Whitford Newsletter

Greetings Whitford students, families and community,

What a great start to the year. We are so excited to meet our new 6th graders, our "new-to-Whitford 7th and 8th graders", and reconnect with our returning students. Hearing sounds of students filling our halls moving to and from their classrooms, hearing the opening and closing of lockers, and watching students reconnect with friends and teachers is always an excellent thing to witness and never gets old. Thank you for sending your students to school each day prepared to learn.

You may have seen a new initiative by our district where we are working to make sure that all students feel connect and belong. This sense of connection is vital for everyone who enters our doors and walk through our halls. Last year, 93% of Whitford students indicated that they agreed with or strongly agreed with the idea that they felt like they belong here and feel connected to Whitford. That is outstanding, but 7% of our students don't yet feel that way. We have work to do as, I think most would agree, 100% should be the result to that question. Are we pleased with the result? Sure. Satisfied? Not until we reach 100% consistently.

We remain undaunted and are super-focused on working to ensure that our students can come to and from school, walk our halls, sit in the cafeteria, and engage in learning opportunities and NOT be subjected to hate speech. Already this year, we have received feedback from students and parents that these issues continue to be a plague in our community.

Please see our School Equity Statements below in the images. This has been our guiding light for multiple years.

The last paragraph of the Equity Statement is important: "To be a Whitford Wildcat is to act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect for the dignity of others. Hate speech is not acceptable at Whitford Middle School, and those who engage in this behavior will be held accountable for their actions and for the harm they cause others."

Your help and support in this vital effort is appreciated and needed. For your information, we have planned to present specific school-wide lessons to all our students about this important topic. These lessons will begin in early October.

We are excited about the coming school year and the opportunities that are on the horizon for students to grow and learn, to thrive and success. We are grateful to you for your ongoing support of our schools and students.

Respectfully,

Zan Hess, Principal

This year, BSD has launched a districtwide student mental health and well-being initiative called Believe You Matter. The focus area for the next few months will be suicide prevention. Yes, it’s a heavy topic but an important one. About 10% of BSD 8th graders and 13% of BSD 11th graders who participated in the 2024 Oregon Student Health Survey said they had considered attempting suicide in the past year.

We implore all Whitford parents/guardians to attend the Suicide Prevention Informational Night here at school on October 9th at 6PM. BSD staff will be sharing tools to help you support your child’s mental well-being. More information will be coming for you to register for this event.

September 10, 2025

As part of the Beaverton School District’s promise of Belong. Believe. Achieve. we aim to create an environment in which all students feel a deep sense of belonging to their school community — where they are accepted, supported and encouraged to be their authentic selves. As part of this commitment, our school will be administering the SAEBRS universal screener this school year. This tool is intended to build student awareness and help school staff know which students might need additional Social Emotional Learning (SEL) support. There are two kinds of SAEBRS assessments: student self-rating assessments and teacher rating assessments. Staff will administer the following assessments up to three times per year at the corresponding grade levels listed:

• 2nd-12th grade: mySAEBRS student self-rating tool

We believe this survey is a valuable tool because the SAEBRS screener can help identify risk factors in students. The tool also informs the selection of SEL lessons and other instructional practices in classrooms.

Other Important information:

1. Participation is voluntary and your student may decline to participate.

2. The mySAEBRS is done using a computer or tablet and takes students approximately 5 minutes to complete.

3. If you would like to see the exact questions asked on the survey you may contact the counselor at your student’s school.

4. Please contact Zan Hess at Whitford Middle School no later than September 30, 2025 if you do not want your student to participate in the SAEBRS or mySABERS during the 2025-2026 school year.

More information can be found at: https://www.illuminateed.com/products/fastbridge/social-emotional-behavior-assessment/mysaebrs/

Thank you,

Zan Hess

Each year our teachers have the opportunity to submit grants to BEF (Beaverton Education Foundation) BEF will match the first $500 donated for each grant.

What happened? Interviewing and Learning from Present and Previous Generations.

In today’s social climate, there is a lack of shared experience between generations. Our students need guidance in understanding the world they live in. They need to march into their future with confidence and pride in their past. They need assistance from their parents, grandparents, and guardians, as well as the broader community, to help them navigate these uncertain times with the best tools passed down by past generations.

With your help, our students will become global citizens, learning from a shared past to enhance their future. Students will learn how to interview, transcribe audio to text, write narratives, and share a living present with a living past.

Students will need digital cameras and voice recorders to interview their grandparents, parents, or other family members. The finished product will be posted on a 'Padlet' to be shared with our school community and parents.

Thank you for your support, Mr. Benuto

https://fundrazr.com/History_Interviews

Creating Calming Spaces

Middle school has always been hard. It's always been a time of anxiety and angst. And, in recent years, it's only gotten worse. The number of middle school students who suffer from depression or anxiety has continued to rise in recent years. Some research shows that as many as 40% of teens suffer from depressive symptoms and 35% may suffer from some sort of anxiety. With the pressures of school, grades, peers, social media, sports, family, and the issues facing today's society, many middle school students don't have a place to step back and reset. They just can't physically find one. By creating a calming space in my room with a variety of tools, I will provide a place to reset emotionally and mentally for some of the most highly impacted students in the building with whom I work. By supporting this campaign, not only would you be helping my specific students, but you would be helping all of the other students they share a class with by allowing my students to decompress in a separate, safe place without distracting other students. By contributing, you will see photos and short stories of how this space has helped students in their educational journey.

Thank you for your support, Mr. Bannister

https://fundrazr.com/Calming_Space?

Thursday September 11th.

Keeping children up to date on required immunizations is one of the most important ways we can protect their health and keep them learning. Make sure your student is up to date on all required immunizations.

Each year we have the opportunity to provide our 6th and 7th grade students with free dental sealants. Students were given the forms this week to take home. Each student must return a form even if the answer is no. Please make sure to fill out this form and have your student return it to the office. You are also able to fill out the form online.

English Online Consent Form

https://form.jotform.com/SchoolSealants/Dental

Spanish Online Consent Form

https://form.jotform.com/SchoolSealants/DentalSpanish

• The library is looking for volunteers to help prepare books for circulation. We have a large number of paperback books that need to be wrapped in plastic before student use. If you enjoy wrapping gifts, and tasks that require attention to detail, this may be a great fit for you! You must be an approved BSD volunteer. Contact kelly_anderson@beaverton.k12.or.us for details and to schedule.

• We're looking for a medical or mental health professional to volunteer for two hours remotely. Each year, many Whitford students complete independent science and engineering projects. Some students investigate questions involving human participants, animal behavior, or they use materials that require careful handling. These students must present their project proposals to a committee to ensure that they remain safe and follow ethical standards. This committee will convene for up to two hours during the school day (9:45am-4:15pm) over zoom during the week of November 17, 2025. We are flexible on the exact day and time to ensure that we can work with your schedule. Please email Melody Childers, Middle School Science TOSA (melody_childers@beaverton.k12.or.us) if you can help us by joining this committee.

Are you interested in art, graphic design, and photography? Do you like to meet new people? Do you like to be a leader? If your answer was yes to those questions, then you might be interested in signing up for yearbook!

Responsibilities for being on the yearbook staff are:

*Attending and participating in meetings

*Taking pictures! (of everyone, not just friends!)

*Meeting yearbook deadlines assigned by the yearbook teacher

*Making Whitford a welcoming and positive place

*Being responsible with technology

*Being responsible with picture taking privileges

*Being creative and problem-solving

*Having fun!

You must be in 7th or 8th grade to be in yearbook.

Fill out in Google Forms

Whitford will have a MathCounts team this year!

MathCounts is a national program that provides students the opportunity to compete in live, in-person math contests against and alongside their peers. It is open to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. Any number of students can participate and compete in the school competition. However, a maximum of 14 students can advance to the local chapter competition. The selection of these 14 students is based on their performance in the school competition that will be held in January/February. Participating students learn using resources provided by MathCounts with help from their coaches (parent volunteers in our case). These resources help students prepare for the various rounds of the test, plus build critical thinking and problem-solving skills. More details can be found at: https://www.mathcounts.org/

The registration for Whitford Mathcounts school team is now open. The practice sessions will be held once a week on Thursdays from 4:25 - 5:20 pm in the library.

Please pick up a permission slip in the main office.

Coach info: Parent volunteers Amrinder Singh and Nitin Saraswat. They have experience in preparing students for MOEMS Olympiad & Math Kangaroo.

Our new 6th grade students are enjoying meeting new friends, painting, and sharing their talents in Ms. Cavarino's art class.

Congratulations to Ellie Tyler for being selected as one of the Top 300 Junior Innovators in the Thermo Fisher Scientific innovators Challeng (JIC). Ellie was an 8th grader here at Whitford last year. Her Science Fair project title: Hidden Consequences: The Neurobehavioral Effects of Artificial Food Dye Consumption.

This competition is the nation’s premier STEM competition for middle school students. The Thermo Fisher JIC seeks to inspire young scientists, engineers and innovators to solve the world’s most intractable challenges. The students, live in 34 states and Puerto Rico.

Many students still have books checked out from previous school years, including from elementary schools. These books (including from BSD elementary schools) can be returned to Whitford. There are no overdue library fines, but there are replacement fines for books that aren't returned. If you have questions about your student's library account, please contact kelly_anderson@beaverton.k12.or.us.

September 2025

Thu 9/11, 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm • Burgerville Night

Mon 9/22 • No School - Staff Development/Workday -- NO STUDENTS

October 2025

Tue 10/07, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm • Whitford PTO meeting

Thu 10/09, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm • Suicide Prevention Meeting

Fri 10/10 • No School - Staff Development/Workday

Thu 10/23, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm • Choir Concert

Fri 10/31 • No School - Grading Day