Westridge Wildcat News

Westridge Community,

It's been another fantastic week in Wildcat country. I think the highlight for me this week has been looking at the Kinder's self-portraits!!! I've posted a few below. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but these portraits keep saying the two words 'happy' and 'individual' to me. I love them. Every student in every class is completing or has completed a self-portrait, and we'll be putting them all together when they're done in a giant rainbow collage!

A strong dismissal process is going to take the community. The third picture I've attached below is all of the dismissal change requests that have come in in the last week. Andrea and Jodi have been troopers in processing all of these requests but as you can see it has been a lot, and I believe we need to step back from this process, look at it communally and collectively and make a few strategic changes. We want to be responsive and accurate in your requests, but we need this stack to diminish a bit in order to do that. Beginning Monday, I'm asking that we make these tweeks in order to streamline our process here for dismissal change requests:

• For 5th graders-- If you have a 5th grader, and they have a change in their default dismissal plan (and you know this before school starts), have your student communicate that change directly to the teacher. In addition to streamlining our process, this is beginning to get our 5th graders ready for Middle School. In these change situations, there is no need for parents to contact the main office.
• We don't need (and would prefer not) to get notice for upcoming absences days before they happen. The exception here would be for extended absences when a student will be out for multiple days or more. It helps with workflow for us to just get this notification once on the day that the absence or early pick-up is happening.
• We are asking that all 'non-emergency' dismissal change requests come in before 12:00 PM. This is so important for the flow of work in the office, and to ensure we are able to safely communicate this to everyone who needs to know.
• A big ask: We ask that you are conservative with the change requests you make, knowing that this is a limited resource for us. Please try to avoid changing 'go home plans' to accomodate play dates, birthday parties, etc.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, rests up, and enjoys the last touches of heat we might get for a while. See you on Monday!

Noah

Noah Hurd

Interim Principal

hurdn@loswego.k12.or.us

New or Updated Information:

Save the Dates

Diwali Celebration

PTSO Raffle

Welcome Back Wildcats Night

Yearbook volunteer needed

Continuing Reminders:

New Application for School Volunteers

Fall iReady

Reporting Tardies and absences

Meal Accounts and Information

Statewide Assessment Notice

Champions is Hiring

9/15 : PTSO General Meeting 7-8pm Westridge Library (and via this ZOOM LINK)

9/20: Back to School Night 5:30-7:00

9/30: Welcome back Wildcats Night 5-7pm at Westridge (more info coming soon!)

10/26: Picture day

Instead of requesting a per student donation, the Westridge PTSO is holding two virtual raffles for this year's fall fundraising campaign. We are offering two reserved parking spots at Westridge and two chances for your child to be Principal, PE or Music teacher for the day! Entries can be purchased at https://go.rallyup.com/rockyraffle. You can also make direct donations on the site and incorporate your employer match. Our goal is to raise a total of $15,000 for the 2022-23 school year. Prizes will be drawn at the Welcome Back Wildcats night on September 30th so purchase your entries today! Read our FAQs for more info.

We're celebrating the start of the school year with a back-to-school barbecue for Westridge families. Join us outside at Westridge on Friday, September 30th, 5-7pm for food and fun with old friends and new! More details coming soon.

We are looking for a parent to lead the Westridge Yearbook Committee this year. Please reach out to Volunteer Coordinator Keely Yaguda at volunteerwestridge@gmail.com to sign-up or if you have questions about the position.

For the safety of children, volunteers are required to have an approved background check when volunteering in schools.

To help streamline compliance with state and school board policies, which require that all volunteers have background checks and knowledge of other board policies -- as well as state-mandated proof of vaccination (or a qualified exemption) -- we are introducing a new all-in-one volunteer application and approval process through ou Raptor Visitor Management System.

Submitting an online application initiates the background check process. Once submitted, applicants will receive an email upon approval of your background check and you will be given access through the onsite Raptor System at all schools. Please allow up to three weeks to process your approval.

Volunteers need to submit only one application for volunteering in all LOSD schools. Applications need to be submitted annually to capture changes in background checks, policies, and/or vaccination requirements.

Volunteer Application for LOSD

Thank you for applying promptly, and for your service to our students and schools. We are grateful for our volunteers.

This Fall, all students in Grades 1-5 will complete two online i-Ready assessments in class. One is for math and the other is for reading. i-Ready is a diagnostic assessment that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform and tailor instruction to accelerate growth. This is the first of three i-Ready assessments we give each year. In Lake Oswego, the Fall i-Ready window is open through September 16.

Please contact the office any time your student will be absent or be late for school. Anytime your child arrives at school after 8:20am, they will need to report to the office to get a tardy slip and report their lunch choices. When reporting absences, please email both Andrea and Jodi.

Office phone number and voicemail: 503-534-2371

Attendance Secretary: Andrea Murphy (murphya@loswego.k12.or.us)

Principal's Secretary: Jodi Steward (stewardj@loswego.k12.or.us)

Parents-guardians who have concerns about a student’s well-being are encouraged to reach out to their principal, and to maintain strong lines of communication and partnership between students, families, staff, and other resources.

SafeOregon is also an effective way to report a tip regarding safety threats or potential acts of violence to our students or schools.

https://www.safeoregon.com/

(Students should also be aware that intentionally providing a false report is a serious offense.)

The universal free meals waiver with USDA expired on June 30, 2022. That means starting this school year LOSD will be serving meals under the free, reduced, and paid categories.

Please be sure to set up your student's meal account or apply for free/reduced meals. Look for Meals under Find it Fast on district and school website homepages for account setup and application information, and more.

Menu for August and September are here!

We are excited to have Champions Learning Program joining the Westridge family, partnering with us to operate their Before and After School Program in our school. The enrollment, thus far, is more than double what was anticipated, so Champions is still needing to hire SEVERAL more staff members to ensure all enrolled families can be supported.

They have added large Cash Commitment Bonuses for staff hired between now and the start of school. In addition, they will provide 2 weeks of free tuition to a Champions family, for any referral hired. They even are offering donations to the Charity of your choice if you refer someone who is hired on to the Champions Team.

If you, or someone you know, loves connecting with children, this is a great Part Time Job with Full Time Benefits. Think about who you would recommend and trust with your own children - they might be the perfect person interested in working a few hours a day.

For more details on the above incentives, or to apply or send a referral, please reach out to the Area Manager, Stephanie Scanlon at stephanie.scanlon@discoverchampions.com

Links to job postings are below:

Lake Oswego Champions Teacher

Lake Oswego Champions Site Director

The Oregon Department of Education publishes an annual notice regarding state assessments in English Language Arts and math. Please review the Annual Notice for Statewide Tests for information about why participation matters, the right to opt out, and test windows.

Stay connected to the district and your school(s) and receive urgent notifications by subscribing to the Lake Oswego Schools App.

Shop Spirit Wear

Donate Now!

Zoom Link for PTSO Meetings

Find us on Facebook!

Follow us on Instagram @westridge.ptso

Email: westridgeptso@gmail.com

Yearbook Photos: yearbookwestridge@gmail.com

All members of our community are committed to providing a safe and inclusive learning environment that cultivates empathy, creates challenging opportunities, and fosters lifelong learning.

Email: weaverl@loswego.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.losdschools.org/wr
Location: 3400 Royce Way, Lake Oswego, OR, USA
Phone: 5035342371