Dear West Sylvan Families,

Monday, March 3rd, is a no school day for Scholars as Educators have the option to participate in professional development. We look forward to seeing Scholars on Tuesday, March 4th. The school building is closed Monday, March 3rd, as this is a non-work day for our office team.

As you saw through the PPS Communication, the last day of school has now been moved back by two school days due to the two days off for inclement weather. This means that the official last day of the school year will now be Thursday, June 12 so that you may mark your calendars for these changes.

Educators who are concerned that at Scholar is currently “in danger of failing” a class will be updating items through the Q3 Progress Report grades which will be visible by the end of next week in Synergy ParentVue and StudentVue. Educators are only required, by contract, to enter proficiency marks on the progress reports if a Scholar is in danger of failing, so any blank areas mean that your Scholar is meeting expectations so far in those courses.

Our budget draft was shared with us this week. As we know, our school district is facing a potential 40 million dollar shortfall, leading to more immediate impacts to school sites for the upcoming 2025-26 school year. For our WSMS school team, that means a potential overall reduction is five total Educator positions for 2025-26, no class size reduction for DLI classes, and possible blending of grades in some electives (7th/8th electives). While we know that things can always improve between now and next school year, those reductions have to be planned for now. To adjust, we will prioritize our overall elective offerings for next year, and focus on the mandated core subjects that all Scholars need for our IB MYP world school curriculum: Language and Literature (ELA), Mathematics, Science, Design, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies (SS), Arts, and Physical and Health Education. Also, since this is a “draft” of budget decisions, budget allocations can change and be updated throughout this year and into the summer months, since the state budget may also adjust over these coming months. We ask for family advocacy in Salem as our state representatives finalize the Oregon budgets which impact the funds allocated to public schools in Oregon. A toolkit is shared here, with information about how to better advocate for funding for public schools.

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

MARCH

• Mon, MAR 3rd: NO SCHOOL for Students due to Teacher PD Day
• Wed, MAR 19th: EARLY RELEASE for Students at 1:45 PM due to Staff PD from 2:00-5:00 PM
• Mon, MAR 24th through Fri, MAR 28th: NO SCHOOL for Spring Break week

APRIL

• Thu, APR 3rd: End of Third Quarter
• Fri, APR 4th: NO SCHOOL for Students due to Grading Day
• Mon, APR 7th: NO SCHOOL for Students due to Teacher Planning Day
• Tue, APR 8th: Late Start for Students due to Staff Meeting (building opens at 9:20AM)

As ongoing and continued preventative work with our Scholars, we have been reteaching against hate speech in all classrooms over the last two weeks by visiting Science classes for one period. These presentations have been delivered by either our Principal, Dr. Hunt, or Assistant Principal, Mr. Keller, along with the grade-level School Counselor and the Restorative Justice Coordinator. The main areas we have retaught include, and are not limited to, the following:

• What is hate speech? What forms or types of communication can qualify as hate speech?

• What are the district (and hence our school) policies against hate speech?

• What are school disciplinary responses to reports of violations in these policies (level one, level two, level three, level four violations) for students?

• What are reporters’ rights?

• Where all discipline policies may be found and reviewed with students

• How to report hate speech and how to be an upstander instead of a bystander

Some Scholars who are taking Common Core Math 6 currently, may have the opportunity to qualify for Math acceleration in 7th grade. Our District criteria is below. All of the items below must be satisfied for a Scholar to be eligible for Math acceleration in 7th grade.

2024-26 Criteria for 6-8 Grade Math Options:

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.

NO LATE START DATES IN MARCH

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.

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

Portland Interscholastic League Youth Sports Program
https://pilathletics.sportsengine-prelive.com/page/show/2351756-pilysp-registration

Registration - FamilyID
We are excited to be using online registration through FamilyID (www.familyid.com). FamilyID is a secure registration platform that provides you with an easy, user-friendly way to register for PIL Youth Sports Programs, while allowing us to be more administratively efficient and environmentally responsible. If you need assistance registering, please contact your Cluster Coordinator.

All students must also submit the following paperwork to the Coordinator prior to participation:

• Proof of payment
• Copy of student physical: Sports Physical
• Proof of Residency: All students must participate in the High School Cluster in which they reside, and residency is based on the address you have on file with the school your child is attending. If you reside in the Dual Boundary (Grant/Jefferson, Madison/Jefferson, or Roosevelt/Jefferson) you must participate with the Jefferson Cluster. If you are unsure of which Cluster you reside in, please click here and type in your address. Proof of residency may be presented in the form of a student report card, or enrollment documentation which may be provided through your school.

Cluster Coordinator: Julie Abrams lincolnyouthcrosscountry@gmail.com

https://lincolnyouthtrackandfield.weebly.com/

For additional information, please contact the PIL District Office at 503-916-3223

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-Registration]

Kirsten Crombie

kcrombie@pps.net

Website: www.pps.net/westsylvan
Location: 8111 Southwest West Slope Drive, Portland, OR, USA