Climate Committees. If you may be interested in having a voice in one or more of these school groups, please sign up here.

We are currently looking for parent volunteers to run Oregon Battle of the Books this year. OBOB is quite time-consuming, and we do not have adequate staffing in the Library to make it happen without a team of committed volunteers. Reach out to Clair McInnis (cmcinnis@pps.net) for details.

The Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) is a statewide voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program sponsored by the Oregon Association of School Libraries in conjunction with a Library Services and Technology Act grant. Students in 3rd-12th grade, regardless of ability, are exposed to quality literature representing a variety of literary styles and viewpoints.

Friends of West Sylvan is parent/family organization that supports Scholars and Staff and fosters community connection through fundraising and volunteer opportunities. Join the mailing list and stay connected with other families!

MAIN OFFICE

westsylvanoffice@pps.net

(503) 916-5690

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/ PRINCIPAL'S SECRETARY

[Staff / Substitutes / Financial]

Jerda Solonche

jsolonche@pps.net

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/ SCHOOL SECRETARY

[Students / Attendance / Enrollment]

Kirsten Crombie

kcrombie@pps.net

Website: www.pps.net/westsylvan
Location: 8111 Southwest West Slope Drive, Portland, OR, USA