{"id":2089,"date":"2026-03-17T23:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/?p=2089"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:02:08","slug":"newsletter-march-17-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/2026\/03\/17\/newsletter-march-17-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsletter: March 17, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hello Westside Vil<\/em><\/strong>lage Families!
Here are a few things to look out for this week:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Important Dates:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Mar 16: 5th Six Weeks Extended Care & Clubs Begin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 18-20: NO SCHOOL, District Conference Days<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 20: Choice Options Lottery Deadline for Kindergarten<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 23-27: NO SCHOOL, Spring Break<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 30: Whole School Field Trip to High Desert Museum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 23: Village Rhythm & Bingo (VRB)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 28: Spring Picture Day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 25: NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day Holiday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 27-29: Coast Trip (4th-8th Graders)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 8: 8th Grade Moving On Celebration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 11: Last Day of School (Early Release at 2:05)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Click here for the full WVMS School Year Calendar<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO SCHOOL Days in <\/strong>March<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reminder that there is NO SCHOOL this Weds-Fri or all next week for district conference days and spring break! We’ll see you back on Monday, March 30th!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 18-20:<\/strong> NO SCHOOL for District Conference Days (Westside will have had conferences already). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 23-27:<\/strong> NO SCHOOL for Spring Break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends of WVMS is offering camp on all of these non school days. Sign up through Bend Parks and Rec!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

High Desert Museum Field Trip, <\/strong>Mar 30<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We will be taking our entire village to the High Desert Museum the day we return from spring break! Permission slips went home this week, or find it here<\/a>. There is a suggested donation of $6 for this trip to help with museum entrance fees and transportation. Cash or check in the office is great, or make your donation here<\/a>. If you know your student will not be here that day, please let us know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congrats to Our OBOB Team!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A huge congratulations to our Westside Village OBOB (Oregon Battle of the Books) team, Nerd Squad, who competed in regionals this past weekend! They worked hard to read 16 books and were 1 point away from making it to the Sweet 16 this year. Way to go, guys!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Track and Field Begins Mar 31<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Track and Field starts after Spring Break for grades 5th-8th. Don’t forget to get registered<\/a> and pay for bus passes<\/a>. Reach out to Ms. Claar with any questions (sara.claar@bend.k12.or.us). If you qualify for a scholarship, apply it at checkout (friends site).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Village Rhythm & Bingo (VRB) is Apr 23!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is VRB?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westside Village Rhythm & Bingo is our biggest FUNdraiser of the year! An evening of live music, delicious food, BINGO, raffle prizes and more! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event will be held this year on Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 at the Unitarian Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VRB is more than just a fundraiser. This event gives the older\/elder students an opportunity to apply for jobs at the event or at school, from kitchen\/serving jobs to babysitting which gives them real life experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It truly is such a fun event. Parent’s night out for a good cause! Adults attend the event and your ticket includes free babysitting at Westside Village!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know of any businesses in the community that may want to be a sponsor or donate items or services for raffles\/prizes, please send them our way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It truly takes a village to pull this event together. Thank you all in advance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruitment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We need our families’ help; we want a full class of kindergarteners! We have room in other grades as well, especially our hard hit COVID years, 4th and 5th grade. Please send out flyers and postcards to family and friends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Choice Options Lottery<\/strong> Will Close Mar 20<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Visit this link<\/a> for more information. If you know of any families that would be a good fit, send them our way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that all incoming siblings of Westside students MUST complete an application.  Current Westside Village students do not need to re-apply.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lottery for 1st-12th grade has closed, but applications are still being accepted. The lottery for Kindergarten will close on March 20th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entry into the Choice Options lottery, Dual Immersion lottery, and Priority Area Change Requests all require a current enrollment in a Bend-La Pine School for the school year requested. Enrollment for the 2026-2027 is open.

Don\u2019t hesitate to call Marcie with any questions.  541-355-2001<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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News From Friends<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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5th Six Weeks Extended Care & Club Sign Ups Are Open!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s time to sign up for 5th Session of Extended Care & Clubs! Visit www.friendsofwestside.com<\/a> to sign up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NexTrex Recycling Challenge<\/strong>, Collect Your Plastic Bags!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We’ve collected 170 pounds so far! <\/strong>Weigh your plastic at home and let us know how much you’ve taken to be recycled OR bring your plastic to school and we’ll weigh it for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help us reach our goal of collecting 1,000 lbs of clean plastic bags and film in one year! Westside Village is participating in the NexTrex Recycling Challenge starting in February and we need your help! You can collect at home and bring to the school OR collect at home, weigh it, and take it to one of our participating drop-off retailer locations for recycling<\/a>. Make sure to email Ms. Marcie your weights so that we can log it! marcie.gibson@bend.k12.or.us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plastic bags and film packaging are important durable and lightweight protection for food and merchandise in transit. But these materials SHOULD NOT be recycled in most curbside carts or single stream programs. Thankfully, many grocers and retailers and some communities provide specific collection bins for bags and film to be recycled separately from other recyclables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello Westside Village Families!Here are a few things to look out for this week: Important Dates: Mar 16: 5th Six Weeks Extended Care & Clubs Begin Mar 18-20: NO SCHOOL, District Conference Days Mar 20: Choice Options Lottery Deadline for Continue reading Newsletter: March 17, 2026<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":762,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/762"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2089"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2095,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions\/2095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bend.k12.or.us\/westside.village\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}