Despite these challenging days, we want to recognize Forrest Cooper for his outstanding contributions to our district! Mr. Cooper has been an employee since August of 1995. He and his wife Sherry have two sons, Ian and Jeremy. Both Sherry and Ian are instructional assistants at Fern Ridge Middle School. Jeremy is a recent Oregon State University graduate.
Mr. Cooper cheers on the Oregon Ducks, enjoys playing guitar/singing, outdoor activities, remodeling, hunting, steak dinners, gospel fellowship, and almost any kind of pie! However, he is not a fan of cold, wet winters or virtual meetings.
This year, he teaches six different classes, including two advance placement courses in math, social studies, and computer technology. He serves as a local officer in the teacher’s association and also dedicates 20 hours a week as the state board regional officer for the Oregon Education Association.
When asked what he enjoys the most about his job and he said, “the kids, always the kids in my classroom, and I miss them right now!” He also appreciates the dedicated staff he works with and the district leadership team. “We work well together because we all understand that our first priority is educating and nurturing the kids in our community.”
Mr. Cooper is a leader both in and out of the classroom. He brings many gifts and talents to our Fern Ridge community and we want to thank him for his many years of dedication.
SCHOOLS CLOSED: At a 1:00 PM news conference, the Governor of Oregon closed our “physical schools” for the remainder of the school year. Schools are now fully charged to provide “Distance Learning” through the rest of the 2020 school year.
PATHWAY TO GRADUATION FOR OUR SENIORS: The state just released this 25-page document, that outlines the pathway to a diploma for our senior students. If you would like to review the document, I have attached it here (click here). Over the next 24 hours, I will be working on a 1-page summary of this document, along with EHS staff. I will post that summary tomorrow and will share our plan here in Fern Ridge, which is aligned with the requirements of this document.
9TH-11TH GRADE GUIDANCE: ODE has not released this specific guidance yet. As soon as they do, we will share this information.
DISTANCE LEARNING: This will begin next week, Monday the 13th. Teachers and administrators are working hard to roll this out. Having said that, now that we know we will be using this model through the end of the school year, we will be starting slow. It will look different at the various grade levels. We will get better at this with each passing day. Our staff is committed to serving our families and students for the next eight weeks or so with this model. We also understand that not only is this a challenge and heavy lift for our staff, but it is a heavy lift for our parents and families as well. We will work alongside our students and families in the days and weeks to come to meet your needs.
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr. Superintendent, FRSD 28J
Beginning tomorrow, 4/9/20, a new stop will be added to three of our routes. They are on Routes 2, 12 and 13. I will update the document that has the routes and times on the food service/meal info page, after today’s routes are complete. In summary, the changes are as follows.
Route 2: A stop has been added at Faulhaber and Warthen. This pushes out the last two stops a bit later at Evers and Fields.
Route 12: A stop has been added at Perkins & Oak Island. This pushes out the last two stops at Irenic/Placid and Lark/Perkins.
Route 13: A stop has been added at the end of the route at Muirland & Fleck.
AGAIN, ALL THESE ROUTE CHANGES/ADDITIONS WILL START TOMORROW, 4/9/20! Thanks! PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION.
As we begin to get our Distance Learning for All plan off the ground we understand that you may need access to books, supplies and other learning materials (including band instruments, PE clothes, etc…). Both FRMS and EHS will be allowing access to the building by student last names beginning tomorrow and Thursday using the following schedule:
A-C 9:00-9:20
D-F 9:20-9:40
G-K 9:40-10:00
L-M 10:00-10:20
N-P 10:20-10:40
Q-S 10:40-11:00
T-V 11:00-11:20
W-Z 11:20-11:40
Please do your best to abide by the last names listed as we are charged with maintaining social distancing guidelines when students are present and we may have to limit access during these windows if we have a large number of students come to get books and supplies.
If for some reason you cannot make it during these times on Wednesday and Thursday please call the respective school and we can work to arrange another time.
FRSD Students and Families:
We made good progress this weekend regarding planning for our Distance Learning framework. Our goal is to have it ready to go by Monday, April 13th. Below is some general information for you to consider in the days ahead as we prepare for this rollout.
- WHAT IS REQUIRED?: As I have mentioned before, your level of engagement is entirely up to you, based on your student and personal circumstances. For some, what we roll out will be a lot to take in, and may be too much to support. If so, engage at the level you feel is appropriate for your family. For others, you may wish you had more. In those cases, reach out to your teachers, and they will work to support you and provide additional learning opportunities and supports.
- SENIORS: ODE is getting closer on the proposal for high school seniors. I do expect it soon. We are preparing for it and will be able to roll out what that looks like in Fern Ridge with a short turnaround.
- Distance Learning for K-8 students. For at least the first 3 weeks, this will be ONLY through the website and printable weekly plans, lessons, and packets in English (Reading and Writing), Math, and Physical Activity.
- Distance Learning for H.S. students. For high school students, this will be through an individual google classroom for various classes/subjects. All information will also be printable from the website
- TEACHER OFFICE HOURS: Teachers will begin to maintain regular office hours to receive and respond to emails and phone calls from home daily from 8 AM-4 PM. Many will respond and communicate before and after that, as well, if it works better for your families. They will respond within 24 hours, often much sooner.
- TECH SURVEY-DEVICES FOR HS. STUDENTS: We are in the process of conducting a “home technology” survey of our high school students at this time. Our goal is to have in place by Friday, April 18th, a plan for high school students to sign out a Chromebook for home use…maybe earlier.
- PRINTABLE PACKETS: These can/will be accessed one of 3 ways.
- Pick up from the school. The first day they will be available is Monday of each week, although you could pick up any day. IT IS A HUGE HELP FOR THOSE THAT CAN PICK THESE UP FROM THE SCHOOL
- We will mail them to you.
- In some cases, we can deliver to your door, either through buses or staff vehicles.
- ANSWER KEYS: As a standard, we will not be sending home “answer keys.” However, if you would like a specific answer key for a subject, please work with the individual teacher and or building principal and we will email or mail you one.
- TEXTBOOKS: At the high school and middle school level, we are still working on a textbook distribution model. For elementary students, while the physical Language Arts “Journeys” textbook isn’t needed for work at home (as we can send home the printed pages, and you can access the textbook online)…Language Arts books WILL be available for pick-up at the school as well, beginning Monday, April 13th. If you can’t make it to the school and want one delivered….we will make that happen as well.
- TURNING IN WORK: For the immediate future, work completed will not be turned in. However, we will be getting you a colored folder to collect/save the work. In the coming days/weeks, we will establish a process to turn work in, so be sure and save anything that is completed.
That’s probably enough information for now. Thank you for your continued patience and grace with district staff as we navigate through this. We have many folks working hard each and every day to provide meals for the community, daycare for essential workers, supplemental learning, and now distance learning.
Gary Carpenter, Jr. Superintendent, FRSD 28J
FRSD Students and Families:
Thank you for your continued patience as staff are working hard behind the scenes to continue with the things we have currently ongoing, as well as planning our move to “Distance Learning” in the coming weeks. Below are some general bullet points of information.
- We expect further, specific information regarding Seniors from ODE next week. For now, a general update around what to expect has been posted on the COVID-19 CLOSURE page, on the 12th grade link (click here).
- Our meal service continues to operate, and we are getting better and more efficient each day. The last couple days we have served right at 1000 meals a day. For more information on meal service and how to access it (click here). Thank you to Alan Fullerton, Chartwells director, his staff, and the FRSD staff working to coordinate and provide this.
- In conjunction with the Fern Ridge Child Development Center, we have a daycare site up and running that can provide childcare for essential workers. If you need to access this, please contact them directly, or the FRSD District Office. Thank you to Danyel Parker, her staff, and the FRSD staff providing this.
- Tomorrow we have several staff working on our distance learning plan, the framework and technology supports that families will need, and that the district can support. Our goal is to meet the ODE timeline of April 13th. We will keep you posted.
- We have yet to receive specific guidance regarding 9th-11th graders from ODE regarding ways to accrue credit, and/or graduation requirements. Until we get that guidance, we cannot fully plan for or describe what our Fern Ridge plan will look like. As soon as we get it, we will get a plan in place quickly and inform you.
- All families should expect a call early next week (possibly as early as Monday). We will be asking a few short questions to assess the technology capabilities in your home.
- In the coming weeks we will have plans around:
- Accessing books materials from schools
- Accessing student devices (chromebooks)
- How to turn in materials/work to be assessed
- Training for students and parents on any technology to be used………and much more!
Finally, as we work to move toward this distance learning model, we want to emphasize that our overriding emphasis is for the care and support of our families, in any way that we possibly can. Your level of engagement with distance learning is up to you in regards to the amount, and or level you want to engage at. We will attempt to accommodate this undoubtedly wide range of circumstances. Depending on the stressors you have occurring in your own lives/households, this will look different. We understand that, and will support you. We will work hard to meet you wherever you are at, with the resources that we have.
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr. Superintendent, FRSD 28J
DISTANCE LEARNING: FRSD Students and Families, in accordance with the Governor’s order on Monday night, the district is diving deep into looking at moving from supplemental learning opportunities, to distance learning. Our goal is to have the framework of this in place and ready to go by Monday, April 13th. Until then, please continue to utilize the supplemental resources. For the families of our Seniors, I continue to wait on guidance from ODE on this. They continue to say it is on the way, and it continues to get delayed. As soon as this information is released, we will pass along to our families, along with what the recommendations will look like in Fern Ridge.
MEAL SERVICE: Today was our first attempt at expanding meal service with 13 different bus routes (2-3 stops per route). Despite some minor logistical issues we will refine tomorrow, it was a tremendous success. We were able to serve 886 meals. Last week in Fern Ridge, we served just under 3000 breakfasts and lunches combined. Thank you to our staff that handed out meals at the service locations, as well as all of the drivers. For more details on this service, where the buses will stop (and times), please visit the meal section of the COVID-19 CLOSURE PAGE at this link: (click here).
We have had to make adjustments to our new meal delivery plan, set to begin tomorrow, Wednesday April 1st. As we began to problem solve the issue of having buses stop and hold up traffic at different locations, combined with maintaining social distancing with staff on the bus, and folks coming to pick up meals, there have been several challenges.
Here is our current plan, I probably sound like a broken record, but this plan will undoubtedly change and evolve in the days to come:
- The VES “drive-through” location will continue to operate.
- We have 13 routes occurring, however there are only a couple stops on each route. They are at locations where the bus can stop safely, and turn the engine off.
- At these sites the meals will be served out of the back of the bus.
- The drivers will place cones on the ground at the back of the bus to maintain social distancing when we have large groups at a stop.
- We hope that the vast majority of folks will be able to either make it to VES, or one of these stops.
- The stops/routes are listed here.
- If you CANNOT make it to one of these locations, and would like meals delivered to your house, and left on the front porch, we will do our best to accommodate this. We will be using our activity bus to deliver to individual locations. To get us this information, to request a drop off at a house, please leave a message on the school phone of one of your students front offices.
- Phone numbers are:
- VES: 541-935-8225
- EES: 541-935-8214
- EHS: 541-935-8200
- FRMS: 541-935-8230
- The information you need to leave in the message includes: Number of kids that need a meal, the address, and a phone number to call you in case there is a problem or we need more information.
- To have meals delivered that day, we need these messages left by 8:00 AM.
- You only have to leave the message once, and you will be added to the delivery list for every day going forward. To cancel delivery, call and leave a message with your address and let us know you are cancelling.
- Phone numbers are:
Again, the more folks that can make it to one of the MANY stops we have, the better. However, we understand not everyone has this ability. Thank you for your patience as we make this transition.
Late last night school districts received notification from ODE, directing us to shift from delivering supplemental materials, to one of distance learning for all. This is going to take some time for our team to unwrap all of the challenges around this and get a plan in place.
For now, our supplemental materials will stay up on the COVID-19 CLOSURE page. In the coming days I would anticipate families will receive another phone call/survey so we can assess the technology resources our families have available to them, including devices, internet connectivity, and cell service. Plans will be made for families that have none of these things, to ensure all students have an opportunity to continue their education.
We will continue to work through this ever evolving landscape. We ask for your patience and flexibility during this transition.
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr. Superintendent, FRSD 28J
Families and Students:
Over the past few days the district staff have made significant progress. In the main menu above, you should now see a tab that says “COVID-19 CLOSURE.” This page will contain information and links on most topics around school closures going forward, including all supplemental learning resources. We will update these supplemental learning resources each Wednesday. The first update from the initial information available now, will be April 8th. The only thing not currently included in these links are “printable packets.” We hope to have those available by Wednesday, April 1st.
As I mentioned in the last update, all families should expect a call tomorrow or Tuesday. If you do not receive a call by the end of the day Tuesday, please contact your respective school between the hours of 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM beginning Wednesday, April 1st. If you have multiple students in the District, you will probably receive multiple calls.
Thanks for your continued patience as we navigate this new way of doing things.