A potential date has been set for the end of the statewide indoor mask mandate, as well as potentially for K-12 schools.
Starting March 31st, after Spring Break, assuming hospitalizations are where the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) modeling has predicted, each school district in cooperation with local public health authorities will be given the responsibility to determine masking requirements for its students, staff, and school volunteers. All current District COVID protocols are still in place and will continue through March.
Next Steps:
- The decisions on our path forward will take some time. Please understand we just received this news today, and there is a lot to digest.
- Over the next several weeks, I will be working with our staff, families, and school board to determine the best course of action.
- Please continue to reinforce health and safety protocols. The Omicron variant of COVID has not yet reached its peak in Lane County and we hope to be able to continue to keep our schools open, and as many students attending as possible.
Good news: It is good news that the OHA believes the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID, and the number of hospitalizations, will drop significantly by the end of March. It is good news that control is being given to local districts, as each school district, city/county is different.
Plans continue to change, sometimes with little notice. The last two years have confirmed that uncertainty is the one thing we can count on. Your continued patience and flexibility is essential in helping to keep our kids in school. I will provide updates for you as soon as there is news to share. Feel free to reach out to me with questions but be aware that I may have more questions than answers at this moment.
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr.
Superintendent, FRSD.
Feb 7 – Feb 11, 2022, is our time to focus on the contributions of school counselors in Fern Ridge School District and across the nation.
For the 2022-2023 school year, Fern Ridge welcomed three new counselors to our staff. Mrs. Madison Heuertz-McFall, Mrs. Ashley Fischer, and Mr. Courtland Wirth!
Our counseling team works hard at every building throughout the year to actively engage students, helping them to focus on positive ways to enhance their social/emotional development, and plan for a future after high school.
Join us in thanking our counseling team for all of the work they do to ensure our students can reach their greatest potential!
Ashley Fischer: Elmira Elementary & Veneta Elementary School
Madison Heuertz-McFall: Fern Ridge Middle School
Brittany McMillan & Courtland Wirth: Elmira High School
Fern Ridge roots run deep with our February employee of the month! Not only is Emilee Russell a graduate of the Fern Ridge School District, but so are her two siblings and her mom works in the middle school library. Before joining the district as a teacher, Ms. Russell worked as an Instructional Assistant at Elmira Elementary for two years while in college.
Ms. Russell came to work for the school district in September of 2020 as an elementary teacher in the Options program. This year, she is teaching Kindergarten at Elmira Elementary School.
“My favorite part of my job is seeing students’ confidence and self-esteem grow. Every chance I can, I love to show them their progress and remind them of things they used to have difficulty with and now are so much stronger at. I feel lucky to have the chance to help kids develop an excitement and love for learning!”
One of her favorite things to do each morning is greet students:
“I have learned that in just a quick minute each morning, you can make a kid feel special and cared for and happy to be at school.”
This year, Ms. Russell has joined the math committee and is one of the coordinators for the Talented and Gifted (TAG) program. “I am loving learning more about TAG and meeting and working with students from all over the district.”
This is the first year she has taught Kindergarten and she is so thankful for such a supportive team and everyone who helped her learn the ropes in a new grade level.
When she is away from the classroom, she enjoys snow skiing, crafting, jogging and reading. She and her boyfriend just moved from Eugene to Elmira with their two dogs, Ace and Willie. Together they love road trips and she is slowly but surely visiting the National Parks.
Mrs. Klingsporn nominated Ms. Russell for this recognition because of her “super flexibility in moving to the EES Kindergarten position and how she dove in deeply to support students”
Elmira Elementary (and the entire district) appreciate Emilee’s positive attitude, calm presence and laughter. Thank you Emilee!
For the foreseeable future, we will be addressing a heating issue at EHS. This morning we found that the primary mixing valve had failed in the boiler system. Earlier this year, our maintenance staff identified this valve as needing to be replaced and we ordered one. It was scheduled to be here in late December to change out, however, the part has not yet arrived due to supply/factory issues and today it failed.
We will be monitoring the heat in the school closely and be doing several things to help keep the rooms to temperature until this problem can be fixed. We had multiple experts on site today and we will continue to problem solve along side them in the days to come.
In the meantime, students should dress for cooler temperatures on campus, especially first thing in the morning, before strategies we will be implementing have time to take effect each day. We will continue to monitor and adjust. For future updates, please follow the EHS webpage.
Parents of afterschool care students:
Due to unexpected staffing shortages, Fern Ridge Child Development Center is unable to operate the afterschool program from Tuesday, Feb 1st thru Friday, Feb 4th.
The roads are icing up and very slick. FRSD will be on a 2 hour delay this morning!
Today we have been able to resolve the circumstances from the January 3rd incident where it was reported to school administrators that someone had seen a “threat” on social media. Thank you to local law enforcement (LCSO), and their numerous other partners, for working with the district diligently to resolve this. As you may recall, due to receiving this information in the early evening hours of January 3rd, and an inability to gather enough information to solve the issue that night, the decision was made to cancel school for EHS and FRMS on January 4th. By the end of the day on the 4th we determined this was not a credible threat and were confident enough in the circumstances surrounding this issue to return to school the following day. Since that time, I, along with other District staff and law enforcement, have spent time on this issue each and every day. It is one we take seriously.
Earlier this afternoon a student and her family met with law enforcement. She was cooperative and honest about these circumstances and admitted to making up the fact that a threat had been seen on social media. She was cited in lieu of custody due to her honesty and cooperation and released to her parents. Subsequently, I also met with the family. Law enforcement will be pursuing appropriate charges based on these specific circumstances, and the school district will be doing the same through our discipline/due-process guidelines and policies. The family has been very cooperative and in addition to appropriate consequences, we will be looking for ways to support this student and her family in the days and weeks to come.
A reminder to our students that threats made or reported for ANY reason will be taken seriously and they have significant ramifications and consequences to not only the perpetrator, but our entire community. Thank you to our staff, students and parents for your patience as we worked through this. The safety and security of all students is our first priority. As always, if you hear or see anything that may indicate a safety issue, please report it right away.
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr., Superintendent, FRSD 28J
Tonight’s community Q & A with Superintendent Carpenter will be held from 5:30 pm – 6:00 pm. There will be 5 – 10 minutes of information shared followed by approximately 20 minutes of time for those in attendance to type questions in the chat.
Here’s the zoom link to connect with tonight’s session: https://fernridge-k12-or-us.zoom.us/j/88212696504
Today, ODE released graduation rate data for the 20-21 school year. That data can be viewed here: GRADUATION RATE DATA.
A BRIEF summary of the data is below. Thank you to all of our staff across the District K-12 that work tirelessly to support our students and their pursuit of a diploma. In addition, thank you to the families that prioritize school and encourage the academic achievement of their children!
20-21 4 year cohort graduation rate for all students in the State of Oregon: 80.63%
20-21 4 year graduation rate for all Lane County students: 77.82%
20-21 4 year graduation rate of Elmira High School students: 91.01%
Due to the the district’s current situation, that of having the highest number of staff and students out as a result of COVID, the board has decided to hold their January meeting virtually. It is still the plan to return to an in-person option as soon as possible, hopefully in February (we will always maintain a virtual option going forward so that more parents and community members have an opportunity to attend).
The agenda and notice for this (and all) board meetings can be found here.
The good news is that in December, the board adopted a new policy that allows for community members to submit comment virtually, in the same manner they would if we were in person. The policy can be found HERE, and the administrative rule can be found HERE. The administrative rule has a form (on page 2) that must be submitted by 1:00 PM the day of the board meeting in order to be included in the public comment portion of that meeting. Any forms submitted after that deadline will be added to the next board meeting. When submitting comment virtually, it is important to fill out the form completely and include the attendee name or phone number you will “join” the meeting under so that you can be “pulled in” to the virtual webinar to make your comment.
If a community member would like to submit comment and have it read for them (due to not being available at that time, or a lack of technology), that is a possibility as well. Simply note that in the form and submit the comment you would like read, as identified on the form. Please refer any questions to Michelle Smith at msmith@fernridge.k12.or.us
Comments must be kept to three minutes (we will have a timer), and 30 minutes will be allocated to each board meeting for public comment.