West Word

After a lengthy heat wave over the past couple weeks the forecasted weather is looking beautiful and much cooler😎🌞. Cooler weather can only mean one thing and that is the quickly approaching start of the 22/23 school year here at West. Faculty, staff, and administration continue to clean, prepare, and get more excited for our students to return and fill our classrooms and hallways with excitement and energy.

Activities will begin before the start of the school year with our 6th grade orientation on Thursday August 25th from 6:30 - 7:30pm. See below for more details about our 6th grade orientation as well much, much more in the following West Word newsletter.

• Save The Dates!
• Middle School Student Supply List
• New Student Tours @ West
  
• 6th Grade Orientation @ West
• 22/23 PV Middle Schools Student Handbook
  
• Student Schedules
  
• Online Verification (OLV) in ParentVUE
  
• Viking Academy K-12
  
• PA Vaccination Requirements
  
• PV Drive Thru
• PVSD Food Service Updates
• PV West Athletic Update
• PVSD Summer Reading
• Power Packs
• Safe2Say
• PV West on Social Media
• Community Bulletin Board
  
• West Weeks At A Glance
• CONTINUE TO HAVE A SAFE, RESTFUL, AND WONDERFUL SUMMER!

Please save the following dates on your calendars below. More information will be shared about each activity/event in upcoming newsletters as the activity/event approaches.

6th Grade Orientation at MS West (Students Only) - Thursday August 25th (6:30 - 7:30pm)

6th - 8th Grade Meet-The-Teacher Night for MS West Parents - Thursday September 15th

Picture Day at MS West - Thursday September 22nd

After School Back To School Bash - Friday September 23rd (3:00 - 5:00pm)

What's Important @ West Virtual Parent Info Night - Thursday September 29th (6:30 - 7:30pm)

These lists represent commonly requested school supplies for middle school students. Teachers may suggest additional items in their welcome letter or after school begins. We encourage you to label all items with your child’s name and send

them in on the first day of school.

We are excited to welcome all of our new students to West! Our new students are those that are going in to 6th, 7th, or 8th grade that are just starting their first year in the Perkiomen Valley School District and more specifically, Middle School West. All incoming 6th grade students already enrolled at PV will receive a tour at the upcoming 6th grade orientation. If you are a new student and would like a tour of Middle School West please see the tour dates and times below as well as a link to a form to complete to sign-up for your tour.

August 15 at 9:00 AM

August 15 at 1:00 PM

August 22 at 9:00 AM

August 22 at 1:00 PM

Please register below.

New Student Tour - Middle School West

We are looking forward to welcoming our incoming Middle School West 6th grade students at our 6th grade orientation on Thursday August 25th from 6:30 - 7:30pm. The evening will include some Get To Know You activities, a tour of the building, and some practice at opening combination lockers that all students will be assigned on the first days of school.

All 6th grade students may get dropped off, using the green route in the map below, at our main entrance (indicated in orange) starting at 6:30pm. At the end of the orientation (7:30pm) we ask all parents/guardians to pick up your child in the same parking lot. We also ask that when picking up your child please pull into a parking spot (indicated in yellow) instead of waiting along the curb. This will help significantly with traffic flow and student safety. Thank you for your cooperation.

Our middle school handbook for Middle Schools East and West are complete for the 22/23 school year. We are asking parents and guardians to review policies and procedures within the handbook before the start of the school year. Some policies and procedures to note are:

• attendance (pg 7)
• dress code (pg 12)
• parents questions/concerns (pg 18)
• telephone calls and cell phone usage (pg 24)
• procedure for administration of medications in school (pg 31)
• the code of conduct (pg 48)

Students will be informed and reminded of the policies and procedures within the handbook throughout the school year. There will also be handbook highlights in future parent newsletters.

Student schedules and class assignments for the 2022-2023 School Year will be available in ParentVUE beginning Wednesday, August 17 @ noon.

*NOTE: Student schedules and class assignments will only be accessible if online verification (OLV) has been completed for the student. Learn more about OLV below. If OLV is not complete, student schedules and/or class assignments will not be accessible in ParentVUE until OLV is completed.

**If you need assistance accessing your ParentVUE account, please submit a help desk ticket to helpdesk@pvsd.org.

Bus information will be available Monday, August 22nd in ParentVue.

This year, we will once again administer all typical beginning of year forms electronically as part of the online verification (OLV) process in ParentVUE. This PAPERLESS process alleviates the need for the paper forms that are typically distributed during the first days of school. Plus, online verification serves to assist us in ensuring that student demographic and family contact information are current in our system. It also provides us with an avenue to share Back-to-School information/flyers such as updated student handbooks and other pertinent information. We truly appreciate your participation in this process.

Online verification became available in ParentVUE earlier this week on Tuesday, August 9.

Please note: Schedules and teacher Assignments will be viewable in ParentVUE on Wednesday, August 17 @ noon. However, the information will only be accessible if online verification (OLV) has been completed. OLV only needs to be completed by one parent/guardian (meaning, if both parents have an account, only one will need to complete the process for their student(s)).

Viking Academy is a customizable online learning experience for resident K-12 students. We offers high-quality instruction with flexibility and all the added benefits of a traditional PVSD education. We have both asynchronous and partially synchronous programs available for K-8 students and a fully asynchronous learning environment for 9-12th grade students.

More information regarding program offerings and frequently asked questions can be found on the Viking Academy webpage. If you’d like to connect with a Viking Academy administrator to answer questions or enroll your child, please reach out to:

• Grades K-5: Mrs. Krista Venza, kvenza@pvsd.org
• Grades 6-8: Mrs. Christine Capriotti, ccapriotti@pvsd.org
• Grades 9-12: Mrs. Stef Baker, sbaker@pvsd.org
• Assistant Superintendent: Laurie Smith, lsmith@pvsd.org

In March 2017, the PA Department of Health amended its regulations to school immunizations. Students are required to comply with the PA immunization law or they can be excluded from school. Please see the guide below for more specific immunization information from the PA Department of Health.

We had greater meal participation last year than ever before and we know that our students benefit from school breakfast and lunches. Unfortunately, we are no longer permitted to provide free meals to all students. We encourage all of our families who think they may qualify for the free and reduces lunch program to apply online at www.schoolcafe.com. Financial situations have changed for many families and we anticipate that many more of our District families being eligible for our Free & Reduced Meal Program. For more PVSD food service information go to https://www.pvsd.org/departments/food-service/. Also, please see the link below for free and reduced meal information for those families that are interested in applying.

Dear PV Athletic Community,

I hope everyone is having a great summer. In the athletic department, we are working hard to prepare for fall sports. There are a few things you can do to assist us with our efforts. First, if you have not done so already, please be sure to register for fall sports at http://www.planeths.com by July 29. One of the biggest components of the registration process is to make sure you have the section 7 form completed. Section 7 is a physical examination from a physician and this is a PIAA requirement in order to try out for fall sports. It is also important to do this by July 29 to guarantee it can be processed by the first day of tryouts. I know this seems early, but we have many athletes and we have to approve all the registrations prior to the first day of tryouts. It is also important to register on time so we can make decisions on our teams and notify other school districts if changes are necessary. Thank you in advance for your help on this. The important dates for each of the sports are listed below. You can also find our most up to date schedules at http://pvvikings.bigteams.com.

Middle School Football will start August 22.

All other MS sports will start August 29.

Perkiomen Valley School District believes it is critical for students to foster positive reading habits in order to develop as lifelong learners. The district's summer reading program encourages students to read high-interest, self-selected texts. After all, summer reading is a great opportunity for each student to explore personal interests, various genres, topics he/she wants to know more about while discovering his/her own "just right" books. As an added bonus, reading high-interest materials prepares students for the demands of college and career-reading. Research strongly suggests that reading skills improve with practice and weaken when not exercised. So why have a summer reading program? The program exists to inspire a lifelong love of reading and to maintain and sharpen one's reading and thinking skills.

In addition, we are excited to share that our libraries will again be open to our families this summer! Students are welcome to visit and check out books. Mark the dates below to visit our school libraries.

PV Power Packs is a weekend food program for students experiencing food insecurity. Bags of food, including 2 breakfast items, 2 lunch items, 2 snacks, and 2 fruits, are sent home with students prior to every weekend. There is no financial information required to participate in this program and students pick up their bags from their counselor or designated person every week.

Sign up for your child(ren) to receive a Power Packs bag by filling out this form: 2022-23 Power Packs or by emailing PowerPacks@pvsd.org.

If you would like to make a donation to Power Packs, please do so by sending a check to the District Office at 3 Iron Bridge Dr. Collegeville made out to PVSD and note Power Packs in the memo line or donate through PayPal. For PayPal the email to send a donation is donations@pvsd.org. Thank you for your support!

Our students can submit an anonymous tip through the Safe2Say Program. Tips are typically related to a variety of challenges our students experience or witness, such as bullying, harassment, disrespectful language, safety concerns, etc. When a tip is received, the State (who runs Safe2Say) immediately follows up with building administrators.

We would love to have you join our social media accounts to stay updated on the latest West news and happenings. Please see below on where to find each of our accounts.

Want to find out what’s going on in the PV Community? Visit here for flyers about upcoming events in and around our area!

To submit an event for posting, please send a PDF version of your flyer to webmaster@pvsd.org for review.

Please note that Community Bulletin Board items may contain links to websites of organizations outside Perkiomen Valley School District. Items are posted to this bulletin board as a free service to the community, and should not be interpreted as being sponsored or endorsed by the district.

Thursday August 25th - 6th Grade Orientation from 6:30 - 7:30pm

Monday August 29th - First Day of the 22/23 School Year!

Thursday September 15th - 6th, 7th, 8th Grade Meet The Teacher Night

Thursday September 22nd - Picture Day @ West!

Friday September 23rd - Back To School Bash from 3:00 - 5:00pm

Thursday September 29th - What's Important @ West Virtual Parent Info Night

For more details on the 22/23 school year go to the 22/23 Instructional Calendar

Email: rcreeden@pvsd.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/pvsd.org/perkiomen-valley-middle-school-west/
Location: 220 Big Road, Zieglerville, PA, USA
Phone: 484-977-7210
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Perkiomen-Valley-Middle-School-West-114997156534928
Twitter: @PVMS_West