FRSD Students and Families:

We made good progress this weekend regarding planning for our Distance Learning framework.  Our goal is to have it ready to go by Monday, April 13th.  Below is some general information for you to consider in the days ahead as we prepare for this rollout.

1.  WHAT IS REQUIRED?: As I have mentioned before, your level of engagement is entirely up to you, based on your student and personal circumstances.  For some, what we roll out will be a lot to take in, and may be too much to support.  If so, engage at the level you feel is appropriate for your family.  For others, you may wish you had more.  In those cases, reach out to your teachers, and they will work to support you and provide additional learning opportunities and supports.
2. SENIORS: ODE is getting closer on the proposal for high school seniors.  I do expect it soon.  We are preparing for it and will be able to roll out what that looks like in Fern Ridge with a short turnaround.
3. Distance Learning for K-8 students.  For at least the first 3 weeks, this will be ONLY through the website and printable weekly plans, lessons, and packets in English (Reading and Writing), Math, and Physical Activity.
4. Distance Learning for H.S. students. For high school students, this will be through an individual google classroom for various classes/subjects.  All information will also be printable from the website
5. TEACHER OFFICE HOURS: Teachers will begin to maintain regular office hours to receive and respond to emails and phone calls from home daily from 8 AM-4 PM.  Many will respond and communicate before and after that, as well, if it works better for your families.  They will respond within 24 hours, often much sooner.
6. TECH SURVEY-DEVICES FOR HS. STUDENTS: We are in the process of conducting a “home technology” survey of our high school students at this time.  Our goal is to have in place by Friday, April 18th, a plan for high school students to sign out a Chromebook for home use…maybe earlier.
7. PRINTABLE PACKETS: These can/will be accessed one of 3 ways.
   1. Pick up from the school.  The first day they will be available is Monday of each week, although you could pick up any day.  IT IS A HUGE HELP FOR THOSE THAT CAN PICK THESE UP FROM THE SCHOOL
   2. We will mail them to you.
   3. In some cases, we can deliver to your door, either through buses or staff vehicles.
8. ANSWER KEYS: As a standard, we will not be sending home “answer keys.”  However, if you would like a specific answer key for a subject, please work with the individual teacher and or building principal and we will email or mail  you one.
9. TEXTBOOKS:  At the high school and middle school level, we are still working on a textbook distribution model.  For elementary students, while the physical Language Arts “Journeys” textbook isn’t needed for work at home (as we can send home the printed pages, and you can access the textbook online)…Language Arts books WILL be available for pick-up at the school as well, beginning Monday, April 13th.  If you can’t make it to the school and want one delivered….we will make that happen as well.
10. TURNING IN WORK:  For the immediate future, work completed will not be turned in.  However, we will be getting you a colored folder to collect/save the work.  In the coming days/weeks, we will establish a process to turn work in, so be sure and save anything that is completed.

That’s probably enough information for now.  Thank you for your continued patience and grace with district staff as we navigate through this. We have many folks working hard each and every day to provide meals for the community, daycare for essential workers, supplemental learning, and now distance learning.

Gary Carpenter, Jr.  Superintendent, FRSD 28J

DISTANCE LEARNING: FRSD Students and Families,  in accordance with the Governor’s order on Monday night, the district is diving deep into looking at moving from supplemental learning opportunities, to distance learning.  Our goal is to have the framework of this in place and ready to go by Monday, April 13th.  Until then, please continue to utilize the supplemental resources.  For the families of our Seniors, I continue to wait on guidance from ODE on this.  They continue to say it is on the way, and it continues to get delayed.  As soon as this information is released, we will pass along to our families, along with what the recommendations will look like in Fern Ridge.

MEAL SERVICE:  Today was our first attempt at expanding meal service with 13 different bus routes (2-3 stops per route).  Despite some minor logistical issues we will refine tomorrow, it was a tremendous success.  We were able to serve 886 meals.  Last week in Fern Ridge, we served just under 3000 breakfasts and lunches combined. Thank you to our staff that handed out meals at the service locations, as well as all of the drivers.  For more details on this service, where the buses will stop (and times), please visit the meal section of the  COVID-19 CLOSURE PAGE at this link: (click here).

We have had to make adjustments to our new meal delivery plan, set to begin tomorrow, Wednesday April 1st.  As we began to problem solve the issue of having buses stop and hold up traffic at different locations, combined with maintaining social distancing with staff on the bus, and folks coming to pick up meals, there have been several challenges.

Here is our current plan, I probably sound like a broken record, but this plan will undoubtedly change and evolve in the days to come:

1.  The VES “drive-through” location will continue to operate.
2. We have 13 routes occurring, however there are only a couple stops on each route.  They are at locations where the bus can stop safely, and turn the engine off.
   1. At these sites the meals will be served out of the back of the bus.
   2. The drivers will place cones on the ground at the back of the bus to maintain social distancing when we have large groups at a stop.
   3. We hope that the vast majority of folks will be able to either make it to VES, or one of these stops.
   4. The stops/routes are listed here.
3. If you CANNOT make it to one of these locations, and would like meals delivered to your house, and left on the front porch, we will do our best to accommodate this.  We will be using our activity bus to deliver to individual locations.  To get us this information, to request a drop off at a house, please leave a message on the school phone of one of your students front offices.
   1. Phone numbers are:
      1. VES:  541-935-8225
      2. EES:  541-935-8214
      3. EHS:  541-935-8200
      4. FRMS:  541-935-8230
   2. The information you need to leave in the message includes:  Number of kids that need a meal, the address, and a phone number to call you in case there is a problem or we need more information.
   3. To have meals delivered that day, we need these messages left by 8:00 AM.
   4. You only have to leave the message once, and you will be added to the delivery list for every day going forward.  To cancel delivery, call and leave a message with your address and let us know you are cancelling.

Again, the more folks that can make it to one of the MANY stops we have, the better.  However, we understand not everyone has this ability. Thank you for your patience as we make this transition.

Late last night school districts received notification from ODE, directing us to shift from delivering supplemental materials, to one of distance learning for all.  This is going to take some time for our team to unwrap all of the challenges around this and get a plan in place.

For now, our supplemental materials will stay up on the COVID-19 CLOSURE page.  In the coming days I would anticipate families will receive another phone call/survey so we can assess the technology resources our families have available to them, including devices, internet connectivity, and cell service.  Plans will be made for families that have none of these things, to ensure all students have an opportunity to continue their education.

We will continue to work through this ever evolving landscape.  We ask for your patience and flexibility during this transition.

Gary E. Carpenter, Jr. Superintendent, FRSD 28J

Families, please share the information below regarding information that will be coming out over the next few days on a wide range of topics related to our closure. Thanks for your patience as we navigate these challenges.

1. MEAL SERVICE: Meal service continues tomorrow and Monday at our 4 locations that we have previously shared. We are looking into possibly increasing this late next week and could implement bringing lunches around on school bus routes, stopping at respective bus stops. We will keep you posted if we get this place, and share the information immediately. The only change in regards to serving meals that we have recently received from ODE and our Federal Partners is that we no longer have to physically see the children. Parents can pick up meals for their children without them being physically present.
2. SUPPLEMENTAL LEARNING: This weekend, I will be publishing a new page on our website that will share a wide range of topics related to school closure issues. One of them will be supplemental learning resources for all grades K-12 in most subject areas.
3. PHONE CALL: Expect a phone call from your child’s homeroom teacher (or some other staff member) on Monday. In this call, we will be touching base, answering any questions that we can, and most importantly, asking if you can access the online resources we have posted. If not, would you like resources mailed home once a week. Please understand these are simply resources to keep your student(s) engaged and make things easier for parents. They are not required, they will not be graded, and they will not be turned in (although students can certainly share with their teachers some of the things they did during this closure when they return).
4. 12TH GRADERS:  State leaders are prioritizing creating a pathway to graduation for High School seniors. As soon as that information is released from ODE, we will share it and begin to have one on one phone calls with our senior students and families to discuss their path.

Finally, in speaking with several teachers today, they are eager to find new ways to support and engage with their students in the days and weeks to come. We will be publishing an updated list of contact information for all our staff. All teachers will begin maintaining virtual/remote “office hours” from 10 AM – 2 PM daily where they will be available to communicate via email or phone with students and parents.

Gary Carpenter, Superintendent, FRSD 28J