mcook
We are excited to share with our students and families that Fern Ridge School District expects to fully reopen to full-day, five-day, in-person learning this fall. We maintain those expectations today in light of the Oregon Department of Education announcement of the Resiliency Framework for the 2021-2022 school year.
There will be many more details to work on before our staff and students return and those details will include things like COVID-19 safety measures. We will continue to partner with local and state health officials and will keep our families and community updated as we finalize those details over the summer. We are hopeful that we will be able to make final decisions and share with the community by mid-August.
Summer meals are available for students every Monday through Thursday at the high school.
Meals can be picked up from 11:00am to 12:00pm each weekday (closed on Fridays)
Food for Lane County kicks off their 2021 Summer Meal program tomorrow. Lunch (and breakfast in some locations) will be served around Lane County June 28th thru September 3rd from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Food may be taken to go or you can eat lunch on site and enjoy the park!
Fern Ridge School District has funded 5 free visits to the Veneta Pool (visits can also be shared with family/friends) for every Fern Ridge student.
The community pool opens on Saturday, June 19. For the first three weeks, the pool will offer lap swims, family swims, and swim lessons. The passes may only be used for lap swim, family swims, and recreation swims.
Laps & Lessons are first come, first serve and family swim will require advance registration and a lottery system. Registration for family swim begins on June 14.
You can view the latest community pool details at www.venetaoregon.gov or by calling 541-935-4390 if you have any questions.
Our June employee of the month, Teri Moen, has worked for the Fern Ridge School District for over twenty years. She started here on September 1, 1998.
Teri manages the learning center at Elmira High School where kids who are struggling come for extra help. She meets with the parents of students who are on Individualized Education Plans (IEP), works with the students daily and writes their IEP plans. She serves on several committees and is active in the teacher’s union.
When she isn’t helping students, she loves to camp, crochet, and craft but her favorite past-time is following her two grand-daughters around watching them play on travel softball teams. She also likes all things sour gummy and dislikes bullies!
She has been married to her husband, Jim for almost 28 years and is blessed with two beautiful daughters, Kyleigh & Mckenzie. She has two handsome son-in-laws, Ryan & Brandon and 9.5 grandchildren: Jayden, Jordan, Layla, Taylor, Jack, Connor, Lace, Presley, Cove and Dejàlyn (due in September).
Teri loves building relationships with kids who struggle. “Helping a kid to discover that they really “can” do it.” She also appreciates working with an amazing team.
Congratulations Teri, we appreciate all of the work you do in our special education department!
SPRING HARVEST FESTIVAL
GROWING A FUTURE SCHOOL FARM
Saturday, June 26th, 10am to 2pm
Elmira Elementary School (parking)
Visit www.growingafuture.org to learn more!
We are so excited to invite you to the school farm and learn about the incredible future and opportunities it provides the Fern Ridge School District students and community.
Please bring the whole family for a day of fun, food, prizes, giveaways and festivities that will be an exciting start to your summer. Come and encourage the students!
Here is a short list of what is waiting for you and your family:
GIVEAWAYS
* Prizes and Giveaways from community based organizations
* CSA Boxes from the School Garden
* Cornhole Tournament (prizes)
FOOD
* Strawberry shortcake
* Hamburgers & Hot dogs – Water, Lemonade & Tea
* Tasting tables (vegetables & honey)
LEARNING CENTERS (K-12+)
* Tours, Composting, Beekeeping, Soil Health
LOCAL ARTS, CRAFTS & PROFESSIONALS
* Artisans, Clubs, Experts
Come and join us!
Happy Nurses Day to our own Nurse Teresa and to all of these amazing health professionals who work to keep our students safe and healthy!
Congratulations to Dawn Northey! Dawn is the well-deserving May employee of the month for Fern Ridge. 
She started with Fern Ridge as an Instructional Assistant in the fall of 2013 before transferring into a secretary position at the middle school. Dawn became the head secretary at Elmira Elementary in August of 2017 where she has been keeping the office organized ever since.
To list all of the wonderful ways that Dawn helps to take care of EES would take many more pages! A few of her daily tasks include answering phones, helping families with in-person and on-line registration, processing all of the registration paperwork, collecting student body fees, tracking classified and licensed substitutes for the building and helping with time sheets, staff schedules, coordinating volunteers, keeping track of all the student transportation updates, and countless other jobs that make EES run as smoothly as possible.
One of the things she likes most about her job are the wonderful people she works with and the families she is able to serve. “I enjoy doing it because I know that families appreciate it…..sometimes it involves searching the internet for a form or a phone number, or setting up transportation for them so they don’t have to make one more call in their busy day. The list goes on, but it brings me great joy to serve them.”
When she is not welcoming families and running the office, Dawn enjoys spending time with her two fantastic girls, Maddie and Mackenzie. Maddie is a senior and Mackenzie is a junior at Elmira High School. She loves being outdoors hiking, exploring, and kayaking down the many wonderful rivers here in Oregon. She also enjoys family game nights (with all you can eat ice cream!) family movies, traveling to new places, reading a good book, and anything chocolate.
A huge thank you to Dawn for all of the countless ways you help our Elmira Elementary students, families, and teachers. Congratulations!
To Our Teachers:
You’ve learned to create virtual learning communities.
You’ve found new ways to connect with students.
You’ve re-defined what the words “pivot” and “unprecedented” mean for education.
You’ve got PPE down to a science, have sanitized e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, and know the square footage of your classroom by heart.
And yet, despite all of the challenges that came our way, the quality and dedication of our educators is unchanged.
You’ve been here, standing together, and taking care of our students so that each can continue to reach their greatest potential.
Thanks for all you do!
Bus routes have been updated to reflect the new return to learn schedule for Kindergarten, 1st grade and the students in each grade level who were notified.
Click here to access the updated route schedule
If you have any questions about the new schedule please reach out to the bus barn at 541-935-1969