Dragon News

Message from the Principal

Greetings Findley Community~

Student safety is our highest priority. One of the most important ways we ensure a safe and responsive school environment is through the Standard Response Protocol (SRP), a district-wide system designed to prepare students and staff for a variety of emergency situations.

The SRP is not based on one specific scenario—it’s a framework that guides our response to any unexpected event. Whether it’s a weather emergency, a nearby police activity, or a threat inside the building, the SRP provides clear, consistent actions that everyone in our school community understands and practices.

The five SRP actions are:

Hold – Stay in your room or area; hallways are cleared.
Secure – Get inside; lock outside doors.
Lockdown – Locks, lights, out of sight.
Evacuate – Move to a designated location.
Shelter – Follow safety strategies for specific hazards.

These actions are practiced regularly so that students and staff know exactly what to do—calmly and confidently—when an emergency arises.

You can learn more about the SRP on the Beaverton School District’s Emergency Protocol page

Drill Frequency and What to Expect

In alignment with Oregon law and district policy, Findley, conducts the following drills each school year:

Evacuation drills: Monthly, with the first drill within the first 10 days of school.
Earthquake drills: At least twice per year.
Safety threat drills (including lockdown and secure): At least twice per year.

These drills are scheduled thoughtfully and conducted with care. Our goal is to build muscle memory and reduce anxiety by making safety routines familiar and predictable.

We know that practicing these drills can raise questions at home. We encourage you to talk with your child about the importance of these routines and reassure them that these practices are part of keeping everyone safe.

Thank you for partnering with us to create a safe and supportive learning environment. If you have questions about our safety procedures or the SRP, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

With Gratitude,

Sherry Marsh, Ed.D

Principal

Findley

Every Student Belongs Board Policy ACB

Equal Educational Opportunity Board Policy JB

Educational Equity Board Policy JBB

Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students and Families

Serving LGBTQIA+ Students

Picture Day!

Picture Day is coming October 9. Picture packets will be sent home around the 1st of October. Please return packets on picture day for your student to take with them. More information to come!

Dismissal & Walking Traffic Patterns

As you may have noticed, we have a good number of students that go to Car Pickup or Flag Pole at the front of the school at the end of the day.

Flag Pole Parents: We have noticed a number of adults standing on the sidewalk waiting for your students by the Free Little Library. Adults tend to cluster right out side the door making it difficult for students to exit and traffic to flow with ease. We know it is exciting to get them afterschool and listen to the stories they have of their day but it is equally important that we have space for walking on the sidewalks. For this reason, please wait on the grassy areas, leaving the sidewalks clear for students and caregivers to move about. We would really appreciate it.

We also ask that if you walk north of the school after pickup to please use the upper side walk on Saltzman, as opposed to the sidewalk along the building. This leaves the sidewalks by the buses and day care vans clear for student traffic. This will help with congestion around our buses and some of our day care vans and ensure the safety of everyone.

Thank you for your help with this! Safety is our first concern.

Social Emotional Screeners for 2nd-5th Graders

Dear Parent/Guardian:

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:

Kindergarten-12th grade: SAEBRS teacher rating tool
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 Dr. Marsh at sherry_marsh@beaverton.k12.or.us no later than September 26 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,

Sherry Marsh, Ed.D.

ATTENTION SUNSET COMMUNITY

During the months of September and October Sunset Girls Basketball will be holding free basketball skills clinics for girls in the community grades 4th-8th. The clinics are every Sunday (Sep 21st, Sep 28th, Oct 5th, Oct 12th, Oct 19th, Oct 26th) from 4:30pm-6:00pm. Clinics will be held at Sunset High School, in the main gym. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Coach D by email: sunsetgirlshoops@gmail.com

Sunset Girls Basketball Youth Winter Tryouts

REGISTRATION WILL OPEN SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21st at 9:00am

https://sunsetgirlsyouthbasketball.sportngin.com/register/form/103940217

The Sunset youth girls' basketball program is designed to offer a competitive basketball experience for 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who are planning on attending Sunset High School and are interested in potentially playing high school basketball down the line. Tryouts will be held to select the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teams.

TRYOUT DATES:

Tuesday October 21st, 7:00pm-8:30pm

Wednesday October 22nd, 7:00pm-8:30pm

Please follow us or contact us at:

Instagram:

@Apollohoops

@sunsetapollosyouthbasketball

Website:

www.sunsetgbb.com

https://sunsetgirlsyouthbasketball.sportngin.com

Believe You Matter Initiative

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. That may not seem like a relevant topic for elementary school students, but sadly, it is. Last year, about a third of the 651 suicide screenings done in the district involved elementary students — some as young as five years old.

We implore all Findley parents/guardians to attend the Suicide Prevention Informational Night here at school on September 29, 2025 at 6pm. BSD staff will be sharing tools to help you support your child’s mental well-being.

If you are interested in attending our Suicide Prevention Information Night,

please register by using the button below.

Registration Form

Know the Facts about E-Bikes and E-Scooters

Electric bicycles and scooters are becoming increasingly popular. In the state of Oregon, children under the age of 16 are not allowed to ride any class of electric bike or scooter.

We strongly encourage all students and adults to wear a helmet when riding any set of wheels, motorized or not. If you are under the age of 16, you must wear a helmet when biking, scootering, or skating.

Know the facts, follow safety laws, and stay safe!

Bikes on Property

While we love the fact that parents are using electric bikes to bring their students to school, we are also asking that you adhere to the Bike policy and help us model safe bike etiquette for our students. Our student handbook covers bikes and scooters.

Bicycles, Scooters, Skateboards & Rollerblades

Students may ride their bicycles to the school. Once on the school grounds, bicycles must be walked directly to the bike racks and locked securely. Parents & Caregivers please walk your bike to the entry door your student will go through.

Thank you for helping our students remember this policy.

Student Health

Hello Findley Families! My name is Hunter Rudd and I am the school nurse. Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year!

When you have a moment, I would like to ask you to look at Beaverton School District’s student health webpage. This webpage includes helpful information about when to keep your student home for illness, immunization requirements and resources, head lice information, and medication policy information.

I highly recommend reading through that webpage for all the details, but to highlight a few important pieces of information:

Medication:

If you want to keep your child’s medication in the school health room medication cart, you must bring the medications in their original container. All prescription medications must come with a prescription label.
Medications/supplements that are not FDA approved will require a signed physician note/prescription as well.

Medications must be brought by a parent and cannot come to school in a student’s backpack or pocket!

Health Concerns:

If your child has a medical diagnosis that may require staff assistance or emergency treatment, please make sure to let me and the school office know.
Your child may need a health management plan (for conditions such as asthma, seizures, diabetes, or severe allergies as a few examples) and I will contact you to discuss this further once notified.

Illness/ “Too Sick for School”

If your child is sick, they may be required to stay home and not come to school. Please see the school district’s “Too Sick for School” guidelines to know when your child should stay home.
Note that for vomiting and diarrhea, if your child meets the criteria described they must stay home until they are symptom-free (no vomiting or diarrhea) for 24 hours.

Immunizations:

The state of Oregon requires that all students who attend school must be up to date with vaccinations or provide the required exemption waiver if applicable.
If your student is missing any required vaccines, you will be notified in advance so that your student is not excluded from school on the statewide exclusion day in February.

Please reach out to me through ParentSquare or email if I can support your student’s health in any way. Hunter Rudd, email: hunter_rudd@beaverton.k12.or.us

The Thompson Rd realignment project has been completed. Now is the time to practice your new route to school. Our car drop off and car pick up lot will continue to be accessed via Old Thompson which now dead ends in our lower lot. As a reminder, our Saltzman lot (upper lot) is for buses ONLY during arrival and dismissal.

Additionally, we want to remind our school community that the only safe place to cross either Thompson or Saltzman is at the intersection where we have crosswalks and crossing guards. Lastly, pulling over and allowing students to exit vehicles using the shoulders of either Thompson or Saltzman is unsafe and causes unnecessary traffic jams. Families should drop students off in our lower lot (Old Thompson entry) following our pull ahead procedures ONLY. This keeps everyone safe. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sparky's Steps to Safety

Sparky invites you to show our community that a safe crossing is the best crossing. Follow the footprints to designated street corners and avoid crossing midblock. Teach others how to stay safe while walking to and from school.

TAG Updates for 2025-2026

As was announced at the end of last school year, the BSD is transitioning from using the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to the Naglieri General Abilities Tests (NGATs). This decision aligns with the BSD’s commitment to meet the needs of all students as described in our strategic plan.

In October 2025, BSD 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students will be screened for giftedness in their classrooms using one of three NGATs, unless families choose to request their children to be given the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).

3rd grade students will take the Naglieri General Ability Test - Nonverbal.
4th grade students will take the Naglieri General Ability Test - Verbal
5th grade students will take the Naglieri General Ability Test - Quantitative

During this school year (2025-26), families who want to request that their student take the CogAT must complete this google form link. Requests must be submitted by September 22nd. Please remember, students cannot be tested with the CogAT in consecutive years, so if your child took the CogAT during the 2024-25 school year, they will not be allowed to take the CogAT again this year. As of the 2026-26 school year, the district will only use NGATs.

If your student is on vacation or ill when their class takes the NGAT, we will have a make-up day for all tests missed at the school. If your student misses the make-up test, they will not be tested this year. Exceptions may be made for 5th graders upon the discretion of the District TAG Coordinator.

2025-2026 Findley Student/Family Handbook