West Sylvan Middle School

Dear West Sylvan Families,

Lots of fun was had this school week! The 5th Graders from Ainsworth were able to join us for their school visit on Tuesday to see all of the fun of Middle School! Both our Band and Choir students performed at Lincoln HS this week to showcase their talents! Our 6th Graders engaged in a Day of Service on Friday, an activity aligned with our IB MYP work to have service learning experiences for our students. Also on Friday, Friends of West Sylvan hosted treats for our 6th and 7th Graders during lunch, and our 8th Graders had a fun Friday! The 8th Grade students had their yearly field trip to Oaks Park together on Friday, and then they had the opportunity to attend their semi-formal Pack Party on Friday evening! Thank you to all family members who gave their time, energy, and love to make these events memorable for our students during this last full week of the 2024-25 school year!

We’ll be wrapping up final projects and tests in classes next week. All library books should also be returned by next school week. While we do have some added bonus days in the school year next week to make up for winter weather school closures, if students are not attending any days, please let the office know by sending an email to westsylvanoffice@pps.net.

Go Wolves!

Jill Hunt, Principal
Ben Keller, Assistant Principal

Pictured: Ainsworth 5th Graders listening to our Bands

JUNE

LGBTQ2SIA+ Pride Month

• Wed, JUN 11th: Eighth Grade Promotion Ceremony at Lincoln HS Gym from 6:30-7:30PM followed by refreshments in the Commons *(Students ARRIVE BY 6:00PM for lineup)
• Thu, JUN 12th: Final Day of Instruction for 2024-25 school year
• Fri, JUN 13th ~ Mon, AUG 11th: school building closed to the general public due to construction/repairs
• Mon, JUN 16th: Last contractual work day for Educators *(building is closed to the general public)
• Wed, JUN 18th: Last day for Office Administrative Assistants *(no phones will be answered or emails responded to while on Summer Break).

School starts at 9:15 AM and ends at 4:00 PM every day, with this bell schedule:

We love and appreciate all of our WSMS Staff members. Also, as a WSMS staff we received a reduced amount of allocated staffing for the 2025-26 school year, resulting in a reduction of 5.5 staff positions in total as we move into the new school year. Some of the staffing changes are outlined below, and we would like to extend enormous gratitude to all staff who are not returning to WSMS next school year! Please continue to advocate for fully funded education models with our state legislature by referencing the PPS Advocacy Toolkit! With our staffing changes, some staff members will assume new roles/responsibilities for 2025-26, and those changes are also noted here:

Continuing with us in a modified role next school year, Ms. Kandice Abney, School Counselor, will split time between our site and Jackson Middle School. Ms. Kandice will be with us two days a week next school year and will be our 504 Coordinator while leading special projects with the School Counseling Team.

Continuing with us in an adjusted role next school year, Ms. Jean Jett will be our half-time Site Based Instructional Coach, and Ms. Jett will also teach 6th Grade Social Science next school year for the other half of her assignment. We look forward to having Ms. Jett back in the classroom leading our students!

Thank you to Mr. Michael Derheimer who has worked as an Educational Specialist in Special Education for the last several years at WSMS! Mr. Derheimer will be amazing in his new role in Happy Valley!

Thank you to Mx. Maggie Lombard who taught 6th Grade ELA/SS, 8th Grade ELA, and English Intervention this school year. We wish Mx. Maggie lots of luck in their next teaching role!

Thank you to Mr. Bryce Phillips who joined us after the start of the school year when Ms. Laurel Richards resigned from PPS. Mr. Phillips led the charge with our students to create this year’s school yearbook as part of his responsibilities, along with teaching 6th Graders in English and Social Sciences. We greatly appreciate Mr. Phillips’ time at WSMS!

Thank you to Mr. Sebastian Strickler who joined us as a temporary Spanish Educator this school year after the retirement of Ms. Ingrid Petersen mid-year! We wish Mr. Strickler, “Profe,” lots of success in his next role! Thanks for making Spanish fun for our students during the second semester!

Thank you to Mrs. Samantha Piers-VanderPloeg who has served in a variety of roles this school year, first teaching some temporary Spanish, and then taking over our ELD teaching assignment when Ms. Ingrid Petersen retired from PPS in January. We wish Mrs. Piers-VanderPloeg, “Ms. P,” continued success in her new assignment within PPS next school year!

• Monday, June 9th: 8th Graders may pick up their Summer Tri-Met HOP cards from Ms. Crombie

• Tuesday, June 10th: Yearbook distribution to all students (if your student will not be in school this week, contact westsylvanoffice@pps.net for their yearbook copy and to excuse absences).

• Wednesday, June 11th: Locker cleanouts

• Wednesday, June 11th: Promotion practice for 8th Graders from 9:30-11:30 a.m.

• Wednesday, June 11th: Promotion for 8th Graders (students arrive at LHS by 6:00 p.m., and Promotion starts at 6:30 p.m.)

• Thursday, June 12th: Last day of the 2024-25 school year. Some fun activities are planned for 6th and 7th Graders. Any 8th Graders who attend will go to their normally scheduled classes this day to say their final goodbyes to each other and to Middle School!

** Final grades will be viewable in ParentVUE by Friday, June 20th.

There will be no staff in the building due to building construction and deep cleaning starting Thursday, June 19th. The building will be closed to the general public starting Monday, June 16th. Emails and phone calls will be returned once office staff return to work in August. For items needing immediate attention, please contact the District office at: 503-916-2000 or through the Let’s Talk program, accessible at https://www.pps.net/contact

We have some updated items below to help with planning for next school year, before Summer comes. Grade teams have gathered their recommendations for school supplies, and lists will be posted on the West Sylvan website. Any family who cannot get items on their own can contact a School Counselor, and we will work with your family to help get students the necessary supplies once the school year begins.

The updated Family Handbook for 2025-26 is linked here. School bell schedules will be fairly similar to this school year.

• 6th Grade will be jointly served by Ms. Rebecca Cohen rcohen@pps.net (student last names A-H) and Mr. Ricky Almeida ralmeida@pps.net (student last names I-Z)

• 7th Grade: Mr. Ricky Almeida, ralmeida@pps.net

• 8th Grade: Ms. Rebecca Cohen, rcohen@pps.net

Ms. Kandice Abney (kaabney@pps.net) will be with us two days a week next year and will be the 504 plan Coordinator along with working on some additional special projects. All families with students who have 504 plans will work directly with Ms. Kandice for updates and support with their learning plans.

There have been family information sessions to learn more about Standards Based Grading for the 2025-26 school year and beyond. Starting next school year (2025-26), Middle School students will no longer receive letter grades (A-F), and will instead receive proficiency marks for standards that have been taught. Below are links to items that give you more information about this shift that all PPS Middle Schools are making for next school year. Also, while Canvas will still be an informational platform to share class items, all proficiency marks and progress updates will be located in Synergy through ParentVUE starting next year. This means that families will look to ParentVUE for the most accurate information related to grades and progress rather than looking in Canvas:

• Website updates underway - pps.net/SBG

• Family/student-facing videos - Introduction & Understanding Proficiency Levels

• Slide deck from family engagement session

Portland State University Language and Literacy's English Language course is being offered next school year, 2025-26, to adults. This means free English classes for adults in our community. The class meets twice a week, 6:00-7:15pm, starting in September at Bridlemile Elementary, and there are Fall, Winter, and Spring sessions. There is the possibility that the team may also be able to help with childcare. To gauge the number of parents and caregivers who may be interested, they are asking for feedback on the survey form linked here.

Please help your scholars search their rooms to return all outstanding library books and textbooks. We were aiming to get them all by Friday, May 30th, and we will still collect them through the end of the school year. Missing books will have a fee that is added to the student account. This account has to be paid prior to leaving PPS, in order for a student to receive their diploma or transcripts to go to another school.

Each year students from other school boundaries will petition to join our WSMS community, and if we have space, we accept all petitions. Also, some students need a smaller or alternative Middle School experience, and may need to look for an alternative beyond our WSMS school site. Either way, all petitions must be submitted at the website here for consideration for either a focus school in PPS or for a school that falls outside of your typical neighborhood boundaries. These petitions should be submitted prior to summer for consideration in the 2025-26 school year, and most focus schools are now full and are operating on waitlists only. The transfer application also applies to attendance at a High School that is not within your address boundaries, so early submission is important for all petitions.

NOT ATTENDING WSMS FOR 2025-26?

If you know that your Scholar is transferring either out of PPS altogether or to another school in PPS (this does NOT apply to 8th Graders matriculating to Lincoln HS next year) for 2025-26, please let our Office know at westsylvanoffice@pps.net. We want to be sure that we do not schedule them for classes if they are not returning next school year.

University of Portland School of Education has begun accepting applications for their annual Summer Learning Program! In this program, the learning focuses on the Oregon State Benchmarks appropriate for each child in mathematics, language arts (reading, writing, and speaking), and any other subjects in which the student needs help. The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) candidates tutor/teach students according to their learning needs. There are usually 4-5 students per 2-3 MAT candidates.

This year’s program will run June 30 – July 31, Monday-Thursday, 9:30am-11:30am, and welcomes students entering grades 2-11 in 2025-26. The cost of the program is $125, though scholarships are available.

Online registration is now available HERE or scan the QR code in the flyer below.

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