Dear West Sylvan Families,

Our Scholars will have a four day weekend due to the grading day on Monday, January 27th and the planning day for Educators on Tuesday, January 28th. Then, our Third Quarter (Second Semester) begins on Wednesday, January 28th. Grades for the Quarter 2 classes or Semester 1 courses will be visible in ParentVue/StudentVue by Friday, January 31st. On Wednesday, Quarter- and Semester-long courses change. Schedules can be seen in StudentVue. Contact your grade level School Counselor if there is a problem/question with the schedule you see for the upcoming quarter.

For anyone with younger potential WSMS Wolves, we are hosting our first family information night for future Wolves on Monday, January 27th at 6:00 PM. Our school team will present to families, and there will be an opportunity to tour the building after.

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

Congratulations to all of our Scholars who performed in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory over the last four days! We are so proud of all of the talent of so many of our Middle School Scholars! Thank you to all who joined to watch a show! Your support makes our performances possible!

JANUARY

• 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

FEBRUARY

• Tue, FEB 4th: Late Start for Students due to Staff Meeting (building opens at 9:20AM)
• Tue, FEB 25th: (*new date!) Late Start for Students due to Staff Meeting (building opens at 9:20AM)
• Wed, FEB 26th: EARLY RELEASE for Students at 1:45 PM due to Staff PD from 2:00-5:00 PM

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.

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 - Feb 25th [*changed from Mar 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.

NEXT EARLY RELEASE DATE: February 26th

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

LHS Counseling website

If you have any questions as you review the following information, please don't hesitate to reach out to the LHS Counseling team -- whether over the phone, via email, or in person.

INCOMING 9th GRADERS FORECASTING PROCESS:

Step # 1 - Review the 9th Grade Slide Show and 2025-2026 Freshman Forecasting Sheet

*On January 23, 2025 @ 6-7pm, LHS Counselors hosted an incoming 9th Grade Parent Information Session and presented the slide show linked above.

Step # 2 -

1. If you are currently attending West Sylvan, please follow the steps on slide 16 (click here).

2. If you are a nonPPS student planning to attend Lincoln or an incoming freshman from a middle school other than West Sylvan, please follow the steps on slide 17 (click here).

The Lincoln Youth Baseball Spring 2025 season is right around the corner! Registrations are open and the LYB Showcase is on Sunday, February 9 from 11am - 1pm at Lincoln High School.
The Showcase event is a casual day geared toward new and returning players who are interested in trying out baseball. There will be wiffle ball, plus stations for batting and other activities to have fun with other players and families. If you want to support this event, spread the word and volunteer to help with whiffle ball, batting cages, a “what’s your walk up song” booth, or concessions. Get out your Cards hat and uniform and see you there! You can register for the Showcase and also sign up for the Spring season (K-6th grade) Little League now.

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