1/9/26

Dear Western families,

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful school break with your family and friends. There was a definite improvement in students arriving on time to school at the start of this week. I know that the end of the road construction and drier weather helped, but it seems that parents may have had some extra motivation to get their children to school on time. I always know when it is the day after a school break by how much earlier parents drop their children off at school to get them out of their houses for seven-plus hours. It is kind of like the first day of school after the summer break where there are no cars lined up even a second after 8:15am! However, we had 51 students late on Wednesday (yikes) and the same amount again today. That is way too many students arriving late! Your child needs to sign in at the office when they arrive after 8:15am, and we are monitoring tardies in order to follow up with families and hold students accountable for being on time. We meet with students who are exceed 4 tardies per month to discuss strategies to help them leave the house on time (e.g., setting multiple alarms, showering the night before, packing their bag the night before, etc), but some are quick to throw their parents under the bus by blaming you for their lateness. Can you believe that? Please do what you can to leave the house with plenty of time to miss the traffic and arrive before 8:10am, but most importantly, so your children can’t blame you for their lateness!

My SMORE is packed with a lot for the New Year. We are just two weeks away from the end of the 2nd quarter and the midpoint of the year. Your child has time to get their grades up by handing in missing work still marked as an NHI in Aspen or preparing well for one of the last assessments of the quarter. Please take a moment to have your child show you their grades in Aspen, so they can set goals with you for the next few weeks. As always, our staff is here to support your children.

This weekend, I am sending my daughter back to Penn State after a nice winter break. It was much shorter than I would have liked. It is unfortunate that when our kids finally mature and have much less attitude and drama, they are away from us more than we would like. Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to reverse things and send our sometimes challenging and unappreciative teenagers somewhere to help them mature a bit and then have them be home with us more when they finally do? I would even be happy with just a few weeks! I do hope that all of you with college kids home on their break have enjoyed your time with them.

It looks like miserable weather for the weekend, but at least the temperatures will be a bit warmer which will keep away the snow. It is a good weekend to stay in and binge watch some shows!

Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,

Suzanne

Tuesday, January 13th 2026: NWEA ELA testing (See the schedule below)
Tuesday, January 13th 2026: PTA General Membership Zoom, 7pm ( Zoom Link)

Meeting ID: 898 4342 3360 Passcode: WILDCATS)

Wednesday, January 14th, 2026: WMS Art Show, Auditorium, 5:30pm-7:30pm

Tuesday's Testing Schedule

Here is the schedule for the NWEA testing days this week:

Our January Difference Maker: Ms. Johanna Kolar

Ms. Kolar is one of our 8th grade math teachers, but she does so much more for our school community which makes her our Difference Maker for this month. She was critical in the planning and communication of the activities for our Western Day/Kindness Day. She is also our 8th grade Student Council Advisor and ran the food drive for Neighbor to Neighbor. Ms. Kolar is also our theater director for our upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants show, running auditions, rehearsals, and parent meetings on top of her frequent parent communication. Even with all of this, she is the first to volunteer for any school event to support the students and her colleagues. I am exhausted after writing about all she does, so I don’t quite know how she does it all! Ms. Kolar has a tremendous impact on the students, staff and families at Western by helping to provide meaningful and fun experiences for our school community.

Upcoming Western Art Show

Please see the invitation for the WMS Winter Art Show 2026, which takes place next Wednesday, January 14, from 5:30-7:30 pm in the auditorium. Come celebrate our students' creative achievements. Thank you all for your continued support of our WMS art students.

Overdue Books

We have A LOT of students who owe a book to our Media Center. Please have your child dig through their room (some may actually have to dig) to find any books that need to be returned to our Media Center.

Technology Agreement Google Form

We are asking all parents to complete the following Google Form with their child to acknowledge and agree to our Technology Agreement. This is important to help ensure our Chromebooks are properly used and taken care of while in the care of our students. Your child just needs to tell you their Advisor Base teacher to complete the form. We are asking parents and students to complete the form together.

Technology Agreement

Late Buses

I have heard recently that some students are reluctant to stay after school because they are unsure which late bus they should take home. We do not want this to prevent students from staying after for extra help or activities. Below are our late bus routes to review with your child if they plan to stay after and are unsure which bus to take. It is important to note that we only have 3 late buses, so there are less stops than our regular bus routes. Your child may need to get off at a stop and walk a little farther than their usual bus stop. If you live on a very busy road with no sidewalks (e.g, Bedford Rd, Lake Ave, Riversville Rd, etc), your child can tell the bus driver your address for them to stop at your driveway. We don’t want students walking on roads that are unsafe. If your child has any difficulties, they can go to the main office and someone will help them figure out which bus to take.

WMS Late Bus Routes

Care Closet Needs

We are continuing to build our Care Closet inventory (which is growing) in the hopes of inviting families in to select items outside of school hours. We are still in need of the following items for middle school sized children:

All types of boys’clothing

Girls and boys’coats and jackets

Spring and summer clothing

Gently used or new shoes

In addition, we are accepting:

Gently used or new sports equipment

Donations can be brought into the Main Office.

Our New Mini-Enable Table

I wanted to remind you all about our new drop-off procedures for items during the day. To ensure we have even higher security during the day, our enable table will now be located in between our two sets of doors for you to leave anything you may need to drop off for your child during the day. We will now refer to this as the "Mini-Enable Table," as we still need to recognize that, as parents, we enable our children a bit (me, included). Parents will need to press the intercom button to answer the required questions, but will now leave any items on the table inside the first door. We are asking that any items be labeled with your child's first and last name, along with their grade. We will have post-its and pens available. Think of it as us saving you a few steps any time you need to drop something off, and you also won't need to make eye contact with us or make up any excuses for your child as you are dropping off the items. Please do not take either as permission to enable your child. Remember, give them a certain number of times you will drop something off before you tell them you can't anymore!

Lost & Found

This is our FINAL call for students and parents to visit the Lost and Found to claim an item that was left at school. Next Friday, the clothes will be packed up and donated.

Attendance Line Reminder

With us being in the midst of flu season (among many other illnesses), it is very important for you to call the attendance line to let us know your child will be absent. Our office staff has to call any family who does not notify us about a child's absence which can be time consuming. The Attendance Line is 203-531-5678.

Nominate a Western Difference Maker

A reminder that this year only one staff member from each school will receive the Difference Maker Award each month. I am asking for our staff and parents to help in nominating staff for this award. If you or your child believe one or more staff members make a difference in our school community or in your own lives, please use this link to nominate them and explain why they are deserving of this award.

Parent Community Resources

Here is the Parent Community Resource document we created with MANY, MANY community resources to support parents and students at Western. Please take the time to review it in case you find yourself in need of some support for you, your child or family.

English

Spanish

After school activities

Here is our after-school Club Catalog. Take a look with your child to see what they may want to get involved in. Remember, they are FREE!

Homework Hubs

Below are the Homework Hubs for each grade-level team and World Language teachers.

8th grade: Orange Green

7th grade: Purple Yellow

6th grade: Red Blue

World Language

What's Happening at Western