Palms Middle School

Due to bad weather and the UTLA Strike, the Friends of Palms monthly meeting scheduled for Friday January 18, 2019, at 8:00am has been canceled.

Coffee with the Principal, which was to follow the meeting, will not take place either.

The cancelation decision was made late Thursday.

The Friends of Palms meeting may be rescheduled, so watch this page for news.

Connecting Cultures at the Los Angeles Central Library

The Connecting Cultures Mobile Museum, which began at Palms Middle School, was one of two dozen selected exhibitors at the Los Angeles Central Library's first-ever Mobile Museum Fair on Sunday, January 13, 2019.

The Connecting Cultures Exhibit at Palms will run from April 2 to April 9, 2019.

The DonorsChoose website lets families and friends help teachers purchase needed supplies and equipment.

There are three Palms donation drives in progress:

• Empowered Through Pop Art! - art supplies to let students of Ms. Purdy transform ordinary newspaper into their own 3D pop art. Click to donate!
• So We Can Read Monster In My Class - books to let students of Mr. Westhoff read culturally relevant stories. Click to donate!
• Chromebooks Needed - computers to help students of Mr. Westhoff access their online curriculum. Click to donate!

To date, Palms teachers have raised $15,8743 through DonorsChoose.

LAUSD has established a hotline to answer community questions about the UTLA strike. Parents and community members may call the strike hotline for the most updated information. A live person is available to answer questions from 6 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. Call 213-443-1300 with any questions.

Following is an update from Dr. Moriuchi regarding the UTLA strike:

Our teachers and school staff work hard every day to help our students reach their full potential. As you may be aware, Los Angeles Unified has been unable to reach agreement on a new contract and United Teachers Los Angeles has announced that its members will strike beginning Monday, January 14th. Despite this action, Palms MS will be open and operating on a regular bell schedule.

Central office employees have been assigned to our campus to help ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff, and we encourage you to send your child to school.

Transportation and meal service will be provided as usual, along with after-school programs provided by Beyond the Bell and Team Prime Time. However, athletic programs and other extracurricular activities will be cancelled. There will be no after-school tutoring. 

Please monitor KLCS – TV, the district’s social media accounts and your local news station for timely updates. If you have questions, please call the school at 310-253-7600. We look forward to seeing your child at school.

Superintendent Austin Beutner has written a letter to parents (please read here in English and Spanish) regarding the possible upcoming UTLA teacher strike on Thursday, January 10. The Superintendent is asking parents to send their children to school in the event of a strike. Palms has a safety/instructional plan in place.

UPDATE: The strike has been postponed until Monday, January 14.

​​​​​​​The Palms Middle School website has a new look and feel as of Spring 2019. How do you like it?

Our redesigned website has the same depth of information that parents and students depend on, plus a few improvements:

• We're using larger and more readable text, more whitespace, and new fonts.
• Our site looks great on computers, tablets, and smart phones. For example, two-column pages on a computer automatically switch to a single column with drop-down menus on a smart phone.
• Every page is now accessible to the visually disabled. Screen reader software can identify every photo, graphic, table caption, and other visual element throughout the site.