May 13 2020

Final Post of the 2019-2020 School Year!

Dear Westlake Parents and Guardians:

I hope that this communication finds you doing well and staying healthy.  The end of a school year is always bittersweet, but this year I’m feeling it very acutely.   At Westlake, we’ve missed our students so much while we’ve been in remote learning, yet, we’re glad that we’ve been able to still connect remotely.  The summer break is just around the corner and I’m feeling very hopeful for  our future.  For all of us, the remote learning situation we’ve found ourselves in has taught us new skills and has helped us better understand how to best learn and teach.  We hope that through all of this experience you and your family have found joy in this unprecedented time.

Students, thank you for doing your best to show the Westlake Way by showing kindness to yourself and others, respecting the remote learning environment and the work that went into it, and demonstrating engagement with your teachers and school work during remote learning.  Parents and guardians, thank you for helping your child stay positive, for encouraging them, and for tending to their physical and emotional needs.

We wish you all the best in the summer and look forward to seeing you in the Fall for our returning students.  For our 8th graders, we wish you all the best in high school and beyond.

 

Student belonging pick-up- “Give and Take”

We are pleased to share that we will have the opportunity to allow families to collect student items and personal belongings, and return school- or district-issued items on May 18-20. 

In light of the ongoing health and safety precautions, this will be a curbside process. There will be no student or parent access to our building. The district has consulted with our local health department partners and confirmed that this plan aligns with ongoing health and safety requirements. 

There will not be a collection of district-shared electronic devices at this time. However, if you are not planning to return to a district-managed school for the 2020-2021 school year, please bring your district-shared device during your scheduled drop off/pickup.

If you will be keeping your device(s) for the summer, please continue to safeguard and care for your device. These items will be collected at some point in the next school year.

 

A few important notes about the pick-up protocol:

    • Pick-up times are alphabetized by family last name. 
    • Only parents or guardians will be able to pick up items on behalf of a student. If you are sick or unable to attend during the scheduled times, please contact your school to identify an alternate individual to pick up items.
    • Families can choose either day to pick up items.
    • In order to keep the process moving efficiently, please plan to arrive within  your pick-up time window. 
    • If you have children with different last names attending the school, you will be able to pick up items for these students at the same time.
    • Yearbooks will NOT be available for pick up.  We are working with the yearbook company on a plan for delivery.  

 

  • This will be the only opportunity for student item pickup. 

 

Student Belonging Pickup/Item Return
Monday May 18th Tuesday May 19th Wednesday May 20th
Last Name Alpha Time Last Name Alpha Time Last Name Alpha Time
A-M Noon – 3pm N-Z Noon – 3pm A-M Noon – 3pm
N-Z 3pm – 6pm A-M 3pm – 6pm N-Z 3pm – 6pm

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Please use the image below to help guide you. This will be a drive through ONLY, there will be no walk ups. Please remain in your vehicle and open the trunk or roll down your window for us to retrieve or hand you an item.

  1. Please enter through the NE Entrance and stop for the greeter. The greeter will ask you your student name(s) and grade(s) and hand 8th grade their end of year patch. The greeter will ask you if you have a student in PE that has items in their locker, if your student has artwork to pick up and if you are dropping off an instrument. You will be given a color coded slip to place on your dashboard.
  2. The greeter will direct you which way to proceed through the fork in the parking lot. If you are picking up artwork you will go to the right(towards the building) if you are not then you will proceed to the left of the fork.
  3. If you are dropping off an instrument or other school owned item (textbooks, Lang. Arts books, library books, choir music, etc.)  proceed to the back of the school and use the right (closet to the building) lane. Please pull all the way forward – someone will greet you and retrieve the items. 
  4. If you ARE NOT dropping anything off – please use the left lane and continue to the main entrance. Someone will direct traffic when you come around the corner of the school building.  
  5. If your student DOES NOT HAVE PE (7th and 8th grade) you will use the left lane (westside), please pull all the way forward. Someone will greet you and bring you your child’s locker items.
  6. If your student DOES HAVE PE (all 6th grade and some 7th and 8th grade) you will use the right lane (eastside), please pull all the way forward. Someone will greet you and bring you your child’s locker and PE locker items.
  7. Once you have completed all tasks you may proceed to exit the school.

We want to thank you in advance for your patience as we complete this process. 

Schedule for Last Days of School

With the last full week of school underway and the final days coming up last week I wanted to be sure to share the schedule of events/expectations.

  • Week of May 11th– Teachers will post final assignments (this will have already been completed)
  • Week of May 18th– Students have time to complete any needed assignments, say goodbyes to teachers and classmates, and core award videos will be sent out
      • Student belonging pickup “Give and Take” is scheduled ( see above)
  • May 21st– Final day for all students

Panorama Survey Feedback – Spring 2020

Trends/Patterns + Possible Solutions

Each year, our school asks staff, parents, and students to share their perception of the culture and climate of our school.  Our staff have reviewed the data from all three surveys and have captured some high-level trends and patterns along with possible solutions we have or will put in place to address the area of growth.  Below is an outline of the resulting trends/patterns along with solutions:

AREAS FOR GROWTH STRATEGIES & SOLUTIONS
COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS & FAMILIES
  • Add a section to the Principal’s Blog that features a different content area each week, sharing tidbits about what students are learning and doing.
  • Once a quarter, share updates about what is happening in our clubs.
  • Increase teacher communication with parents.
SUPPORTING SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING OF STUDENTS
  • Institute a weekly homeroom class specifically to teach SEL (Social Emotional Learning) curriculum.

 

 

Thank you all for a great school year!  If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us via email or call the school and leave a message.

 

Warmly,

Dr. Heide

Dr. Heide, Principal Westlake Middle School

 

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