Good morning FRSD families.  Our vendor, Chartwells, and their staff have been working hard to prepare for the return of students.  Below are some notes regarding our plan for the beginning of the year, and how it will build and grow over the first few weeks this Fall.  In addition I have included some important information concerning Federal waivers the district has received in regards to providing meals.

1.  FREE MEALS:  Federal Waivers we have received allow the District to provide both breakfast and lunch meals FREE to ALL school age children through December 2020.

2.  FREE AND REDUCED LUNCH FORM:  Please, continue to fill these out now, DO NOT WAIT. The waivers will end eventually, and we don’t  want families to end up not being covered when they do.  In addition, the qualifying income amounts have been adjusted, allowing for more eligible families.  The easy online application process can be completed here: https://www.ode.state.or.us/apps/frlapp or you can go to this link and print a copy of the form and turn it in at a school:  https://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/1621_001.pdf

3. Beginning in week 1:  The first day of meals will be the first day students return, on September 22nd.  We will have 3 ways students can get meals:

a.  K-3 students that attend school will have an opportunity to have both breakfast and lunch, at their school, in the cafeteria.

b.  The High School North Parking lot will have a “drive-through” meal pick up service occurring each school day, from 11:00-12:30.  A lunch for that day and a breakfast for the next day will be available.  In order to pick up meals, parents/students will just need to provide their last name for ODE compliance. The meals are free of charge.

c.  Students in grades 4-12 that are on campus for 2 hours for LIPI (Limited In-Person Instruction) from 9-11 AM will have an opportunity to get a meal before they leave for the day, including a breakfast for the following morning.

4.  Beginning in week 2: In addition to the opportunities described above occurring in week 1, we will add:

a.  Service at the EHS drive through location from 11:00-12:30 on Monday the 28th, a no-school day.  This will continue every Monday.

b.  Drop off/pick up locations will be available at a few locations throughout the community.  The exact number and location of these meal pick-up sites is yet to be determined.

5.  Beginning in week 3: Everything from the first two weeks will continue.  We will be looking into the possibility of having all buses available to deliver meals to the community in food boxes, that would allow a family to get a box of meals (lunch and breakfasts) for the entire week so that they wouldn’t need to come to a site each day.  This will take additional logistical planning and we will keep families informed if this becomes a possibility.

The NEW chromebook checkout schedule/location/days/times have been finalized.  The checkout, for ALL SCHOOLS, will be in the North parking lot of Elmira High School.  To access that information, visit the link/page below.

CLICK HERE FOR CHROMEBOOK CHECKOUT SCHEDULE

IMPORTANT ADDITION:  AN FRSD CHROMEBOOK CHECK-OUT AGREEMENT MUST BE SIGNED BY THE STUDENT AND PARENT IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A CHROMEBOOK.

These forms will be available in the front office of every school as well as the high school during check out.  The link below will take you to the form if you would like to print, sign, and bring with you to the checkout.

Chromebooks can not be issued without a form signed by both the student and parent. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE CHECKOUT PROGRAM INFO AND AGREEMENT

With many in the local community still without power, the District is preparing to offer the following resources.  These can be available immediately, beginning this morning.  To coordinate/communicate with the District you may call the District Office at 541-935-2253 ext 1203 during office hours, or email gcarpenter@fernridge.k12.or.us after hours. You may also text 541-600-7560

• Any trailers that need a spot to park, can do so in the EHS parking lot.  We can hook you up to power as well.
• The Wi-fi in the EHS parking lot is available for access.
• Showers
• Restrooms
• Filling up of water jugs with clean water
• A place to charge electronic devices

We can continue to expand what we are offering in the coming days if there is a need.

Do not hesitate to reach out or forward this information to anyone in our community that needs it.

Parents, Students and Community,

Due to the current emergency situation in Lane County, and its effect on our  community, staff and students, I regretfully must share that we are delaying the start of school by one week.  Instead of beginning September 15th, we will begin on Tuesday, September 22nd with all students K-12 and in the FRSD OPTIONS program.  As before K-3 will be in a hybrid A/B model, and 4th – 12th will be in Comprehensive Distance Learning.

While I am certainly disappointed with the turn of events that necessitate this shift, I am confident it is the best choice given our current circumstances.  While our staff have been working overtime to get ready for students, we now have too many uncertainties in order to roll out in 7 days.  Some of the circumstances that led to this decision include

• The periodic loss of power and potential loss of power makes our chromebook checkout, a CRITICAL component that needs to occur prior to students returning, too risky to begin. Chromebook checkout will be moved to next week.  A schedule will be posted prior to Saturday, September 12th.
• We may need to open some of our facilities in our community to support folks that need clean air to breath, a shower, or to simply charge a phone or have a meal.
• We have staff that live in areas that have had to evacuate, as well as many staff supporting close family members in need.
• The adjustment of our school air systems to utilize more outside air (to assist with COVID), has exacerbated the issue of smoke in some of our classrooms and buildings.
• A need to support some other Lane County Districts and communities that are in desperate need currently.

I thank you in advance for your continued resilience in the face of seemingly unending challenges.

Gary Carpenter, Superintendent, FRSD 28J

FRSD Families,

This letter is intended to provide information to our families that use district transportation, provided through First Student.  School buses are a critical part of our district operations, however, this year things will look different due to requirements as a result of COVID-19.  Below is information you should be aware of.  As a reminder, to begin the year, the only students on-site will be Kinder-3^rd graders and they will attend every other day.  There will be a few students in grades 4-12 that attend as a result of their specific needs.

• Up to date information regarding 20-21 bus routes will be posted here, when ready: https://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/?page_id=339. Our A Day and B day routes for K-3 students is currently posted, and can be found under the transportation section on the following page:  https://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/2020-school-year/
• Any family that is able to transport students themselves, is encouraged to do so. If you have the ability to carpool with another family as well, it would be greatly appreciated.  For those that need district transportation, it will be provided and numerous safety precautions will be in place.  Those will include:
  • All students must wear a face covering. Those not wearing one when they load the bus will be given one.
  • Students will fill the bus from the back to front and exit the bus in reverse order.
  • To begin the year, to assist with training, there will be two adults on each route.
  • Drivers will wear masks and face shields when loading and unloading the bus.
  • Students will be visually screened for symptoms of illness when they load the bus.
  • Those that exhibit symptoms will sit in the front of the bus, and the school will be notified that a student who may be sick is arriving.
  • If a parent is with the sick child at the bus stop, they will not be allowed on the bus, and sent home with the parent.
  • Students will fill the bus one student per seat, alternating sides of the bus. Students from the same household may sit together.
  • The bus driver will fill out a cohort log for each bus trip.
  • There is no eating or drinking on the bus.
• Cleaning protocols for the bus include:
  • Buses will be kept clean and sanitized between cohort routes
  • Drivers will clean high touch surfaces frequently (e.g., handrails)
• Students will be taught to maintain social distancing while at the bus stop. Please encourage this with your students.
• When loading the bus, after school, we will work to load the bus in reverse order, with the students getting off last, loading first.

Transportation protocols will be a work in progress the first few weeks of school.  If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact your individual school, or the transportation department at 541-935-1969

Professionally,

Gary E. Carpenter, Jr. Superintendent FRSD 28J

Please take a few minutes to complete our technology survey. It will help us identify the level of technology support our families need in order to make distance learning work every student and family. Please complete this survey by August 21^st.  Thank you!

CLICK HERE FOR TECH SURVEY

Thanks in advance to our families for filling out the survey below (very short, 2-3 minutes).  The survey allows the district to collect some data, regarding the following:

• How many students will be enrolling in our hybrid program at our schools (some in person-some out as allowed by health metrics and ODE/Governor guidance).
• How many currently plan to enroll in our FRSD OPTIONS program that will be fully online with some teacher support.
• How many are pursuing an option outside of the FRSD school district and will not be returning.

This information will help us tremendously with our planning over the next several weeks. This is for returning AND new students to fill out.  Please take one survey for EACH student that you have.  The survey will remain open until Monday morning, August 10th.

If you need more information before filling out the survey regarding what our hybrid/in-person model will  look like, or more information on the FRSD OPTIONS program, please feel free to call or email  your building principal.

CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY

Below is a general description of our framework, following our large group committee meeting today.  Please be aware that these are subject to change based on several factors, most importantly the required metrics (number of infections in a county and test positivity rate both county and statewide).

To summarize:

The 1st day of school for all students (regardless of model) will be Tuesday, September 15th.

Grades 4-12 will begin in Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL).  This is the only thing allowed by the Governor’s order and ODE directives. There are some exceptions for students with Special Needs to receive “limited” on-site instruction in grades 4-12.  We are looking into the ODE definition of “limited” and we will be exploring those options.

Grades K-3 will begin with in-person instruction on an A/B schedule (either Tuesday/Thursday or Wednesday/Friday).  Many Lane County School Districts are beginning the year with all of their students K-12 in distance learning.  In an effort to try and support our K-3 students and families, as well as provide as safe an environment as possible for our staff, we have agreed to utilize the governor’s exception for K-3 as long as metrics allow.

Starting school one week later gives staff, instead of the normal 4 days, to prepare for the school year, a full 2 weeks.  This will significantly improve the CDL experience for our students, parents, and staff.  It will also allow our classroom K-3 teachers time to prepare.  With the work we have already begun, combined with what will occur the first two weeks staff return, we are confident we can provide an engaging and rigorous Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL) model for our students. Currently, having 4th-12th grade students attend in person is NOT allowed with the Governor’s guidance.

For families in all grades K-12, an FRSD OPTIONS program will be available.  This program is for families that, for example, have a medically fragile student, a high-risk household member, are waiting for a vaccine, or simply want to start the year in CDL and will not be moving back to the building when the metrics allow us to open up with more in-person instruction.

Every 4-5 weeks we will decide, based on both state and county metrics, whether or not we can begin to move 4th-12th graders into some form of on-site instruction, expand our K-3 on-site instruction, or not.  A decision on whether we can make this move will be made on or before October 5th.  If we can, it will begin Tuesday, October 13th.  If it cannot, we will stay with the CDL model in grades 4-12, and A/B schedule in grades K-3 at least through the end of the quarter (Friday, November 13th).  A decision regarding moving to in-person instruction that could occur beginning Tuesday, November 17th, will be made on or before November 9th (again, mostly determined by what is allowed based on current state and county infection metrics).

There are still MANY details around this that need to be worked out.  Your FRSD staff is working around the clock to prepare for the return of our students.  It is our goal to provide options for parents, stay in compliance with the requirements, and provide our families with as much in-person instruction as possible.  When it is not possible, we will be working hard to ensure our CDL program is one that is as engaging as we can possibly make it, and that parents and students have the supports and technology they need to make it work for their family.

As usual, we will have our Wednesday community Q and A tomorrow at 3:30 where I will review the information above.  The link for that virtual meeting is:  https://meet.google.com/wro-ifnp-ans

FRSD Students, Families, and Staff,

Yesterday, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), in consultation with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) released new health metrics and standards for opening schools.  These metrics were discussed in an announcement by Governor Brown.  What this means for Fern Ridge is that all students in grades 4-12 will participate in a comprehensive distance learning model to begin the school year.  Our planning committee will be reviewing all of this information and guidance over the next few days.  On Tuesday, August 4^th, our planning committee will finalize our recommended structure (for all grades K-12) and it will be communicated to the community later that day.

At that time, it is my hope/goal to be able to share the following information on August 4th:

• General information about the registration timeline and process.
• The date of the first day of school for all grades.
• What the K-3 model/plan is in regards to in-person vs. Comprehensive Distance Learning, as well as dates and timelines.
• How long (at a minimum based on infection rates) students in grades 4-12 will be in Comprehensive Distance Learning before returning to in-person instruction.
• Any options for students with special needs for periodic, individual, or small group in-person instruction or technology support on campus.
• A clear description of our “FRSD OPTIONS” Program for families that want to engage in full-time online learning (K-12) for the remainder of the 20-21 school year.

I realize everyone is anxious to receive final confirmation of what the school year will look like, and that this news is frustrating for some, and a sense of assurance for others.  The District will continue to use the metrics established by the health experts in the state to guide our decisions.  In all our plans, flexibility will be critical, as guidance/directives from the state changes often.  We ask that families be aware of this and understand that plans WILL change as needed.

In regards to what comprehensive distance learning will look like for Fern Ridge students, you should know that this model will be different from the student learning experience of this past spring.  Our goal will be to start the school year prepared to provide all students with a robust learning experience.

The district understands the importance of getting our students back in our buildings as soon as it is possible to do so, and we will continue to work on our detailed health and safety plans so we are ready to make that transition.  The district is fortunate to have supportive certified and classified association partners, parents, and community leaders that are collaborating with us daily. A return to in-person learning will occur as soon as possible, until then we look forward to meeting the needs of our students and families to the best of our abilities in this new, virtual environment.