WAGGONER ROAD JUNIOR HIGH

Hello WRJH Families:

Today is the last day of the first quarter of the year. Time has passed by very quickly this fall. We have been through a lot of change and growth in a very short time. I am grateful that our students and staff have risen to these challenges and are working hard to put student learning,support, and achievement as the focus of our daily activities. I am very proud to work with your children every day, they are very respectful and strong academically. I encourage you to keep talking with your students about your expectations and goals for this year. We are accomplishing amazing things.

Next week, we will be resetting our expectations and goals. Every student will have a fresh start on Monday with the beginning of the new quarter. They all will have A’s in every class, no discipline issues, and a clean slate to start. If they achieved your expectations, please let them know that and encourage them to keep it up. If this quarter did not go as well as you would have hoped, have a great conversation with them about how they can work to meet the expectations you have for them. We are partners and even though they may not always show it, they do care about how you see them. In my experience, kids usually rise to the level of expectations when they are supported. I am working hard to bring positive change and new support within the building, but please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns that would help us better support your child. We have an amazing staff that are working very hard to ensure your child is successful.

Our fall sports are wrapped up, but our winter sports are just around the corner. If you 7th or 8th grader is interested in winter sports, please have them reach out so that we can connect them with the coaches.

Finally, thank you for your efforts! I cannot tell you how much we appreciate your support, partnership, and communication with us. It takes all of us working together in order to be successful and your effort is not going unnoticed. We had more parents coming to Parent Teacher Conferences in the fall, more positive conversations, and more support than I have experienced in the past! It is greatly appreciated.

Jason Phillips

Principal

Waggoner Road Junior High

“Where greatness comes together!”

PAPER is a secure, online tutoring service that provides students with unlimited, 24/7 academic support. Whether they’re stuck on homework, studying for a test, or need someone to read and make suggestions to their essays, there will always be experts available online to assist students in over 200 subjects and more than four languages.

PAPER tutors have been specially trained to conduct expert, academic support in a secure, chat-based platform. With a commitment to helping students learn, they’ll never give students answers, but rather interact with them in an encouraging tone to lead them forward.

This is a free service that we’re providing, so students are encouraged to use it as much as they need, whenever they need. Our teachers also have accounts and will be able to review all student activity to see what they’re working on and provide more targeted instruction as needed.

If you’d like to learn more about PAPER you can sign up for a PAPER hosted Parent Info Session, available in both English and Spanish. Or if you’d like to speak to a member of the PAPER team directly, you can reach them at parents@PAPER.co.

To see PAPER and the help it offers firsthand, we encourage you to login with your child(ren). Students will access PAPER on the student portal and use their CLEVER login to access PAPER.

We’re thrilled to offer our students the unlimited, 24/7 support that PAPER provides and we can’t wait to see what we’re able to accomplish together.

Greetings WRJH Family!

I am excited about how well this school year has kicked off. I am extremely impressed with how hard the students are working to improve their behavior and their academic performance each day! We are still struggling with cell phone usage and I would like to ask that you reiterate that the expectation is that cellphones are to be in their backpacks the entire school day.

Furthermore, we are setting a goal here to improve our student absences!! We encourage each student to be present each day. Many of you may not know but we monitor attendance each day and once a student hits a certain mark we then go through what we call the HB410 process. WIth this process students are placed on an attendance plan and monitored for 61 days. Unfortunately, if attendance does not improve within those 61 days the school will move forward with filing truancy. We never want it to reach this point as we want all of our students to be present in the building and classrooms. We love seeing them and look forward to educating them each day. A student who is in class each day giving their best is a student that will surely succeed. It is a struggle to progress students who aren’t present. We do understand that our kiddos and families get sick and also sometimes tragedy strikes, just please make sure to call in and report these instances. As always I love being a team with you, so parents/guardians let's continue to be a team and continue to do what’s best for our players !

Yours in Education,

Ms. Woodard

Assistant Principal

• Please send email to attendance.wrjh@reyn.org to notify the office about any student absence
• Instant Connect Message/Email is sent out to families to report an absence of student
• Calls home will be prompted if a student has not reported in 3 or more days
• Excuse notes should be brought directly to the office.
• If you choose to call to notify the office your student will be absent you must also send written documentation to excuse the absence otherwise the absence will be recorded in PowerSchool as unexcused
• If you need to pick your student up from school early please make sure you bring your photo ID to sign the student out of school.

Happy Fall WRJH Families!

There are so many amazing things going on at WRJH! I have had the privilege to go into many classes to see things like Scavenger Hunts, making butter, analyzing texts, problem solving, labs, and so much more! As Quarter one comes to an end I loved seeing students working hard to finish their quarter strong. Next week for our incentive Thursday, students have worked to have no suspensions, disciplines, and no failing grades. We have great activities scheduled. If you can help on Thursday please email me at april.oates@reyn.org.

Coming up we have our first PTO meeting Thursday, October 19th at 6pm this will be hosted at WRJH. I cannot wait to connect with each of you. Our teachers and classes will be having a Door Decorating Contest to celebrate the fun of fall. Spirit Week will be October 24th ~ 27th (Tuesday -Sports Day, Wed - Neon, Thursday - Throwback, Friday - School Appropriate Costume Day (No Masks and Dress Code Enforced). Also that Friday Kona Ice will be coming. So many great things that will be engaging and celebrating our WRJH Students.

As we move through the year I have been challenging students to be advocates for themselves. We often have things that students are feeling upset about, but they do not speak up for support before trying to take action. Please encourage self-advocacy. Also I encourage parents to reach out if you have concerns about things at school. Often we find that in education the rumor mill can be strong, please know that we as an administration love to hear from you! Please reach out to me anytime to talk about any concerns you have for our school or your students. We are ONE team, and together I know we can have a wonderful school year with your kids. Let's have a Fabulous Fall!

Last Call for Parent Volunteers for our first quarter incentive. We are in need of parents on Thursday, October 19th from 9:30am -11:05 am and from 2:50 pm-3:50 pm. If you can volunteer please email Mrs. Oates at april.oates@reyn.org

Dear families,

We’re going to India in Summer 2025, and you’re invited!

I am excited to tell you more about the trip we’re planning with EF Tours, our educational travel partner. Please be sure to register for this info session to be considered for this opportunity: https://rsvp.eftours.com/gt52taw

INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEETING

Date: Wednesday October 25

Time: 6pm

Location: Room A-109 at Livingston Campus. Enter through the 9X doors on the east side of the building.

Registration for the meeting is mandatory, so do not wait.

If you have any questions, Please contact Mr. Sorenson at joseph.sorenson@reyn.org

When students travel, they expand their knowledge of the world around them, discover more about themselves, and grow more confident. These skills are critical for creating the global citizens of tomorrow, and we would love to have your student join us on this adventure.

In this info session, we’ll talk about:

• How this opportunity will benefit your student

• What we’ll see and do on our trip

• Everything that’s included in this experience

• How your child can earn academic credit

• How we’re keeping this safe and affordable

• How to enroll on this trip (before it fills up!) during EF’s risk-free enrollment period

Those who register for and attend the meeting will be eligible to receive a $200 tour scholarship and be eligible for Risk-Free Enrollment if they enroll on our tour!

There are limited spots on this trip, so we would love to have you attend this meeting to learn more about this exciting opportunity!

Thanks,

Joseph Sorenson

Our school district is working very hard to identify risk factors that could be impacting your child’s mental health and academic success. As part of this effort, we are asking students in grade 7 to participate in The Rapid Adolescent Prevention Screening (RAAPS).

What is the purpose of the survey? The Rapid Adolescent Prevention Screening (RAAPS) is a standardized, validated risk identification and coaching solution developed to support providers and professionals in reducing the risk factors impacting the health, wellbeing, and academic success of youth.

What is my child being asked to do? Complete a brief survey; the survey should take about 5-7 minutes to complete.

The survey will take place on October 24th. If you do not want your child to complete the survey, please complete this Opt-Out form. Please return this form in person to the Waggoner Road Junior High Main Office or email Samantha.Heedy@reyn.org by October 18th, 2023.

Parent Opt-Out Form

October is National Bullying Prevention Month! Next week, students at WRJH will be learning more about bullying prevention and participating in Unity Day. Each October, students across the country take part in Unity Day activities as a call to action to make it orange and make it end. Unite Against Bullying. Next Wednesday, October 18th, we are asking all students and staff to wear orange in participation of Unity Day. Students are free to wear anything orange as long as it is school appropriate. In addition to wearing orange, students will be completing Unity Day activities and learning more about how they can help create a school community that is united for kindness, acceptance and inclusion.

For more information regarding Unity Day, please visit the PACER National Bullying Prevention Center webpage at https://www.pacer.org/bullying/nbpm/unity-day.asp.

For resources on bullying prevention, please visit any of the following websites:

https://www.pacer.org/bullying/

https://pacerteensagainstbullying.org/

https://www.stopbullying.gov/

https://www.stompoutbullying.org/