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Obsidian Newsletter
Obsidian Middle School Updates ~ November 21, 2024
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It is hard to believe we are already at the end of trimester 1 for the 24-25 school year! I want to start by sending a huge thank you to all of you, our families, on behalf of myself and our staff for partnering with us to support our amazing Wolfpack students! This trimester marked the highest schoolwide GPA (grade point average), best attendance rate, and fewest discipline referrals at Obsidian since the 2020 pandemic! We know this isn’t possible without your support and partnership. We are so proud of our students and are excited to get trimester 2 underway while we continue to push our students toward “High School Ready, Life Ready!”
Trimester 2 officially starts on Monday, December 2. The start of the trimester marks a fresh start for our students. Grades will be reset and many students' electives will rotate, while their core classes will remain the same. We encourage you to help your student get off to a strong start and do their best not to fall behind. We typically see a dip in attendance during December for a variety of reasons, however we encourage you to help get your student to school every day possible so that they don’t get behind on work at the start of Trimester 2. On Friday, December 6th we will be inviting all families of students meeting our A’s, B’s and 93% attendance school-wide goal to a celebration to recognize their accomplishment! Our goal is to increase the number of students meeting our goal during trimester 2 and that starts right away!
All student report cards will be visible by Tuesday, December 3 on ParentVUE/StudentVUE. We will be sending hard copies home with students on Monday, December 2 as well.
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Please support us by reminding your student of our three core rules at Obsidian: hands to self, respectful and kind language, and phones off and away. If our students are able to follow those three basic expectations it helps create a safe, healthy learning environment for all.
As we go into this season of thanks, I as principal, have a lot to be thankful for here at Obsidian. We have the best students, community, staff, and families and I am very grateful to be able to serve the Wolfpack! Thank you for your continued support as we work together to ensure our students are High School Ready, Life Ready!
Go Wolves! Happy Thanksgiving!
Evan Grant
Principal, Obsidian Middle School
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One of the most impactful ways you can support your student is to frequently check their grades and check for missing work. At Obsidian we use two platforms to share grades and feedback.
Canvas - Check grades, see missing work, and see specific feedback on assignments.
ParentVUE - Student grades and report cards
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Our goal at OMS is to increase our average daily attendance and decrease our chronic absenteeism. The State of Oregon defines chronic absenteeism as any student who misses 13.5 or more days in a school year. We know that attendance better than 93% is a very accurate predictor of both middle school success and high school graduation. A student's grades and attendance are tightly linked. We want all students to aim for 93% or better attendance. Please do your best to support your student by helping them get to school each and every day. If you are planning vacations, please do your best to plan those to match our designated school breaks to minimize time out of the classroom. Here is a short VIDEO created by OMS students that was sent out earlier this year about the importance of attendance. |
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Fall sports have wrapped up, and our winter athletic season is off to a great start! Boys basketball is underway and our boys are already improving and competing hard! We encourage you to come out and support our student athletes.
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We are so excited to welcome our Wolves in and want to ensure that we have the best learning environment possible for our amazing students. In order to support that mission, we continue to discuss expectations and review how to be a positive contributor to our school community. We ask that you please support your student by encouraging them to meet our community expectations and follow our school expectations. LINK TO STUDENT HANDBOOK
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As we work our way through the Holiday season let’s continue to keep our Wolf Pack community healthy and ready to learn!
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Please follow the symptom based exclusion guidelines for when to keep ill students out of school: English, Spanish
- Students will continue to go outside for recess almost every day, weather permitting. In order to stay healthy, students will need to be prepared and bring warm clothes to school including: jackets, hats, mittens and boots. Please inform our F.A.N. (Family Access Network) advocate if your child is in need of any of the above clothing items.
- Students are required to have an updated immunization record on file. Immunization exclusion day is 2/19/2025. 7th grade students are due for a Tdap. According to Oregon law, your 7th grade child is required to have one additional vaccine. An official medical or nonmedical exemption is also acceptable.
- If your student has a health condition or needs special care such as medication, treatments, or monitoring, please contact the school nurse. Individual health care plans help keep your student safe and healthy.
- Dental Screenings are scheduled on March 10, 2025 @ OMS. Students will only be screened by Advantage Dental if their parent/guardian checked the yes box on their registration form for dental screening. There are other services available. Please call if interested.
- PLEASE keep your phone numbers current so we can contact you if needed.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions or concerns.
Enjoy the Holiday Season!
Nurse Debbie
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- Thursday, November 21: Last day before Thanksgiving Break
- Monday, December 2: Report cards come home and are visible on ParentVUE and StudentVUE
- Monday, December 2: Trimester 2 begins
- Friday, December 20: Last day before Winter Break
- Monday, January 6: School begins again
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