PTMS Weekly Parent Newsletter

I. Coming Up (calendar items in the coming week or so)

II. Message from the Principal

III. Message from the Assistant Principal

• From the Attendance Office

IV. Counseling Corner

• Information on Wellness and Suicide Prevention
  
• Annual Residency Verification
• High School Selection

V. From the PTSA

VI. ASB and Student Announcements

VII. Department News

• Learning Commons
• PE
• Science
• Yearbook
  

VIII. Clubs (periodic information on extracurricular school activities)

IX. Nutrition Services

X. Multilingual Corner (includes information on ELAC other community resources)

XI. Ethic Studies Engagement Plan - 2024-25

XII. Special Education Sessions and Events (parenting classes, family events, informational sessions)

XIII. San Dieguito Union High School District Job Opportunities

XIV. Community Events (opportunities/events involving the district and its schools)

XV. Other Important Items (links to the PTMS Family Handbook, Boys & Girls Club, Webstore, etc.)

January 13 - March 17 - Annual Residency Verification Window for CURRENT 7th-11th grade SDUHSD Students.

February 10 - March 14, 4:00 p.m. - ISPE Application Window - current ISPE students must re-apply

February 24 - March 3 - 7th Graders to select 8th Grade Courses for 2025-26. Counselors to explain the process on Monday, February 24, through 7th grade elective classes.

February 24 - March 7 - 8th Grade Disneyland Good Behavior Trip Ticket Sales - $200/ea - Parent Permission and Student ID required to purchase.

March 10-14 - Wellness Week

Wolfpack families,

Happy Friday. We began this week by celebrating our Classified Employee of the Year, Ms. Nancy Baddad. Ms. Nancy is an instructional assistant who supports our students with IEPs. Her dedication, commitment and care is on display every day, and she is very deserving of this award. Congratulations, Ms. Nancy!

Also on Monday, our counselors met with 7th graders about course selections for next year. On the neon green form, students indicate their preferences for their English and elective classes. It requires a parent signature, so if your student has not yet turned the form in to the office, please have them do so next week.

In classrooms, our 7th grade science students were doing a lab on circuits using copper as the conduit, while 8th graders were doing a motion lab on friction. Both experiences required a number of trials, problem solving, and of course collaboration. The friction lab was especially energetic, and I encourage you to ask your student about it.

This week also included our 8th grade students turning in permission forms and payment for the end-of-the-year field trip to Disneyland. As principal, I never want finances to be a barrier for students experiencing all that middle school has to offer. I also recognize that the cost of the trip may be a barrier. If you, or someone you know, wishes to attend but money may be a barrier, please reach out to me directly for support. Additionally, if you wish to sponsor another child attending, please reach out to me as well.

Tonight begins the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. Our staff is aware that some students may choose to fast during the holiday, and that may have an impact on how they experience school. If this is true for your student, I encourage them to reach out to their teachers. For those who celebrate Ramadan, I wish you "Ramadan Mubarak."

Finally, our spring sports are around the corner, and the Boys & Girls club will offer a number of sports including track & field (no cut), girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, and pickleball (no cut). For more information, you can go to their website.

Have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to seeing your student Monday.

In gratitude,

Scott Wild, Ed.D.

This year, students will be participating in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). All students will take the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English Language Arts/literacy and Mathematics. In addition, eighth grade students will take the California Science Test (CAST). Additional information can be found by clicking on the link HERE.

PTMS Testing Schedule:

• California Science Test (CAST) in 8th Grade Science classes (March 17-21)

• Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for ELA in English classes (April 7-11)

• Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for Math in Math classes (April 14-18)

Students will NOT be able to use wireless headphones. Students should bring their own WIRED headphones or earbuds if they have them. As always, students should bring their charged Chromebook and charger.

If you have questions please email Lisa Graciano (lisa.graciano@sduhsd.net).

To gather more regular school climate feedback and better understand student experiences, Pacific Trails Middle School will offer a brief (7 questions/multiple choice ~5 minutes) survey next week. The selected questions come directly from the CA Healthy Kids Survey and are a sampling of engagement, wellness, and safety measures.

The survey is anonymous and confidential; no one will ever be able to connect a student with their answers, and they are private. The survey is voluntary. Students do not have to participate, but the answers will be very helpful in improving school and health programs by informing us of student perspectives.

*If you need any personal help, please do not use this survey and instead contact a staff member.

If you do not want your child to participate, please contact Lisa Graciano at lisa.graciano@sduhsd.net. Because the survey is voluntary, any student in the class may choose not to participate.

Students who qualify for ISPE can apply from February 10th through March 14th at the below district link.

If your student has ISPE this year and would like to participate again next year for the 2025-2026 school year, you MUST RE-APPLY during the application window. Please click on this district link for complete details.

Virtual Parent/Student Q&A Session is on Wednesday, February 19th, 5:00-6:00 p.m. Meeting link - http://meet.google.com/tjy-yrnj-dde

Be sure you contact Attendance (858.509.1000, x4909 or PTAttendance@sduhsd.net) if your student misses or is going to miss any class time.

For more attendance information, please see the PTMS Family Handbook posted on the homepage of our website, or you can refer directly to the Attendance Page. If you have questions or concerns, please contact our Attendance Secretary, Elizabeth Williams, at (858) 500-1000 ext. 4609. Thank you!

Course selection for current 7th graders is happening now! On Monday February 24, our counseling team met with all 7th grade students through elective classes for an 8th Grade Course Selection presentation to explain this process. Please be sure you (along with your child) have completed BOTH the online course selection in Aeries AND have returned the 8th Grade Course Selection Contract by Monday March 3 by either submitting it in the counseling office or via email to ptcourseselection@sduhsd.net. Paper copies were distributed to students; however if you need another copy, you can use the electronic version linked here and on our website. Please refer to the 8th Grade Course Selection Process link under the Enrollment Page of the PTMS counseling website for more information.

Lisa Curry, Counselor (A-Ll) lisa.curry@sduhsd.net

Carsen Anderson, Counselor (Lo-Z and MLL Students) carsen.anderson@sduhsd.net

Samantha Eels-Taylor, Student Support Facilitator samantha.eelstaylor@sduhsd.net

Annual Residency Verification is for CURRENT 7th thru 11th grade SDUHSD students ONLY - not for new incoming students. Click here for information and instructions on how to submit. It is encouraged that parents upload this information via the Aeries Parent Portal. If you are UNABLE to upload through Aeries, we will accept hard copies in the office.

If you have more than one 7th thru 11th grader in the district, you only need to submit ONE form with each of their names on that form to ONE school.

• Annual Residency Verification

• Aeries Parent Portal Uploading Tutorial - This tutorial is designed to walk parents through the process of uploading residency documentation using their parent portal.

If you have a current student AND an incoming student who will be in 7th grade next year - you must submit a separate Residency Verification for the incoming student with the other online enrollment forms you complete for the incoming student.

Please click here for complete SDUHSD Grading Information which includes a Parent Tutorial on accessing grades in Aeries.

Mental Health & Wellness Resources for Students, Staff, and School Community.

Click on the QR code to discover your PTMS Support Staff.

On March 10th, PTMS will celebrate the international Math Pi Day. We need many parent volunteers to make this event a success. For more information and to sign up, click here:

~ PTSA Website

The 8th Grade Disneyland Good Behavior Trip is scheduled for Thursday, May 29th.

Ticket sales begin on Monday, February 24th, through March 8th, and cost $200/per student.

Disney tickets will be sold at Vetha's desk in the front office. Students MUST present this parent-signed permission slip, and present their student ID in order to buy a ticket. Replacement ID cards can be purchased from Vetha for $5/each.

For more information about the trip, please click on this slide deck.

Shout Outs (marquee tiles) can now be purchased for 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, or 5-day runs. At $5 per day, you choose the start and stop dates along with your personalized message.

Click here to order your Shout Out and remember that proceeds for the purchase of Shout Outs help ASB pay scholarships for various student needs.

You can check them out on the Students tab of our website under "Student Announcements" for a running post of each week's student announcements.

Ms. Hynes and Ms. Wheeler want to thank the Art Explorations families for their donations of pencils and erasers to our classes! We are beyond grateful and overwhelmed by your generosity! Thank you for your support of our students, and for our Visual Arts programs here at PTMS!

Please click here to see everything that the Learning Commons has been up to so far this year.

Please follow us on Instagram to see what your student is up to during PE class.

Order your PE clothes here.

Pre-order your Yearbook here. Don't delay! Order your 2024-25 Yearbook TODAY!

The PTMS Science Bowl team finished 3rd place in the Central Coast Middle School Regional Science Bowl competition on Saturday, February 22 at Cal Poly. Amazing teamwork by Beron Eliezer, Ryan Kim, Thomas Jiang, and Mark Reverdatto! Please see the below pictures.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our amazing coaches from CCA - Alex Destefano, Albert Mao, Chloe Wang, and Kaden Wu who have gone above and beyond in supporting PTMS student community. Special thanks to Club Advisor Mrs. Griffen, Principal Wild, ASB Leader Ms. Main and Ms. Pierce for your continuous support throughout the season!

Congratulations!!! on the many medals won and the 2nd place standing at the San Diego regional SCIOLY competition last weekend. We are very proud of the work that each of our students and coaches have put into studying and working on the events this year. We are also very proud of the work the Oceanair, Sycamore Ridge and Mann Middle School students have put in along with the PTMS students this year. The goal and the objective of the PTMS SCIOLY program has always been inclusion of students into the Science Olympiad program, to inculcate the love of science and to help foster lasting connections with students and parents interested in science. Along with our program of about 150 students at PTMS, and helping fill the coaching gaps of our elementary feeder schools of Oceanair, Sycamore Ridge and starting a sister program at the Mann Middle school, we believe we have met our objective this year. Many thanks to our incredible coaches who have gone above and beyond to serve our student community, Principal Scott and the PTMS staff and Dr. Hearn, Mrs. Wadhwa and the Mann Middle School staff for supporting us throughout the SCIOLY season.

Posted on the Activities Page of our website, you can see all the various Clubs now being offered to all students who would like to join (and it continues to grow!) If your student would like to join one of the listed clubs, all they need to do is talk to the Advisor named with the club.

~ Club activity will be posted here throughout the year. To get a list of all Clubs currently active, please check the Activities page on our website.

To view our menu, please click here.

PIQE (Parent Institute for Quality Education) is hosting a series of workshops to empower families with supporting their student's educational journey. Workshops cover topics such as college preparation, tools and resources, working with school staff and more. The workshops are Tuesdays from 6:00-7:30 pm at Carmel Valley Middle School (3800 Mykonos Lane).

For more information, contact Jesus Ortiz, Associate Director, at facilitatosd2@piqe.org or 760-994-6017

UC San Diego's FREE annual Comienza con un Sueño 2025 conference brings together 6th-11th grade students, families & educators for a day of culture, community and knowledge. Offering bilingual workshops on college systems, admissions & financial aid, bringing together college & community resources & providing a one of a kind STEM fair!

To register, click here.

SDUHSD invites you to get involved in the Ethnic Studies Engagement Plan 2024-25. The district has developed an Ethnic Studies Engagement plan which will become a graduation requirement for high schoolers in a few years. For more information, including opportunities for involvement in the engagement process, please visit the Ethnic Studies Graduation Requirements webpage.

For a list of Special Education Informational Sessions and Family Events, please click here.

Are you going to be a Falcon at TPHS next year? Do you want to be involved in student leadership and join our TPHS ASB program?

If yes, here are all the details:

- Applications are available on the TPHS ASB website and outside the ASB room on campus starting Monday, March 3 @ 8:30 am

- Applications are due without exception in hard copy format (no electronic applications) on Tuesday, March 11 @ 2:00 pm

- Applications can be turned in at the administration office or to the ASB room before or after school

We can't wait to meet you all! Good luck!

SDUHSD middle school students enrolled in an Essentials Level math class may participate in an SDUHSD Math Bridge opportunity to determine course enrollment in math for the following school year. There are two ways for students to participate in a math bridge opportunity to move from Essentials to grade-level math: 1) enrollment in an in-person summer school course or 2) participation in the Concurrent School Year Bridge Opportunity. For more information on the Summer School Math Bridge Opportunity, please click here. Students interested in participating in the Concurrent School Year Bridge Opportunity can learn more, and register, by accessing the attached information. If you have questions about this opportunity, please contact your child's school site team.

Cheer Conditioning and Skills Clinic

~ Activities at our sister schools or district-sponsored events will be posted here.

- Boys & Girls Club - Seasonal sports information/registration.

- PTMS Family Handbook. - PTMS Cell Phone Policy

- PTMS Live Calendar of Campus Events and 2024-25 Instructional Calendar.

- PTMS Webstore

- PTMS Yearbook. - Order today!

- San Dieguito Alliance for a Drug-Free Youth - complete the Parent Pledge here.

- San Dieguito Boys & Girls Club - click the link to the left for 2023-24 athletic schedules.

- "Shout Out" Marquee Tile - 5-day stretch for $25 - Say something special about your child!

This newsletter has also been posted to our website under "Parent Communications."

Deadlines to submit articles for publication are Thursdays.

Email: vetha.pierce@sduhsd.net
Website: pt.sduhsd.net
Location: 5975 Village Center Loop Road, San Diego, CA, USA
Phone: 858.509.1000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pacifictrailsmiddleschool