Dear West Sylvan Families,

Happy New Year, WSMS families! We hope that your two weeks of time with our Scholars was joyful and full of love, and we’re excited to be back together!

Thanks to family donations, we have been able to continue with our after-school Drama program, and productions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will occur on the following dates and times.

January 23rd and 24th at 7:00 PM

January 25th at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM

Please join us at WSMS in the Lower Gym to watch our young thespians shine and support our Performing Arts program! We only are able to offer these opportunities because of our family donations and support, as this is not a centrally funded position for our school.

Communications related to the upcoming school year will continue to come from both our West Sylvan and PPS district team with regular updates, weekly or bi-weekly.

Jill Hunt, Principal
Ben Keller, Assistant Principal

JANUARY

• Mon, JAN 20th: NO SCHOOL Holiday
• Thu, JAN 23rd, Fri, JAN 24th, and Sat, JAN 25th: West Sylvan Drama productions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Fri, JAN 24th: End of Quarter 2 / Semester 1
• Mon, JAN 27th: NO SCHOOL for Students due to Educator Grading Day
• Mon, JAN 27th: Family Information Night for current 5th Graders / 6:00-7:30 PM
• Tue, JAN 28th: NO SCHOOL for Students due to Educator Planning Day

Thanks to our Friends of West Sylvan partners, we are hosting another Coffee Talk this month:

Friday, January 17th: 9:30 - 10:30 AM -- NAMI presentation

Join us in the WSMS Library for the presentation Ending the Silence by the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

This 1-hour presentation for adults with middle or high school aged youth will teach us about the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, eating disorders and others), how to recognize the early warning signs and the importance of acknowledging those warning signs. We will also learn about what resources are available to support our children and their friends if we recognize a mental health issue, how to work with schools and how to talk to our children about our concerns.

All are welcome to attend this presentation about a very important topic to help us support the youth in our lives. Please check in at the Front Desk upon arrival.

All Middle Schools are moving to standards-based grading next school year. PPS Elementary Schools made this shift last year, and Middle Schools are now also being transitioned to this form of reporting. This shift is part of the larger PPS Middle School Redesign work, which you can read about here. This means that you will see different marks for proficiency starting next school year. Instead of rating a student’s ability to complete a given assignment (on the traditional A-F scale), it provides information about a student’s progress toward specific learning standards throughout each school year.

You will see the following marks to assess progress toward learning standards beginning next year:

• Highly Proficient: (HP): Consistently meets learning targets/standards with a high level of expertise.
• Proficient (PR): Consistently meets learning targets/standards.
• Close to Proficient (CP): Somewhat or sometimes proficient, inconsistently meets targets/standards.
• Developing Proficiency (DP): Does not regularly meet the targets/standards.
• No Grade (NG): Not enough evidence to assess proficiency with targets/standards.

This shift naturally aligns with our IB MYP framework, as Educators are measuring progress with rubrics that identify proficiency toward identified standards taught within each unit.

Please read this message from the Middle School Redesign Team, and the offered dates and times for parent engagement and questions:

Dear PPS Middle Grades families,

PPS is moving to a new Standards-Based Grading System for all 28 Middle Schools. The purpose is to provide clearer and more meaningful feedback to students. Some of our Middle Schools are already using this approach, and research supports its benefits. Our K-5 schools have also made progress in this direction with their report cards.

We invite you to visit our middle grades Standards-Based Grading website at pps.net/sbg. There, you can find updates, resources, timelines, materials, and FAQs.

There will be three family and community engagement events in person and virtually at the Prophet Education Center (501 N. Dixon St.) in the PPS Boardroom. We invite all who have current middle grades students or students entering into the middle grades to these presentations, where we will provide updates as well as listen to feedback and answer questions.

Family and Community engagement (Virtual and in-person):

February 13, 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

March 13, 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

May 8, 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

We believe grades are an important way to communicate with students and families. This new system will make it clearer what students need to do to meet academic expectations. If you have any questions, please contact Richard Smith at rsmith5@pps.net. Check the website often for updates. We look forward to working with you during this exciting transition.

The second round of MAP assessments in English and Math are occurring this month. For any Scholars who want to be considered for accelerated Math courses, performing well on the MAP assessments is one component of the process. More details are linked at the MAP GROWTH ASSESSMENT button above. If you would like to have your Scholar plan ahead for these assessments, practice exams are linked here:

https://warmup.nwea.org/app/gradetwoplus/gradeTwoPlus.html

https://teach.mapnwea.org/impl/maphelp/Content/Testing/PracticeTest.htm

Our planned testing schedule is shown below. MAP is a PPS exam for internal growth measurements, and we do not excuse students from taking these exams.

We are excited to welcome a new Educator to our faculty starting second semester, Mr. Ian Cockburn. Mr. C will join us to take over Ms. Melanie Morris’s classes for the second semester while Ms. Melanie is on a PPS approved study leave. Mr. C has already spent time in our building subbing this year, and has shared this introduction for our school community, and we welcome him to our team!

Please periodically review your contact information in the ParentVue app, to be sure that all phone numbers, emails, addresses, and especially emergency contacts are updated. If legal guardians are ever suddenly unavailable or unable to be reached, having some emergency contacts who can assist your student is crucial to be sure that we can get your Scholar into a safe space.

We continue to receive regular complaints from our neighbors related to parking issues at drop off and pick up each day. Some adults arrive as early as 3:00PM for our 4:00PM release and then park, which is not necessary. If you need to spend extra time parked in the local neighborhoods, please be reminded that you should not block neighbors’ driveways, should not leave your engines idling, and should not drive into their property to maneuver while parking. BPD is also partnering with the local neighborhood association to help solve ongoing issues. You can also stagger your pickup time to pick up closer to 4:15/4:20 (when all buses and cars are usually gone), and we will have adults on campus to be with your Scholars so that you can avoid the traffic.

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!

TO CREATE YOUR FoWS ACCOUNT:

• Exciting plans are ahead for WSMS and Friends of West Sylvan. In order to take advantage of our activities this year, please be sure to login to www.friendsofwestsylvan.org and get your account set up. All events will be run through this system.
• If you previously had an account, you'll be prompted to update your information upon logging in. If you are new to West Sylvan or didn't set up an account before, you'll be asked to create one. Just use your email that you provided to PPS and that will link to your family information.
• Once logged in you can determine whether you would like to be included in our family directory and what information you would like to share. Our directory requires login to access, so it's not available to the public. Any questions? Email us at hi@friendsofwestsylvan.org

School starts at 9:15 AM and ends at 4:00 PM every day, with this bell schedule:

The exceptions to these start times are on the following Staff Meeting days,

when students have a 15-minute later start at 9:30AM (with building opening at 9:20AM)

due to monthly Staff meetings *(only affecting PPS Middle Schools).
Buses should pick up 15 minutes later than the typical pickup time.

Feb 4th - March 11th - April 8th - May 6th - June 3rd

Please calendar the Early Release days this year, which are listed below. All Scholars are released at 1:45 PM, and Staff are in meetings beginning at 2:00PM, meaning we will not be available to supervise any students who are not picked up on time. Buses will drop students off two hours earlier than usual.

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