We hope you and your family stayed safe through the storm on Thursday. Resources for families are listed in this newsletter. Do not hestitate to reach out to someone (Dean, Counselor, Social Worker) should you or your student need assistance at all. We are here to help.
Because we understand that your home may have been without power for multiple days, we are relaxing our dress code both Monday and Tuesday and well re-assess by Tuesday afternoon. Details for Free Dress are also listed in the newsletter.

Please note this is our last week until MAP EOY testing so Math, Science, and English classes will be doing their best to work on spiraling back to previously learned skills.

Finally- Monday, May 27th is a student/staff holiday.

💙 #GrizzlyValues 💛

Calendar Notes

• Thu, May 23- Houston ISD Fine Arts Showcase - Hattie Mae
• Fri, May 24- WBMS Band Concert- 6pm- Westside HS
• Mon, May 27- Memorial Day Holiday
• Tue, May 28 - Fri, May 31- MAP EOY Testing
• Fri, May 31- 8th gr Formal Dance- 6:30pm-9:00pm
• Sat, June 1/ Sun, June 2- Theater Arts Musical Shows - WB Auditorium
• Tue, Jun 4- 8th Gr Bridging Ceremony- Westside HS

AM Announcements Bulletin Board

(Morning announcements are shared on this board. Students are able to view in the Grizzly Den 23-24 Canvas Course.)

FEMA is starting to pay for lodging and food loss. If your family has been impacted, contact them for support.

• Contact #: 1 (800) 621-3362

Students are given 90 minutes to take each MAP EOY (End-of-Year) test. To accomodate this testing time, we will follow the below adjusted bells chedule Tuesday, May 28 through Thursday, May 30th. Any student absent for a test will be called to make up the test Friday, May 31. Students should be sure to be on time for MAP testing days and come well-rested. Students are also working with their teachers to determine their MAP EOY Growth Goals....students should be focused on bettering their scores from the BOY tests. We know they'll show off all that they've learned this school year!

12 Common Questions for Parents on Map Growth

Get your West Briar Yearbook Now!

There's nothing else like your school yearbook. Get your hands on a limited edition collection of stories from our Grizzly school year. Share it, get signatures, and keep it for years to come!

Order now and will be delivered to school at the end of this year.

Go To: WEST BRIAR MIDDLE SCHOOL HOUSTON, TX - 2024 Yearbook | Jostens

Attn 8th Graders! SAVE THE DATE - FRIDAY MAY 31, 2024!

The 8th Grade Formal, Under the Stars will be held on Friday, May 31st from 6:30pm until 9:00pm in the WBMS Cafeteria.

Pre-sale tickets are $10, tickets not pre-purchased will be $20 at the door. Tickets may be pre-purchased online (https://www.westbriarpto.com/Open_Forms) with credit card or in the cafeteria during B & C lunches May 15-29 with cash. Only 8th grade students may attend, one ticket per student, no guest tickets allowed. 8th Grade Formal tickets are non-refundable.

• Students must bring their Student ID to check into the dance.
• Concessions will be available for purchase at the dance, $1-$2 (cash, card, or some digital options).
• Each student will receive a cupcake and water with their entry.
  

The dress code is semi-formal or formal attire. For pants, no jeans, no leggings, no athletic pants, no sagging, no shorts. For dresses or skirts, must be fingertip length and for dresses or tops, no strapless, no backless, no low cut, no midriff.

Attendance and entrance to the dance is contingent upon good behavior and is at the discretion of WBMS administration.

We need LOTS of parents to help make this dance a success!

If you would like to volunteer to help with ticket sales before the dance, or to help with a number of other positions at the dance itself, please Sign Up Here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B044AA5A623A6FB6-49261232-8thgrade#/

ATTN: Food Delivery Services (uber eats, etc.) are NOT permitted during the instructional day including lunch time. Food delivered to our campus from a delivery service will be left in the Front Office and can only be picked up by the end of the instructional day. Parents may bring up a forgotten lunch for a student before their designated lunch period and that will be delviered.

Students- absolutely- should not be ordering food from any type of delivery service for themselves. This violates our campus/district cell phone policy and consequences will be enforced.

Some parents and students received Student Attendance- Principals Plan - packets that went home recently. We would like to share with your state school attendance policy so that you may best understand what is required for your student. As always, should you have questions regarding your student's specific attendance- you may contact Ms. Young- our Attendance Clerk.

Breakdown of Attendance Law/Policy

• A child is considered chronically absent if they miss two or more days a month. This includes excused & unexused absences. There are two main attendance laws that students must follow:
• Compulsary Attendance Law- students must provide necessary documentation for each period or day absent from school.
• 90% Rule- students must be present for each course 90% of the school year. Therefore, they cannot be absent more than 10% of any core class period. This equates to roughly 17 days/periods in one school year.
• The Principal's Plan for Attendance seeks to help students earn the credit missed back by allowing a student to make up missed class time through tutorials or other academic interventions outside of the regular school day.
• If the last day of school passes and any student is still in need of making up credit for attendance, an Attendance Committee will meet to determine promotion or need for make-up credit (summer school). Having the Principals Packet with Parent Appeal paperwork filled out early, will help avoid it getting this far.
• Principals Plan paperwork was sent out to any student who had missed over 10% of one course in each grading cycle to try to tackle attendance issues early. Again, your student may have received a letter but not be in jeaopardy of violating either the compulsary attendance or the 90% rule for attendance. You can make sure your student is following law by:
• Turning in any absence notes for any missed period or full day.
• Ensuring your student does not miss more than 10 days or periods in any course this school year. (At 15 days/periods, we will review the attendance plan and the committee will meet for your student's attendance. Best practice is that an appeal should be filled out in this situation. If the student has excessive unexecused absences, the atendance committee will meet to review compulsary attendance.)

District Resources for More Information

• HISD Attendance Attendance Department Page
• HISD Attendance Policy Page
• Compulsary Attendance vs. 90% Attendance Rule

#AttendanceMatters

West Briar's Dance Company has been asked to perform at the below Fine Arts Showcase at xthe Hattie Mae White building (flyer below). Come support our students as well as a display of all HISD Fine Arts!

Current 6th & 7th grade students:

Urban STEM is holding a FREE summer STEM camp with transportation provided from a campus (when 5 or more students enroll) to the HCC camps. There are only 20 seats in each camp.

Applications are below.

Attendance: Ms. Young - syoung1@houstonisd.org

Registration/Enrollment- Ms. Cooper - mailto:nakiyah.cooper@houstonisd.org

Nurse: Nurse Papillion- rebecca.papillions@houstonisd.org

Special Education Secretary: Ms. Aguilera- joana.aguilera@houstonisd.org

6th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Bass - vbass2@houstonisd.org

7th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Edwards- mailto:latosha.edwards@houstonisd.org

8th Grade House Secretary: Ms. Johnson - mailto:ajohns44@houstonisd.org

Social Worker: Ms. Taylor- madison.taylor@houstonisd.org

Wraparound Specialist: Laurencia Nwanko- mailto:laurencia.nwankwo@houstonisd.org

User Device Technician (UDT) (Laptops)- Mr. Harding: nicholas.harding@houstonisd.org

Campus Administrators Webpage (includes new School Counselors)

Faculty/Staff Directory