All FRSD Students moving to Comprehensive Distance Learning!

Students and Parents of the Fern Ridge School District.  Over the past 2 weeks the district has been reviewing the new requirements imposed by the state, evaluating infection rate data, and coming up with a plan for what school will look like in the coming weeks.  On Monday the 23rd the new County infection rate data was released that has the two week “look-back” rate at an all-time high of 253.9/100,000, up from 175.5 the previous week, and 133.6 the week before that.  That information, combined with the Governors requirements released December 13th, including isolation/travel requirements placed on staff and students, necessitates this move to Comprehensive Distance Learning from December 1st-December 18th.  Below are the bullet point details of this change, and what these three weeks will look like in December:

• For the vast majority of students in grades 4th-12th, and FRSD OPTIONS program students, nothing will change.
• The primary changes will be for:
  • Kinder-3rd grade students will no longer be coming in for Limited In-Person Instruction, a daily schedule is currently being worked on by administrators, in conjunction with teaching staff and will be released soon.  Especially at the youngest grades, the amount of daily CDL will probably start a bit more slowly, and grow over time as we see what is working well, and what isn’t.
  • Our  handful of 4th-12th grade students that have been coming in either daily, or every other day, will not be able to do so during this period of CDL.
• We are working on a plan to make school meals more accessible, and will have that information posted as soon as it is available.
• While some instructional staff will be working from home, the front offices of all schools as well as the District Office Building will remain open.
• We currently have a drop in “tech-support” time at the District Office from 1-3 PM. In addition to that, we are now adding a morning time from 8-9 AM.
• Currently, this decision is being made only for the 3 weeks in December, over winter break, new information, requirements and data will be evaluated and a decision will be made regarding any changes that will occur in January.

We realize there is no replacement for face-to-face interaction with our students and we look forward to students and teachers returning to school buildings as soon as it is safe to do so.  The district is continuing to engage parents, teachers, school leaders and policymakers throughout this process. For now, our students will continue learning from home and we will do everything possible on our end to get back to in-person learning as soon as possible.