Good morning Golden Eagle families!
Each day brings more and more excitement as we gear up for our 2020-2021 school year. I can’t wait to meet all of our new students and welcome back all of our past eagles. After talking with several of our teachers this week, I know that they are feeling the excitement as well. For families, this time of year may bring a lot of questions and for some, you may be still trying to determine what will be the best option for your student and your family. Below are some important pieces of information that may help you to make these decisions as well as prepare for our year at PCMS. I know that brevity is hoped for in these e-mails but there is simply a lot of information this time of year. Please know that all of the News from the Nests can be found on our website if you need to refer to them again. When in doubt, give us a call in the office, or reach out to your student’s counselor. We are here to help!
Comprehensive Distance Learning
Check out this link for MS schedules, guidance, and athletic information. This page will continue to be updated so it may be a good one to bookmark for quick reference during this year.
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- At PCMS, we have used a structure known as “Community” in order to support cross-curricular projects and learning across Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts. This means that we have always had one Science teacher partnered with one Humanities (SS and ELA) for three consecutive periods. According to our new district MS schedule, all periods are broken out individually. We will be communicating in our next News from the Nest as to how we will navigate this three-period block so students and families have a clear and predictable way to plan for instruction within our Communities.
- This week and last we sent a survey for ALL FAMILIES to complete regarding your plans for next year. This information is critical for our planning. If you have not yet filled out the survey, please call the front office at (541) 355-7820 to let us know your plans. We will be calling these families next week to solidify numbers.
Moving Between BLPO and PCMS classes
We have gotten a lot of questions about this. Please connect with your counselor if you have questions that are not found within this linked document. We know that there are always situations that don’t quite fit the mold for everyone.
6th Grade Students
We are so happy to welcome the class of 2027 to PCMS! in order to help students get acquainted with our school and to ease any nerves before we begin, all 6th graders are invited to attend our WEB Day on September 11th from 9 am to 10:45. Where Everyone Belongs (WEB) is a program that’s focus is to support the transition from elementary to middle school while developing leadership opportunities for 8th graders. All 6th grade students will be partnered with an 8th grade WEB leader for the year. WEB leaders will be supports for 6th graders and help them to navigate any of the questions that come with advancing into middle school. All students are asked to please log in to Liza Huet’s webex room (https://bls.webex.com/meet/liza.huet) at 9 am. We look forward to seeing you there!
New 7th and 8th graders
We are excited to have you join the our Golden Eagle community this year! In order to best support you, our WEB leaders will be doing a training with you all on September 11th as well from 11-12:30. This will begin in Liza Huet’s room (https://bls.webex.com/meet/liza.huet) at 11 am. Please log in using webex.
New Parent Back to School Session
We invite all new parents to a Virtual Back-to-School session on September 11th from 5-6 with our administration in order to hear about PCMS and answer questions related to the new year. This event will be done via webex. Please log in to Lisa Birk’s webex room to attend (https://bls.webex.com/meet/lisa.birk)
New Student iPads
During the week of September 7, new students to PCMS will be issued an iPad. More information will be coming out directly to you as well as in the next issue of News from the Nest.
WEB Leaders
Thank you for supporting the transition to Pacific Crest for all of our new students. You will set the tone for a new year at a new school. Please join Mrs. Huet in her Webex room (https://bls.webex.com/meet/liza.huet) for WEB leader training from 9-11 am on Wednesday, September 9th. If you have any questions or needs, please send her an e-mail.
Mathematics Placement Assessment
In some circumstances there are students entering 6th grade (sometimes other grades) that may need to move into a different math course than that of their grade-level offering. This is often due to being new to the BLP program and having had much of the grade level curriculum already but can happen for other reasons as well. Placement in another level of math is NOT automatic and students must demonstrate skills and understandings that ensure they will be successful upon advancement by taking two mathematics placement assessments. This year, this will be done virtually and proctored by one of our math teachers at the end of next week. If you believe your child should be in another math course, please contact Ryan Kelling ([email protected]) by WEDNESDAY evening in order to be part of the assessment group. He will contact you with more information at the end of next week.
Student Schedules
Schedules will go live during the week of September 7th. You will be able to see them in Parent VUE during that week.
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- Band and Orchestra students: Due to late staffing changes, Band and Orchestra students will have a new instructor this year.
- Learning Pods: Our counselors have received questions regarding schedule changes in order to accommodate many learning pods within our community. The work of creating schedules for 700 students with 7 classes each is very complicated and we simply cannot support these changes and get a schedule going for the year. However, it is important to know that all grade-level teachers of the same subject area are planning together so regardless of the teachers students are with, instruction and activities will be very similar between classes.
Accident Insurance:
It is important to know that Bend-La Pine Schools does not carry accident insurance for students. This means that you, as parent or guardian, are responsible for any medical bills if your child is hurt during school activities. Bend-La Pine Schools does provide access to insurance plans offered through Myers-Stevens & Toohey and Company, Inc. to help pay for those bills. Information on this coverage can be found at this link: https://www.bend.k12.or.us/district/parents/health-immunizations
iPad Insurance
Please use this site for all things related to iPad insurance. Just like any other insurance plan, iPad insurance needs to be purchased each year in order to remain in effect. Don’t be caught without it!
Nutrition Supports
Meal Applications: We are now accepting applications for SY 20/21. We are very excited to announce that part of the Oregon Student Success Act are expanded income guidelines for qualifying for free meals. We are encouraging all families to apply for meal benefits! Click Here
Please see the Oregon Expanded Income Guideline Chart
|
Household Size |
Annual |
Monthly |
Twice Per Month |
Weekly |
|
1 |
38,280 |
3,190 |
1,595 |
736 |
|
2 |
51,720 |
4,310 |
2,155 |
995 |
|
3 |
65,160 |
5,430 |
2,715 |
1,253 |
|
4 |
78,600 |
6,550 |
3,275 |
1,512 |
|
5 |
92,040 |
7,670 |
3,835 |
1,770 |
|
6 |
105,480 |
8,790 |
4,395 |
2,028 |
|
Each additional Member |
13,440 |
1,120 |
560 |
258 |
We encourage all families to apply on line. You can apply online at https://www.bend.k12.or.us. Applying via the online option is the best way to ensure we receive your application and it gets processed in a timely manner.
Parent & Student Book Clubs
This week we ended another great parent book club session and will complete our summer round of book clubs with students on Monday. These book clubs are focused on race, equity, intersectionality, history, and the work of raising excellent future neighbors and leaders. We will be holding these throughout the year. Please look for more information in our upcoming News from the Nest.
Phew! What a time! Thanks for sticking with me until the end. As we transition into the fall, we are all trying to navigate new territory and it will come with no shortage of challenges. As they come up, I encourage you to lean on our PCMS staff to support you. We are all working to embrace our inner gymnasts and become as flexible as possible during this unusual year. One way to help this transition is to be thoughtful about the language you use at home or with your friends about this school year. HERE is an interesting article from the Washington Post that reminds us that “…students have learned from our responses to the crisis, our interactions with them during the crisis, and the way we have talked about returning to school. They have also learned from things we have and will say about them [and the learning they experience].” Our Golden Eagles will leave this year having learned things that no other students in history will have learned. I look forward to a wonderful year full of INSPIRATION, LEARNING, and CARE at PCMS. At Pacific Crest, we like to say, “the Golden Eagles are the best at getting better” and this year will be no exception. As always, thank you for supporting this community of fantastic educators and impressive students. I feel lucky to be part of this special place.
Go Golden Eagles!
Lisa