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Mike Guill, a teacher at Veneta Elementary since August of 2008, has been selected as our April Employee of the Month!
His day gets started by greeting kids, boosting their spirits, and making the school a welcoming place to be. He does his best to instill a love of learning in every student that crosses his path.
VES staff members tell us “he works diligently to read with all of his students at their instruction level, regardless of what that is. He asks for suggestions from other teachers on how to best serve his students, and encourages and supports students’ reading in his classroom. So many students have benefited from him over the years!”
He always quietly encourages staff that he notices are working long hours or he knows are going through a rough patch. He will anonymously drop off a coffee, a blizzard, chocolate flavored coffee beans, or whatever he feels would make a staff member’s day better.”
When not teaching and supporting other Veneta Elementary staff members, Mr. Guill is most likely to be found playing disc golf – he thinks he’s terrible at the game but he loves to play! He enjoys hiking with his wife of 28 years, Fenn, driving through Finley Wildlife Refuge and spotting critters that look like tiny dust balls with legs running across the road (Fenn calls them baby quail) 😉
The Guill’s have two daughters, Dana who works at Veneta Elementary School as an instructional assistant and Allison who works at Chintimini Wildlife Rehab.
His favorite thing about his job is “The people I work with because it feels like family rather than a job. I also love challenging kids to be the best they can be rather than settling for “good-enough”
Thank you for all of the encouragement and support you continue to show students and staff!
APPLICATION TO FILL SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER VACANCY
Position: School Board Member Position #5
Appointment Requirements: To be eligible for appointment, the candidate must:
- Have lived in the district at least 12 months prior to appointment.
- Not be an officer or employee of the district.
- Be a registered voter of the school district.
Duration of Appointment: To complete the term of a vacated position until June 2023. The candidate that is appointed to fill this vacant seat is eligible to run for election in May 2023 to fill out the remaining two years of the Position 5 term.
Duties: Commit to preparing for and attending at least one meeting per month and each budget committee meeting.
The Board will select the appointee as follows:
- The candidate should have personal integrity, intelligence and appreciate the values of good education;
- The candidate should be willing and capable of assuming responsibilities;
- The candidate should have the ability to work with others, should have the courage of his/her convictions, should always vote his/her beliefs and should be a champion of the public schools.
- The candidate should be prepared and willing to devote a sufficiently large amount of time to the study of the problems of education in the district, as well as the state and nation at large, so as to be able to interpret them to the electorate;
- The candidate must be willing and able to make sacrifices of their time, energy, and knowledge for the benefit of the district.
Application Procedure: This application along with proof of voter registration should be returned to the Board Secretary’s Office at the above address or emailed to msmith@fernridge.k12.or.us. The Board will review applications received by April 8 at 4:00pm. The Board will select a candidate on April 18, 2022 at the regular board meeting. Click the link below for a fillable pdf of the application or request a paper copy from Michelle Smith at 541-935-2253 Ext 1203.
Link to Fillable School Board Application 2022
Have a question, thought, or comment for the Superintendent or School Board?
Here’s two different ways you can connect with district leadership:
Community Q & A: Superintendent Carpenter hosts a question/answer session each month at 5:30 pm prior to the monthly board meeting. All community members are welcome to post a question in the chat and hear answers for the 30 minute meeting. Here’s a link to the April 18th, 2022 session. If you cannot attend the live Q & A, you can email your question to Superintendent Carpenter: gcarpenter@fernridge.k12.or.us
Fern Ridge School Board: The FRSD Board of Directors sets aside 30 minutes in every regular, public meeting to hear public comment. Community members are each given 3 minutes to speak and must turn the Intent to Speak form in by 1pm the day of the board meeting. Links to public comment policy and the Intent to Speak form are found here. The board meeting in April will be a hybrid of virtual and in-person. Speakers may attend in-person or within the virtual webinar. Links to each month’s board meeting can be found on the Boardbook page along with the board agenda and meeting attachments.
The board welcomes objective criticism of district operations and programs but is not able to hear comments regarding any individual district staff member. School board members are generally not able to respond to individual commenters and may refer to the superintendent for reply at a later time.
Comments emailed to board secretary Michelle Smith: msmith@fernridge.k12.or.us will be forwarded to the entire school board but will not be read into record at a board meeting. Individuals/Groups who submit the Intent to Speak form after the 1:00 pm deadline will be invited to comment at the following month’s meeting.
Each school board meting is recorded and posted on the School Board Meeting Recording page.
Please call 541-935-2253 ext 1203 or email msmith@fernridge.k12.or.us if you need assistance or have questions about public comment or the community Q & A.
Link Tree:
Community Q & A Session
Recorded Community Q & A Sessions
Public Comment Policy
Intent to Speak Form
School Board Meeting Materials/Virtual Links
Recorded School Board Meetings
Below is a flyer that outlines our CDC Community Level Guidance for COVID-19 beginning March 12th. This will be a working document that will continue to be updated as changes occur. Click here for a .pdf version of the document.
Link Tree:
Click here to view the current county level here (right hand side of page)
Volunteer/Visitors: Changes coming soon – click this link for details
Mandy Storey has been working as a Fern Ridge School District employee since September of 2019, but with all five of her and her husband’s children attending FRSD, she really has been a familiar face since 2006!
Currently, you’ll get to see Mandy’s smiling face in the front office at Elmira High School where she spends most of her day answering phones, assisting parent with questions on everything from sporting events to school schedules to policies. She works with her student office assistants to show them how to use the phone system and learn office skills they can use outside of school. She assists administrators and teachers in their daily routines to help make their days go more smoothly, as well as taking daily attendance, putting together morning announcements and welcoming many different substitutes to the building to help out staff. Mandy is also a very pivotal person in the school’s Leadership class helping bring school spirit to all at Elmira High School.
“My favorite part about my job is seeing the students in the morning and welcoming them in with a smile. I like to ask how their morning is going and hear about their days. I let them know I’m invested in their success. So even when it has been a tough morning, I can typically get a smile out of them by letting them know I am HAPPY to see them and that they made my day by being present.”
In Mandy’s free time she enjoys going to dinner with friends, hiking, being in the outdoors and watching fun movies and TV shows with her family. She has been married for over 19 years to her husband James and together they have Justice, William, Gracie, Brady, and Scarlett.
Mandy tells us that her all time favorite place to go is the beach. “Any day at the beach is a great day for me.” She hopes to be able to travel more in her down time and hopes to one day travel the world with her husband.
Thank you Mandy for all you do to help keep Elmira High School running smooth and making it a welcoming place for students!
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!
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.
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
A professional pest management company will be applying an approved, low impact herbicide to planter beds at each school over the weekend of January 22, 2022. The application is intended to discourage new weed growth in those areas.
In accordance with state law, signage will be posted at each site with contact information and re-entry times.