OGMS Newsletter
03.08.26
Hello Ockley Families,
Encouraging regular school attendance—including being present and engaged in class when at school—is one of the most powerful ways you can support your child’s success, both academically and in life. When families make attendance a priority, students are more likely to build strong learning habits, stay connected to their school community, and develop skills that help them thrive.
Research consistently shows that students who attend school regularly are more likely to:
Stay engaged and avoid risky behaviors;
Build important social, collaboration, and problem-solving skills; and
Graduate from high school and have more opportunities in the future.
Every day at school provides valuable learning experiences, connections with peers and adults, and opportunities for growth. Your partnership in helping your child attend school consistently makes a meaningful difference.
Over the past six weeks, we have noticed an increase in the number of students in the hallways during class time. In many cases, this is due to students arriving late to class or leaving with a hall pass to use the restroom but taking additional time in the hallways.
Last week, students reviewed these Class Engagement expectations during Advisory through a short presentation. This week, we will continue reinforcing these expectations through reminders from staff and a video message from our Dragon Leaders. These messages will focus on the importance of being in class and engaged in learning, as well as the accountability measures in place when students are not.
An important part of addressing students when they are not in class during expected times, is helping students reflect on the challenges or barriers they may be experiencing and supporting them in making a plan for what they will do differently to ensure they remain in their learning spaces. Thus, we will have random Class Engagement Waves and students that are out of class without permission or are misusing their Hall Pass will be gathered and will sit with one of our staff for guided reflection on their attendance & class engagement practices.
We also need your partnership in talking with your child about the importance of being in class and actively engaged in their learning. One helpful way to stay informed is by checking ParentVUE to monitor for tardies or skipped classes. School Secretary Ian Palu can answer any questions you have about setting up ParentVUE.
Our Attendance Coach, Evan Martin, regularly reaches out to families when a student has multiple skips in a week. However, you are always welcome to contact him sooner if you notice a skip and would like to talk about ways we can support your child.
Thank you for partnering with us to ensure every student is present, engaged, and ready to learn.
In Partnership,
Julie Rierson
Pronouns: she/her
Principal, Ockley Green Middle School
OG Supporters Corner
OMG all, it's a jam-packed week ahead! The online auction is ON. We hope you've already been peeking at the amazing donations from the community, gotten a login, assigned yourself a supercool secret bidding identity, etc etc etc, but if not, here are some Online Auction Tips and FAQs! (You can also find these on the OG Supporters website!)
First things first, you can find the auction here: https://www.32auctions.com/OGSAuction2026?r=1&t=all (Heads up: If you don't have a login yet, it's a bit annoying the first time. After you create one, the website just sits there batting its eyes at you, no idea what you want. You have to go back and re-click the link to be directed to the auction. It's weird, we know.)
We recommend you turn on those outbid notifications so you get alerts if someone has the audacity to try and make off with your item. You might also consider using the "proxy bid" function. This allows you to set the maximum amount you're willing to spend, with the goal of winning the item at the lowest possible price. The system will bid for you, up to your maximum proxy bid amount, as additional bids are entered on the item. People bidding against you will not know you are using this feature, nor what your highest bid price is. If the bidding stops at a lower price than your max, you pay that lower price. If bidding ends with someone having matched your final number, you will still win the item, by virtue of having committed to buying it at that price first. If they outbid you, you will then of course have the option to reenter the fray, but the computer will never continue bidding for an item beyond your set maximum.
Please note that this auction has "extended bidding." If an item receives a bid during the final 3 minutes of the auction, it is NOT automatically awarded to a winner at 9pm, but can still be bid on for up to an additional 30 minutes. It will be awarded when either three minutes passes with no new bids, or at 9:30, whichever comes sooner. This prevents auction "sniping," which is when, after days of quiet, someone swoops in at the last possible second to steal my - I mean, uh - a random person's item.
Please remember that we are not shipping items- you can see how to pick up items on the item pages of the auction, and on the OG Supporters website. We would LOVE for you to share the auction with friends and family, but please make a plan to pick up items on their behalf if they are not local.
When the auction ends, your payment method will automatically be charged at that time, so there is no need to manually pay invoices or remember to complete checkout. If there is an issue with your charge, you can reach out and we can help with refunds! If you purchase a "Buy Now" item, that will go through at the time of purchase, so you may see more than one charge in that circumstance. You'll be asked to provide credit card information the first time you place your first bid. After that it will be stored until the end of the auction- you will NOT need to re-enter it for every bid.
The Bidding of Dragons ENDS Sunday, March 15th @ 9pm (Or slightly extended! That's right, you're paying attention!). Remember that all the funds raised go to student engagement activities, teacher support and mini-grants, family support, school supplies and so much more, so please share with anyone you think would welcome the opportunity to show their support!
Panda Express Profit Share!
On March 12th, it's the one, the only, Panda Express! Panda will donate 20% of sales all day (9am-10:30pm) from the Interstate location, *IF*:
>you bring a paper copy of the flier included here.
>you show the flier on your phone (screenshot baby!)
>you input 3857626 when ordering from pandaexpress.com or in the app (put it in the "fundraiser code" box.
Look, it might make us basic, but we love the Orange Chicken, and if you do too, this one's for you. Put "Panda" on your calendar Thursday, March 12th!
Thank you for reading our novel, and email comms@ogsupporters.org if we still managed to not answer your question despite all those words!
Until next time,
The OG Supporters
We will begin our forecasting work with rising 7th and 8th graders the week of 3/30/2026. Our counseling team will be attaching our forecasting google slides to the next newsletter, along with the forecasting worksheet. All of this information will be reviewed during advisory on 3/30/2026, with actually forecasting happening in science classes on 3/31 (7th grade), 4/1-4/2 (6th grade). 8th graders attending Jefferson for the 2026-2027 school year will have an opportunity to go on a walking field to Jefferson and PCC Cascade on 4/9/2026. Please make sure you have the walking field trip completed for your student. There is a flyer for the even attached.
Message from our Advisory Planning Team
Hello families! Every Thursday, students participate in social-emotional lessons as part of their advisory class. Next Thursday, students will be learning about public education budget issues that are impacting schools in Oregon, with a focus on how PPS will be impacted. The focus of this lesson will be empowering students with information and an opportunity to advocate for their education by writing a letter to state officials. Staff will collect student letters, make sure all student information is kept private, and then the letters will be sent to Salem as a community advocacy action.
Questions? Contact Becca Halbig, rhalbig@pps.net.
PIL Youth Track & Field is around the corner. See more information in the PIL Youth Spring Registration newsletter.
