Weekly Wildcat

Career Day was a huge success today! It was great seeing so many parents as presenters, and we thank you all for taking the time to speak to our students. A huge shout out to Kim Matarese, our AVID coordinator, for organizing this day. It takes an incredible amount of time to arrange the guest speakers, gather student interest in careers and organize all the groups. Kim surely deserves this break!

I promised I would not discuss the morning drop-off, but the last two days were not the greatest. Students continue to be dropped off on the main road (even with a police officer there today!). This cannot happen, as it is a safety concern and causes even more of a back-up on the street. If you need to drop your child, please drive through the drop-off line or let them off in the lot across the street. If you do not want to wait in the drop-off line, then I recommend getting to Western before 7:50 am and you will drive through pretty quickly. Please also keep trying to get your child here before 8:00 am, so they can be in their classes in time for the beginning of instruction. There was a much longer line of cars coming in after 8:00 over the last three days. I promise, I will not write about morning drop-off in my next SMORE.

I hope you all have a fabulous spring break. I will be spending it watching GHS softball games for my twins. FYI- Once your children start playing high school sports, you will need to stop dreaming of taking trips over the spring break. Instead, you will spend your time watching games all week and driving your kids to practice and everywhere else they want to go that week. A part of me is a little excited, though, because I will not be rushing out of work to try and catch the games and will maybe get to soak in the sun a bit.

I hope you enjoy the week off with your families. I am sure you will be ready to send your kids back to us on April 23rd!

Sincerely,

Testing season will officially begin once we return from break. While we believe that our students are more than a test score, we still take these assessments seriously and want our students to perform as best as they can on them. The teachers have been working all year on skills to prepare our students. We ask that you send your child in each day with a charged Chromebook, full stomach and enough sleep to perform their best. Below are the dates of the upcoming testing:

• Wed, 4/24 & Thurs. 4/25: NGSS testing for 8th grade only
• Tues. 4/30- Thurs. 5/2- SBA testing for all grades
• Tues. 5/7- Thurs 5/9- SBA testing for all grades

During this time, we reduce the amount of homework and classroom assessments in all classes, so students can focus on getting good rest and focusing on these assessments alone.

Ollie’s 99 Restaurant (99 Railroad Ave, Greenwich) has paired up with the WMS Theater Club for one last fundraiser this school year. Please consider participating by going to Ollie’s during any of the windows listed below and using the code Western. Thank you for your continued support of our cast and crew.

1. For one week between Tuesday, April 23rd - Friday, April 26th, Ollie’s 99 will offer a 20% donation to the Theater Club on all eat in or take out dinners, when using the code: WESTERN

2. For one night on Friday, April 26th, Ollie’s 99 will offer a 25% donation to the Theater Club on all eat in or take out dinners, when using the code: WESTERN

3. For the dates of Monday, May 6th-Friday, May 10th Ollie’s 99 will also offer a 20% donation to the Theater Club on any gift cards purchased, when using the code: WESTERN