Fern Ridge School District uses Public School Works for part of the annual training that each staff member participates with. These training modules cover several different areas including bullying prevention and child abuse prevention/education.
As a district parent, you are welcome to login and view the same training modules through our Parent Info Center. There is a link located in the Parents tab of our website or you can click here to login or create an account. In addition to viewing the staff training modules, parents can also access trainings that are meant for students along with crisis hotline information.
Flu season is in full swing! Here is some information on flu symptoms and a few ways to help keep your family healthy in 2020. Remember, if you are ever in doubt reach out to your health care provider.
Flu Symptoms may include:
-A fever of 100 degrees or higher
-Cough and/or sore throat
-Runny or stuffy nose
-Headaches and/or body aches in joints and muscles and around the eyes
-Warm flushed skin and red, watery eyes
-Chills
-Fatigue, generalized weakness
-Nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea (happens more frequently in children)
-These symptoms may hit all at once, quite quickly
How To Stay Healthy And Stop The Flu From Spreading
-Get the seasonal flu vaccine annually.
-Wash your hands often!
-Avoid touching eyes, mouth and nose – germs spread this way.
-Stay home or keep your child home until fever free for at least 24 hours without using fever reducing medication.
-Throw away used tissues – use a new one each time.
-Clean and disinfect surfaces/objects that may be contaminated with germs like the flu virus.
-Quit smoking and/or limit your child’s exposure to second hand smoke.
-Eat well, exercise and get enough sleep.
There is no school for students on Friday, January 24. This is a teacher work day for grading at the end of the first semester/second quarter.
Students – enjoy your three day weekend!
All schools will be closed on Monday, January 20 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Conditions are icy this morning around the area. With it being unclear regarding when it will warm up a few degrees, we are delaying this morning, Friday January 17th.
FRSD IS ON A 2 HOUR DELAY TODAY. SCHOOL WILL END AT REGULAR TIME. NO EARLY RELEASE.
Our January employee of the month, Mari Jones, has worked for the Fern Ridge School District for 30 years! Most of this time was spent teaching at Elmira Elementary School. Currently, she is the Title teacher for both Elmira and Veneta Elementary Schools.
Mrs. Jones is married to Skip who is a musician and performs at many local venues. Their son, Kenny has Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting with a minor in dance. Their family enjoys sharing time together cooking, watching movies, playing games and music. They especially love anything art related and attend plays, movies, music venues and concerts. Mrs. Jones tells us that their favorite place to vacation is the beach. She personally loves to read, spend time with family, research and learn (on just about any topic) bike and bird watch. She does not like hot weather, getting up early, liver or wasting time.
She is a teacher who wears many hats in our district including serving as president of the Fern Ridge Education Association, she helps as the District Wellness Coordinator, has written many grants for us, and participates on several committees including; key communicators, every student succeeds, literacy and many many more. She is a tireless advocate for students and teachers alike. Her service, at so many different levels of the district, demonstrates how dedicated she is to the field of education.
Mrs. Jones tells us that she enjoys sharing her knowledge with her peers. “Fern Ridge has been so fulfilling for me as a professional. The district leaders have supported me to grow and thrive as an educator and teacher leader. I appreciates how rare that is when I talk to others.” She also enjoys helping student become confident and competent learners who are good readers, writers, mathematicians, critical thinkers and problem solvers.
Thank you Mrs. Jones for your 30 years of service and for striving everyday to make an impact on the staff and students of our district!
Fern Ridge School District appreciates the dedicated and hard working members of our school board every day but January is the month set aside to really honor these dedicated community members who give up many hours of their own time without monetary compensation. Our board members have their own families and jobs but still give hours of their time to help the staff, students and families in our district. Mark Boren, Andrea Larson, Jebadiah Flowers, Barbara Graham-Adams and Tiana Povenmire-Kirk are a part of the reason why Fern Ridge is such a great district to be a part of. Thank you to each and every one of you for all that you do for us!
Unfortunately for parents in today’s world, the topics in this headline ARE something you need to be thinking about, AND talking about with your teen. While the majority of young people do not participate in cyberbullying and sexting, it is far to common, and the actual numbers would probably be quite alarming to many. A recent study by JAMA Pediatarics, (click here to see a report on this study) shows that one in four teens are receiving sexts and one in seven teens report they are sending sexts. Cyberbullying is also all to common. 1 in 5 students experience bullying IRL (In real life), and 37% of teens experience bullying on line. There are numerous websites out there to support parents and students on these topics, one is linked under the parent tab from the Fern Ridge School District main page: https://saferschoolstogether.com/parent-resources/
There are also many myths about sexting and cyberbullying. The most common narrative regarding sexting is that teen boys are the ones pressuring girls to send photos of themselves. However, research suggests that boys and girls participate in sexting about equally. A common myth regarding cyberbullying is that it only happens on social media sites (so if my child/teen isn’t on social media I don’t have to worry about it.) This is inaccurate, cyberbullying occurs everywhere that young people communicate: Apps, IM, chat rooms, and email to name a few.
In 2018 the district held an informative parent night at EHS on these topics (click here to see that post) , and we will be trying to organize something similar in the near future. As we head into this holiday break, it can be a good time to have a conversation with your student on these topics. The saferschoolstogether website has numerous safety and digital contract samples that can be a good conversation starter. There are many resources out there on both of the topics above, and talking about them with your child is the first step.
Monday, January 6th is a teacher workday
Students return on Tuesday, January 7th