Westview Wildcat Weekly

Wildcat Family Newsletter - Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Principal's Message

Vision: Success for ALL students means equity in instruction and SEL for ALL students! Achievement is they ALL CAN by any means necessary.

Mission: Westview students will be equitably empowered with the academic, social, and emotional knowledge and skills to live choice-filled lives and be successful contributors of society.

Hello, Westview Wildcat Families! We are just around the corner from March, and we are only 30 school days away from our first STAAR administration! Teachers are continuing to work incredibly hard with planning and instruction to maximize learning and prepare our students for the upcoming STAAR exams. Our math department has worked rigorously on unpacking the TEKS (state standards), aligning this to the expectations of the curriculum, creating clear learning targets, and aligning this to their instruction. Additionally, our district has been supportive in creating exit tickets/formative assessments so that we can regularly monitor student learning.

Language Arts continues to use utilize foldables and graphic organizers to help students process their writing and access tools that support their thinking. We observed evidence of success on our STAAR Interim Language Arts assessments across all grade levels, and we are proud of the hard work from our teachers and students!

Teachers in Language Arts and Math have already reviewed interim assessment data to identify students who are making growth as well as students who continue to need academic support. We are using this data to make adjustments to our intervention groups and are using this data to identify students who are at the Meets/Masters performance levels.

As we approach March, we continue to remind our students to be Respectful, Responsible, and Safe! Students are expected to wear their IDs daily and be on time to all classes. Additionally, students are expected to treat everyone with respect and to follow our campus rules/procedures at all times! If students "SEE or HEAR something, please SAY something." This helps us maintain safety on our campus and investigate situations in a timely manner. Additionally, students can make anonymous reports through the Anonymous Alerts page.

Black History Month

Westview Middle School is proud to celebrate Black History Month, and we are thankful to Assistant Principal, Mrs. Jackson, theatre teacher, Ms. West, and math teacher, Ms. Pollard, for organizing our Black History Month programs. We had an amazing Black Boss Bash event as well as a phenomenal Image Awards performance - our students and staff spent a lot of time practicing, rehearsing, and preparing for these events, and they truly did a phenomenal job!!

Ms. Jackson singing with students holding images of influential Black leaders.

Ms. Pollard introducing Mr. Hawkins for a speech.

Student dancers performing for our audience.

Westview PTO Meeting - 3/5/25

Families are invited to join for our PTO meeting next Wednesday, March 5th. During the meeting, PTO will review updates from Principal Jaramillo, ways they are supporting the campus, and the PTO budget. Family engagement is very important! We hope to see you at our next PTO meeting.

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Location: Westview Middle School Library

Date: March 5, 2025

Spring Break

As a friendly reminder, students have spring break the week of March 17th - March 21st. Students will attend classes on Friday, March 14th before spring break and will return to school on Monday, March 24th.

5th Grade Invasion

Westview was thrilled to host current 5th grade students from Copperfield ES, Northwest ES, Parmer Lane ES, and River Oaks ES last Thursday, February 20th!

During the visit, students observed performances from Kickstart (Karate), Band, Choir, Dance, and students heard from our Cheer coach. Additionally, all 5th graders participated in a presentation from Principal Jaramillo and Assistant Principal Sonya Jackson, participated in a tour from our WEB leaders, received a presentation from our counselors about choice sheets, and watched a theatre performance. Students learned about Westview expectations, clubs, organizations, electives, and schedules! We cannot wait to have our students on campus next school year - as students were reminded, they must still finish 5th grade and work hard in their classes and on their state assessments!

5th Grade Parent Night

RESCHEDULED: Spring WMS Picture Day

Due to our testing schedule, spring picture day has been rescheduled to Monday, March 31st. We will continue to send reminders about picture day. Thank you!

Student Attendance

Regular school attendance is very important for student learning. Students who miss school more frequently are more likely to struggle with learning the concepts and may also struggle as they proceed to future grades/courses. Students are expected to be at school 90% of the time, per state law.

Westview uses EveryDay Pro to track student attendance and identify students who are excessively absent. Students with repeated or excessive absences will receive a phone call and/or text message regarding the concerns. Letters will also be mailed home per guidelines, and the campus may do regular home visits to help your student attend school. Please know that campus administrators will monitor student attendance to identify chronically absent students and truant students.

If your student must miss school, it is very important that your student bring a note to excuse the absence. Please also check your student's attendance regularly through Skyward to ensure regular attendance and that absences are noted as 'excused.'

Students who attend school regularly will be eligible to attend school events (i.e., dances, Westfest, etc.) and other celebrations. Students with perfect attendance will receive an award at the end of the 9-weeks.

Chronic absenteeism and truancy will result in meetings with an administrator to discuss absences, create a plan, and provide resources. Excessive absences can also impact a student's ability to proceed to the next grade level.

WMS Yearbooks for Sale

You can use this link to begin ordering your Westview Middle School yearbook! Mr. Barriga and the yearbook class have been working hard on making this year's yearbook look great!

Report Cards & UIL Eligibility

A friendly reminder that the UIL Snapshot for eligibility was February 21st. This snapshot can only help students regain eligibility but does not make a student ineligible.

The 3rd Nine Weeks ends on March 14th just before spring break! Students will gain or lose eligibility based on the 3rd 9 weeks' grade report (Snapshot is March 31st).

PBIS Rewards

Here at Westview MS, we award students PBIS Reward points for following campus expectations and rules. Students can redeem their points on Friday for prizes such as chips, wristbands, candy, stickers, and other rewards.

PBIS Rewards is a system to recognize and reward positive behavior. This system helps us focus on positive actions instead of punitive responses.

Student IDs

Our students have been doing a great job wearing their student IDs during the school day. Students who wear their ID daily will receive PBIS points and remain eligible for school function (i.e., dances, fall fest).

Consequences are in place for students who do not wear their ID more than 3 times, and parents will be contacted.

Lost IDs cost $5 and can be paid in the main office or online.

Beanstack Reading Winners

Westview uses Beanstack to log hours that students read! Our students have done an OUTSTANDING job of reading, and we want to recognize the following students on the leaderboard!! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!

Wildcat Spirit Teacher of the Week

At Westview, it is important for us to regularly celebrate our teachers and the great things happening across the campus! The Wildcat Spirit Award winners are: Mr. Doss and Mrs. Pena

Ms. West:

Ms. West is deeply committed to our theatre program here at Westview and has done a phenomenal job! She also put in a tremendous amount of time and energy into last week’s Black History Month presentation, which was amazing!! We are so thankful to everything Ms. West does for our students and Westview!

Mr. Juarez:

Mr. Juarez has been a tremendous resource and support for our new art teacher! He works hard to build positive relationships with his students and foster creativity through art! We are thankful to have Mr. Juarez as a Wildcat teacher!

Thank you for being amazing and for all you do for Westview, Ms. West and Mr. Juarez!!

Previous Wildcat Spirit Award Recipients for the 24-25 School Year:

Mr. Evans & Mr. Gross (Band Teachers)
Ms. Begum (ELDA Teacher)
Ms. Mosley (Math Teacher)
Ms. Christian (Science Teacher)
Ms. Coutino (Newcomer Math Teacher)
Mr. Treadwell (Social Studies Teacher)
Ms. Bustamante (Newcomer Math Teacher)
Ms. Johnson (Social Studies Teacher)
Ms. Pennington (Math Teacher)
Ms. Puentes (RLA Teacher)
Ms. O'Jack (Essential Academics Teacher)
Ms. Castillo (ELLA Teacher)
Mr. Cossey (AVID/Health/Career Pathways Teacher)
Mr. Castorino (Social Studies Teacher)
Mr. Padron (Social Studies Teacher)
Ms. Pena (Instructional Coach)
Mr. Doss (Math Teacher)

Tardy Tracking

Each week, we run a tardy report. Students with more than 5 tardies in a week or excessive tardies overall are assigned to Thursday after school detentions to make-up the missed instructional time. Make-up detention is held on Thursdays from 3:45 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Students who are reporting to class on time regularly will receive PBIS rewards and other incentives. Students who are repeatedly tardy will lose opportunities for campus events (i.e., dances, Westfest, etc.).

Cell Phone Policy

Per PfISD policy, cell phones must be turned off during the instructional day (start of 1st period until the end of the last period). We prioritize a focus on instruction, and cell phones cannot disrupt the learning or school environment.

Westview is adopting a new cell phone policy. Students will place their cell phone in the clear pocket chart next to the teacher’s desk to ensure it is not used during class. Teachers will have a system for how students will place and pick up their cell phones. Please know that if a cell phone is seen, it will be collected and turned in to the office.

1st Offense: Warning/Parent picks up the phone

2 or More Offenses: $15 fee/Parent picks up the phone

We understand that parents may need to reach their student. If a parent needs to contact their student, we ask that they call the front office at (512)594-2200. We will then call your student down to the office to speak with you. Similarly, students can use the front office phone to call a parent.

As noted above, cell phones can cause a disruptions and distractions in hallways, classrooms, restrooms, the cafeteria, and other spaces. We want to ensure our students are focused on learning and engaged at all times. Teachers for core classes will have Chromebook sets in the classroom, so students will be able to engage in learning using Chromebooks and do not need their cell phone.

Meal Deliveries

Please know that meal deliveries to the campus are not permitted (i.e., Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc.). If a meal is delivered the student will be allowed to pick it up at the end of the school day.

Westview PTO

The Westview Middle School Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) meets monthly to hear a principal's update, discuss the PTO budget, and review other campus agenda items. The PTO also helps tremendously with campus events, concession stand sales at athletic events, and providing food/treats for staff throughout the year.

Please join our Westview PTO! You can sign up using any options copied below.

Form Sign Up

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