February Newsletter

We have had a great start so far to the second semester and are excited about implementing a new concept called The West Way! Hopefully your child has mentioned how we are focusing on our behavioral expectations this semester. Right now our focus is The West Way-In The Hallway! We are reminding students to walk in the halls, keep hands and feet to themselves and walk with purpose, meaning be on time for class. Students who are demonstrating proper and safe hallway behaviors are given The West Way cards and these cards can be turned in to the student store on Fridays at lunch for prizes. Thank you to all the students who have received cards and made the hallways pleasant. Along with this, students who are tardy to class more than 2 times will be assigned lunch detention. We have already seen a huge decrease in the number of tardies which is great because that means a decrease in interruptions in classrooms. Keep up the great work students!

West is pleased to announce that we now have an SRO (School Resource Police Officer) at West. His name is Officer Evan Bradley. He has been with the Boise Police Department for many years and has been an SRO at both the high school and junior high levels. Welcome Officer Bradley.

Counselors will be working with all students regarding registration and course selection during the month of February. All documents and information will be available on-line as well.

Please feel free to contact the grade level counselor if there are any questions!

Beginning in 10th grade, the Dennis Technical Education Center (DTEC) provides students with the opportunity to explore various skilled trades and career paths. DTEC operates as a separate campus and students are able to travel out to DTEC during the school day to take classes. Typically, DTEC holds an annual Rigs and Gigs event, which allows current 9th grade students to visit campus and determine whether or not they might be interested in taking a course at DTEC prior to registration for next year's classes. Unfortunately, DTEC is not able to hold the Rigs and Gigs event this year. However, we're excited to inform you that current 9th grade students will still have the opportunity to enroll in DTEC courses for next year at the time of registration. Please feel free to contact DTEC administration with questions regarding any programs of interest at (208) 854-5810. In the meantime, you can also use the link below to view answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding DTEC programs.

DTEC FAQ's

Mrs. Campbell, our social worker, will start her group on Resiliency in February. This group is for students who may struggle identifying positive coping skills which impacts friendships, school and home. This may cause symptoms of depression or anxiety and school avoidance. If you would like your student to participate, or have questions, please email Mrs. Campbell at barbie.campbell@boiseschools.org or call 208-854-6849.

Masks are still required to be worn in the buildings at all times by students, staff and visitors. Please make sure your child has a clean mask when coming to school every day. We do have some masks in the office if a student forgets or needs a clean one. While we are happy to provide masks for students, the ones we give out are reusable and need to be taken home and washed so they can be worn again. We have given out hundreds of masks and do not want to run out, so please help us keep our school, and environment safe, by washing and reusing the masks.

Here is the link for free at home COVID tests.

https://special.usps.com/testkits

We have two new COVID-19 Testing Sites in the Boise School District:

1. Omni Medical Sales will be offering PCR testing only. Omni’s drive up services are available to any community member and no appointment is necessary.

• They are located in the parking lot at Capital High School starting Friday, January 21 at 1 p.m.
• Regular hours are 8 am -6 pm, Monday - Saturday.
• Parent permission is required for anyone 17 years and younger.
• Please see the attached flier for additional information and share this with families and employees.

1. Keele Medical will be opening a second testing site at Riverglen Junior High School on Monday, January 24th, 8 am - 4:30 pm.

• Rapid antigen and PCR testing available to any students and staff at no charge.
• They will be expanding their services to family members in the future when they are able to bill insurance, but at this time that is not available.

And of course, students and employees can continue to obtain PCR and Rapid Antigen testing at:

1. Keele Medical at the Grace Jordan Community Center

• Monday - Friday, 8 am - 4:30 pm, closed during the following hours: 8:30 - 9 am & 2:30 - 3:30 pm.

2. Boise State University

• 2100 W University Dr, Boise, Idaho 83706

• Monday - Thursday, 8 am - 6 pm & Friday, 8 am - 3:30 pm by appointment.

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Here is some information about the dangers of these energy drinks and why we do not sell them or allow students to drink them at school. While the drinks claim to be healthy and full of vitamins to provide you with increased mental and physical performance; the opposite is true. One recent study found that energy drinks have been linked to depression, anxiety, and stress. Another study showed cardiac distress during exercise immediately after consuming an energy drink. The juvenile brain and body is not developed enough to allow for high levels of caffeine intake at one time. Try a multivitamin, increasing your water intake, a regular sleep routine, and getting 30 minutes of exercise daily to improve mental and physical clarity.

Clark, N. W., Herring, C. H., Goldstein, E. R., Stout, J. R., Wells, A. J., & Fukuda, D. H. (2020). Heart Rate Variability Behavior during Exercise and Short-Term Recovery Following Energy Drink Consumption in Men and Women. Nutrients, 12(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12082372

Kaur, S., Christian, H., Cooper, M. N., Francis, J., Allen, K., & Trapp, G. (2020). Consumption of energy drinks is associated with depression, anxiety, and stress in young adult males: Evidence from a longitudinal cohort study. Depression and Anxiety, 37(11), 1089–1098. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23090

Spring sports will begin in March:

7th Grade girls Volleyball-March 7

9th Grade Tennis-March 29

7th/8th/9th Grade Track-March 29

All practices begin at 2:45

Please do not send children to school if they are ill. We want our students in school whenever possible, and you know your child best, but please keep your child home if they have a fever, are coughing or sneezing or extremely tired and cannot stay awake in class. If you ever have any questions, please contact Nurse Ann. She can be reached at (208) 854-6450 or ann.allard@boiseschools.org. You can also call the attendance line at (208) 854-6454.

Thank you Drug Free Idaho for the amazing window decals to promote healthy lifestyle choices.

Our food pantry is located outside by our gym and is open 24 hours to anyone in need of food or hygiene items.

If you would like to donate items to the pantry, you may drop the items off in the main office or contact Mrs. Warnock at jonelle.warnock@boiseschools.org

Also, the Cathedral of the Rockies - Amity Campus located at 4464 S. Maple Grove Rd. has a pantry available for those in need. It is every Monday, 5:30 - 7:30 PM and includes the following items:

Frozen meats;

Bread;

Vegetables:

Diapers;

Toiletries - including feminine hygiene products

All are welcome!

Masks are required.

A reminder to parents that Boise School District provides parents/guardians with the ability to monitor your student’s activity on their District-assigned digital device via the GoGuardian Parent App:

• GoGuardian Parent App - Welcome letter
• GoGuardian Parent App Instructions

Education is important and every missed day of school represents lost learning opportunities. However, the Boise School District’s primary concern is for the safety of all students, including students riding busses and walking or biking to school. If students cannot safely travel to school or if schools are not able to operate safely because of citywide dangerous weather conditions, school may be cancelled.

We will not cancel school on days with normal wintery conditions. Light snowfall, cold mornings or areas of ice are not sufficiently dangerous to force the closure of schools. With proper precautions including appropriate clothing, road deicing, and careful driving, students can travel to and from school safely. The Boise School District covers over 450 square miles of Ada County. We recognize that conditions vary throughout the District, even from street to street, in some cases. Conditions may be extremely dangerous in one area, while perfectly safe everywhere else. If parents believe it is too dangerous for their children to travel to school they have the option to keep their children home. If school is cancelled, it will be cancelled for the entire District, including Boise Online School. The most frequent dangerous weather conditions facing Boise schools are: SNOW: Snow levels within the City of Boise are typically light or moderate. However, there is always the potential for a heavy snowfall to make traveling by vehicle or on foot dangerous. Historically, most snowfall only results in slow traffic and minor accidents throughout the City. Normal snowfalls would not result in school closures. COLD: Frigid temperatures are more serious than snow when making school closure decisions. On bitterly cold days our concern is for students walking to school. Extremely cold weather also impairs our ability to get busses running, which causes delays in pickup routes, delays which are much more dangerous to riders because of the low temperatures. ICE: Ice is our most dangerous winter weather condition. Freezing rain and/or refreezing of melted snow make our roads, streets and sidewalks extremely treacherous for pedestrians, and vehicles. Icy conditions may force us to close, even if it appears that no other dangerous conditions exist. How is the decision made to close or not to close school? Representatives from transportation agencies, the weather bureau, the highway district, city and county law enforcement agencies, and school administrators, including the Superintendent, check the roads and monitor information throughout the night and early morning hours. We confer by telephone early in the morning to reach a decision. If school will be closed, we will communicate in a number of ways to spread the word. In addition to notifying local radio and television news stations, we will send text & email messages to parents/guardians, send an emergency alert via the District’s mobile app, post closure information at www.boiseschools.org, on each school’s website, and on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram accounts. Parents/guardians can sign-up to receive emergency text messages by texting “Y” or “YES” to the number 67587. Non-parents (e.g., other family members, staff, news media, etc.) can also receive emergency text alerts via the Boise School District's mobile app (available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store). For more information, please visit our Inclement Weather Procedures on our Emergency webpage.

Annual Notification Regarding Public Release of Student Directory Information

The Boise School District complies with federal law (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) as it relates to the release of student directory information to the public. To learn more, log on to www.boiseschools.org and navigate to Parents & Patrons > Parent Information > FERPA Form. Or, please call the Clerk of the Board at 208-854-4123 to obtain a copy of the FERPA form.

Janet Cherry - Principal

Bryce England - Assistant Principal

Email: janet.cherry@boiseschools.org
Website: https://west.boiseschools.org/
Location: 8371 W. Salt Creek Ct., Boise, ID 83709
Phone: 208-854-6450
Twitter: @WestMustangsBSD