Dear Staff and Families of Veneta Elementary
Just a short time ago (this evening) we were notified that a member of the Veneta Elementary Community has tested positive for COVID-19. As members of the school community, we understand that this might raise concerns alongside a caring response. We are working closely with Lane County Public Health to respond to this news and protect the health of our community.
Each situation calls for different protocols. In this case we are taking the following steps:
- Due to finding out so late this evening, school is closed for all students K-5 and staff at VES on Tuesday, October 20th.
- The school will be sanitized fully on Tuesday by our custodial staff. This is out of an abundance of caution, as the last contact at the school for the individual that tested positive, was Friday morning the 16th.
- First thing Tuesday morning we will be communicating with Lane County Public Health (LCPH) and supporting their contact tracing protocols and providing our contact tracing logs.
- Our District Nurse is also working closely with LCPH and will be available to support the District, our staff, students and parents.
- Lane County Public Health will be directing us tomorrow in regards to if any specific families/students need to be notified, or isolate. Those families will be informed as early in the day on Tuesday as possible.
- We expect classes to resume on Wednesday, October 21st. If LCPH directs us to isolate any specific “cohorts”, those students will be notified immediately. In that case, the students would move to Comprehensive Distance Learning.
- A phone dialer will go out to VES families this evening, to share this information.
- This only effects Veneta Elementary School.
- We will provide updates both here, on the VES website and Superintendent Carpenter Facebook page.
The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is through staying home when ill, wearing face coverings, physical distancing, and practicing good health hygiene habits. Be sure to wash your hands frequently with soap and water, cover your coughs and sneezes, and avoid contact with people who have signs of illness.
We will keep you updated with any new information as it comes out, while meeting the requirements to honor everyone’s right to privacy. More information can be found on the Oregon Department of Education’s Ready Schools, Safe Learners page and the Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 page.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact the District office, or your school administrator.
Professionally,
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr.
Superintendent, FRSD 28J
We have spent some time going over the survey comments and questions from the last week, and as a result wanted to respond to some of the larger topics addressed. First off, thank you to EVERYONE that participated. All of the positive comments around the supports and work of the district to this point have been passed along and were greatly appreciated. Equally as important, were the comments sharing all of the areas where students (and parents) are struggling. Below are couple of the most common concerns that were brought up, as well as the work we are doing to address them:
- Workload is too high: Conversations are occurring at all levels around re-examining the workload for our students. While we are committed to maintaining academic rigor, keeping students connected, and showing them care is our #1 priority. If the amount of material that is traditionally covered through a course is not covered in this environment, that is OK.
- When are school staff available for questions or extra help?: I am asking building administrators to post something on their school website regarding this so everyone has the information. Some buildings may also choose to send out an email with this information or do a phone dialer. Stay tuned. However, as always, do not hesitate to call the school or email the principal with any questions, such as this one, anytime!
- Is Pass/No Pass an option: Traditionally this is only an option through the first two weeks of a term. However, these are not traditional times. We will be working right up until Monday morning to identify any limitations of our system, overcome those and by Monday morning we will have a plan in place that I will share here. At a minimum, the plan will allow for extensive flexibility in regards to not having any deadlines to make this request for a course or multiple courses. GPA should not be a stressor for students and families in this time. This will be consistent in grades 6-12 in both CDL at EHS and FRMS, as well as 6th-12th graders in the OPTIONS program. Stay tuned for the exact details. Needless to say, Pass/No Pass will be an option for all 6th-12th grade students right up until the end of the term.
- How can parents get teacher contact information? On the left hand side of our webpage is a staff directory. We made sure that it is up to date. All FRSD staff should be listed there as well as the building phone number and their email address.
Thanks for your continued patience. As we get these things resolved, we will be moving on to other areas of concerns shared in the survey.
Gary E. Carpenter, Jr., Superintendent, FRSD 28J
If you have a Chromebook that looks like this for your student enrolled in Kindergarten through 8th grade …….
AND your power adapter (charging cord) has markings that match this picture (look for the “Chicony” label)
Please come to the FRSD District Office at your earliest convenience and exchange it (JUST THE CHARGING CORD) for the proper adapter for that model chromebook. If you have any questions, please call 541-952-7030. If you cannot come to the District Office, let us know and we can schedule a home visit to make this swap. It will help us out tremendously to get these back, and get the correct ones to you. These chargers were only given students in Kindergarten through 8th grade, they were not issued to high school students.
FRSD District Office
88834 Territorial Rd
Elmira, OR 97437
In partnership with Chartwells and our food service staff, the district is preparing to start a new opportunity to deliver meals to meet the needs of some of our families who are not available to visit either EHS, or one of the drop sites during the school day. This opportunity will occur every Monday evening, from 5-6 PM in the North (back) lot at Elmira High School.
Come to the High School at this time, and you can/will receive a breakfast and a lunch for the entire week, for each child/student 0-18. We will still use the drive through model, and you still just need to give your last name. The students do not need to be present.
All of the meal “kits” will be made fresh that morning, and include the following three bags:
- One containing milk for breakfast and lunch for five days
- One containing a selection of fruits and vegetables for both lunch and breakfast
- One containing five sandwiches and five breakfast items (such as muffins, breakfast bars, etc..)
Something that would be tremendously helpful with planning and preparing the meals would be to get an idea of how many folks will be accessing this resource. You can do that by one of two ways. Either emailing the food service director Alan Fullerton at afullerton@fernridge.k12.or.us with the subject of “Monday Night Meals” and include the number of students/children in the line as well. For example: Monday Night Meals – 3. Or you may call your school secretary and give them the information and they will pass it on. The sooner you “sign up” the better. You won’t need to do this each week, just the first week to give us an idea of how much product to order, and how many meals to prep.
Please help spread the word!
The learning curve of the various technology and platforms has been steep for everyone. To assist with that, we have started to create a list of training videos to support students and families with this new learning environment. The links to these videos can be found under the red “2020 School Year” tab on the right side of the main district webpage. The direct link is here: https://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/2020-school-year/
We currently have videos on Zoom, Google Classroom, Accelerate and Edgenuity. We are reviewing recent survey data and will be adding more training videos in the weeks to come based on feedback we receive.
The five sites are continuing Monday through Friday around the community.
11:00-12:30 at the EHS North Lot (119 lunches served today)
12-12:30 at the DS Mart (9 lunches)
12-12:30 at 5th and Woodland (8 lunches)
12-12:30 in Noti (7 lunches)
12-12:30 at the Fern Ridge CDC on Jeans Rd. (7 lunches)
Today at our 4 stops around the community, we served 31 lunches, up from 17 the day before. In order to continue with these stops, we need to have community members/youth access them. Please help spread the word!
On another note, we would like to hear from you if a 5-6 PM meal pick up in the EHS back (North) lot would be helpful for some families that cannot access the meals mid-day due to work or other commitments. It would be a cold lunch and breakfast in one larger bag for the next day. If this is something a good number of folks tell us they would access, we will work on a plan to get started next week. Please email Michelle Cook @ mcook@fernridge.k12.or.us with this in the subject line “PM HS MEAL SITE”…and the number that you would pick up in the message (or leave a comment below). Thanks so much!
FRSD Parents and Students,
The district is looking for ways to provide additional support to our families. To this end, we have begun a new section on the top of the “2020 school year” tab from the District’s main page. The direct link is here: https://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/2020-school-year/
You will notice the first item at the top of that page is titled “Training for parents and students on different topics.” The first training we have included, is a Zoom training from the parent/student perspective (Thank you Mr. Lee). We will add more trainings, a Q and A, and other supportive materials as time allows, and as we hear from families around the specific areas they need support. To help in that regard, please take the very short 4 question survey to help of focus our trainings on what is needed most. The survey can be taken at: (click here)
Small groups of students are getting the opportunity to practice safety and hands-on technical skills in the Elmira High School shop with their instructor, Mr. Johnson.
This limited in person instruction time supplements the online classwork these students are doing this semester.
Welding & Carpentry in the EHS shop
Hot meals are available in the Elmira High School cafeteria each weekday from 11:00-12:30.
The district has added four additional pick-up sites throughout the community for families to get sack lunches each weekday from 12:00-12:30.
The meals will be picked up and delivered by our bus/transportation staff to the following locations:
- Noti Market Parking Lot
- DS Mart/Farm Store Parking Lot
- Fern Ridge Child Development Center parking lot, located at 25391 Jeans Rd.
- 5th & Woodland Ave. in Veneta
All you need to do is show up at one of these locations between 12:00 and 12:30, give a last name, and you will receive both a breakfast and lunch sack lunch for any child 0-18. A REMINDER THAT ALL MEALS ARE FREE.
Last night we held an informational zoom meeting attended by almost 50 K-3 FRSD parents. The meeting discussed the plan we are developing with our K-3 students who are currently coming in to school for two days a week/two hours each day. The meeting recording can be viewed at the following link: K-3 Q & A Session (10-1-2020)
In addition, each elementary school webpage now has a post that summarizes the information shared at last night’s meeting. Those posts can be viewed at:
VES webpage post: (click here)
EES webpage post: (click here)