Dear West Orient Community,  

“The ultimate measure of a person is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where one stands in times of challenge and controversy.”  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

In these challenging times, we stand together. It’s difficult to find the words to express the emotions we are all feeling right now. It’s time for everyone, ourselves included, to stand up against racism and injustice. We will start by saying that we have a lot of work to do. While we don’t have all the answers, we are committed to listening, learning, and understanding our students and community. 

We believe that every student who walks through our doors deserves to be treated with respect, fairness, and dignity. We will continue to work together to build a positive and safe community where ALL students feel welcome. We will work towards eliminating inequities and injustices from our school. We will continue to uphold the values of inclusion and equity and support for all of the students that we serve. This is where we stand and this is the journey to which we are committed. 

We are ALL in this together.

Sincerely,

West Orient Staff

Hello, Future Wolverines! 

Welcome to West Orient Middle School. 

Please click on the links below to learn all about West Orient Middle School!

• West Orient Middle School Presentation
• This presentation is self-paced. Please review each slide to learn more about our school and what it is like to be a middle schooler. In addition, be sure to click on the teacher videos to learn more about who they are and what they teach.
• School Video - Watch this video to get a more indepth look into our school and community.
  
  
• Follow school updates on our WOMS Twitter and Gresham-Barlow SD Twitter

We’re excited to meet YOU and we look forward to seeing you in the fall.

Sincerely,

Ms. Catanese

Principal West Orient Middle School

Link to full document

To our Students, Families, and Community, 

Over the last couple months our community has shown immense strength, flexibility, patience, and collaboration as we came together to make Distance Learning for All work for our students and families. 

The staff of West Orient wanted to express their words of encouragement and thanks with a Purple Ribbon Message to our Community.

Please take a moment to watch the West Orient Middle School Outreach Slideshow, and THANK YOU to the Gresham-Barlow Community for “Leveling Up!” during these unprecedented times! 

Stay Safe 💟  Stay Strong 💟  Stay Kind 💟  

Wolverines are EPIC! 

Sincerely, 

The West Orient Staff

2019-2020

🎉8th Grade Celebration🎉

Wednesday, June 10, 4-6pm

We have been given the GREEN LIGHT to celebrate our 8th grade students as they head off to high school. YAY! 

The celebration will consist of a reverse parade where teachers and staff will line the parking areas of the school with signs and decorations while parents and students form a steady line of vehicles. Parents and students will get to see their teachers and say goodbye one last time all from the safety of their own vehicle. 

Due to social distancing requirements and COVID safety protocols, parents and students will not be allowed to get out of their cars. The parade will begin in the upper parking lot and continue through the back parking area where all students will receive a packet that includes a promotion certificate and a special gift. A personal invitation will be sent to all 8th grade families. We hope ALL 8th grade families will participate in this event. More details will be included in next week’s Newsletter. 

8th Grade Celebration Invitation

8th Grade Celebration Traffic Parade Route

Dear GBSD Families,

The 2019-2020 school year is drawing to a close. Thank you for all you did to partner with us during “Distance Learning for All.”  The partnership between our schools and our families was essential these past three months and we appreciate all our community has done to support our students!

As we shared with you at the start of “Distance Learning,” the devices provided to families will need to be turned in. Please see the information below for details.

Grades K-8 and Structured Skills Center Device Return Schedule
Devices may be returned at any of the sites below during the designated times.

You do not have to return your device to your student’s home school. Select a site and time that works with your schedule!

List of School Addresses

West Orient Teacher Appreciation Week Video

This video is from students to our wonderful teachers. 

To view the video click the link below.

Teacher Appreciation 2020

Pandemic EBT Food Benefits for Families

Pandemic EBT is a program that provides financial assistance to help families pay for groceries during school closures. All K-12 students who qualify for free and reduced meals are eligible for this benefit in addition to the daily grab-and-go meals. If you are school-wide free and reduced, all families are eligible. Immigration status does not matter for Pandemic EBT benefits. Pandemic EBT will not count in a public charge test.

Families that currently have SNAP benefits will automatically have benefits loaded onto their EBT cards. Those that currently do not have an EBT card, will automatically have one mailed to them with instructions. Benefits are equal to the price of school meals over the month.

Sodexo will be sending out information on this benefit to families. Please share widely both internally and with your community partners. Flyer attached.

For additional food resources visit the GBSD website under Covid-19>Family Resources or under the Parent Resources tab>Community Resources. 

P-EBT FAQ.pdf 

GBSD Grading, Credit & Attendance Guidance for Grades 6-8

Sodexo has adjusted the meal pick up window from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm to 10:30 am to 11:30 am.  This change was made to minimize the conflict between the meal window and the high school instruction window.  Please understand that once we incorporate a more comprehensive bus delivery schedule (sometime in the first half of May) this window is likely to be adjusted again.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

There have been many changes in the last few weeks to the way that we operate in the community and at school. These changes can be both challenging and stressful during this uncertain time. First and foremost, we want to assure you that we will continue to take good care of your children as we embark on this next chapter of learning; Distance Learning for All.

Beginning on Monday, April 13th, and for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, teachers will be providing instruction to their students through the Google Classroom platform. Below is a description of what that will look like for West Orient students.

Instructional Learning Time

You can expect your child to spend approximately three hours per day on school work. Work assigned to students will average 25-30 minutes per day per class. In addition, there could be up to 1-2 hours of supplemental learning time assigned by teachers.

Assignments and school work

Students are required to complete lessons and assignments every day for all classes through Google Classroom. A weekly agenda will be provided Monday morning with an overview of lessons, activities, assignments for the entire week. Daily assignments will be pushed out by 9:00am. Teachers will continue teaching content standards where they left off in classes on March 13, or begin trimester 3 classes for students in 7th & 8th Health and 6th AVID Lite. Further information regarding grading structures will be coming soon.

Attendance

We will begin to take “attendance” by using student logins to Google Classroom. If students do not access Google Classroom, we will call parents/guardians to see if there are barriers in accessing digital learning. 

Teacher Office Hours:  Daily from 10am-12pm 

Teachers will hold office hours every day between 10:00am -12:00pm. Office hours are simply a guaranteed time that teachers are available to answer questions and interact with students and parents.

*Instructional Window:  1-4pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

This is a dedicated, daily block of time for teachers to provide/push-out online instruction. During this time, teachers may send out pre-recorded instructional videos, hold “real-time” check-ins with students, small groups or whole class instruction through Google Meets, provide feedback on student work, or hold tutorial sessions. IMPORTANT NOTE: Lessons and school work can happen both inside and outside of the instructional window, with the exception of  “real time” instruction when offered by the teacher between 1-4pm.

Distance learning is brand new territory for all of us and we are all learning how to navigate a very different school experience together. We are expecting there will be glitches along the way, so we ask that you are patient with us as we try to figure this out.  Please know that we will be working hard behind the scenes to make this a meaningful learning experience for your child. We look forward to working with you as we all tackle this challenge. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to your teachers, administrators, counselors or office staff. We are all in this together.

Be well and stay healthy,

West Orient Middle School Staff  

#LevelUp

Fred Meyer Rewards Card Fundraiser

You can help WOMS earn donations just by shopping with your Fred Meyer Rewards Card!

• Sign up for the Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to West Orient Middle School at www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards.
• You can search for us by our name or by our non-profit number, TN147.
• Then, every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping West Orient Middle School earn a donation!
• You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today.
• If you do not have a Rewards Card, they are available at the Customer Service Desk of any Fred Meyer store.

Parents & Guardians,

Communication with our families and safety for all students are very important to us at West Orient Middle School.  Here are a few key items to to help ensure communication and student safety.

• Please update your contact and emergency contact information often.  Many time we are unable to contact families when needed. In case of an emergency it is imperative that we are able to reach you.
• ParentVUE is an important tool to track your students grades, absences, class schedule, change demographic information and much more. If you do not have a ParentVUE account please contact the office at 503-663-3323. 
• Log into ParentVUE
• Download ParentVUE Getting Started Guide (pdf)
• Periodically we send out School Messenger Broadcast email messages.  Please do not unsubscribe from receiving these messages.  We try to only send out important information to you as we do not want to overwhelm you with too many messages. If you unsubscribe you will miss receiving important information.  Please contact the office if you would like to re-establish the email connection and begin receiving our email messages.

West Orient now has apparel and shoes available for purchase

Apparel: westorient.gearupsports.net

Shoes: gearupsports.net/shoes

West Orient Gear Up Sports - Flyer

SafeOregon.com

All kids should feel safe at school and in their communities.  

SafeOregon gives kids, parents, schools and their communities

a way to report safety threats or potential acts of violence. 

Together, we'll empower people to speak out and spark a change. 

Report A Tip

2020 Immunization Results

The State of Oregon requires schools to notify parents of their immunization rates for each required vaccine.  These rates will be posted on our school’s website, in our school office, and sent home to parents.  The rates attached are the exemption rates as of the February exclusion date - which is always the third Wednesday of that month.  Schools are required to publish this information twice each school year.  These rates will be posted within thirty days of the February exclusion date.  The same information will be shared again during the first month of school next school year.  Again, these rates are collected and tallied each February.

2020 Immunization & Exemption Results

School board approves boundary changes

View the updated boundaries that go into effect fall 2020 

Updated GBSD Mobile App is here!

Learn more

Receive School Reminders/Updates via Text Message!

Sign up to receive messages from your child's school and GBSD!

Learn more here

Join the conversation!

Every voice matters at West Orient Middle School

Let's Talk!