To help reduce costs this year in anticipation of budget cuts next year, we are reducing office hours and teacher availability hours for the remainder of this school year. The VES office will be open from 8 AM to 2:30 PM Monday through Friday starting today, May 18th. VES teachers will be available by phone or email to help students from 8 AM to 2:30 PM Mondays thru Fridays, as well as being available for previously scheduled calls outside these hours. Please see the FRSD website for additional information.

FRSD Families, in partnership with DHS and ODE, who have been enrolled in the Free/Reduced Lunch program or who may now be eligible with the current health emergency, will receive $5.70 per child per day in assistance on an EBT (Oregon Trail card for March-June).

The Fern Ridge School District and Chartwells staff are currently working on getting ODE our updated information.  They, in turn, will pass along to DHS to make this happen.

If you are currently enrolled in the Free/Reduced Lunch program, no further action is needed.  Our understanding is that those who already receive SNAP benefits will receive a supplement automatically on their EBT card.  Those who don’t have SNAP will receive an EBT card with the issuance by mail.  The payments will be retroactive to March 16^th, 2020.

This program is only available to families with students currently enrolled in FRSD.  Parents/families who have not been on free/reduced lunch may now be eligible due to the current economic/job situation with COVID-19.  Families are encouraged to apply with the school district.  Your information will be picked up with a 2^nd data submission to ODE.  The benefit amount will be pro-rated to the 1^st of the month of the student enrollment date.  If you would like to pursue becoming eligible now, you should apply immediately.  For information on how to apply, as well as contact information for our food service staff, please visit the following webpage:  https://www.fernridge.k12.or.us/?page_id=337

Mrs. Herbert and Mrs. Perrier from EES are planning a 3k virtual fun run!  The flyer below includes most of the information you need.  Also included at the bottom of this post is a “virtual bib” and a “virtual finished picture banner.”  You do not NEED either one of these items, but they are there for your convenience and fun if you want one.  The bib can be printed (with any number you want)–and worn when you run, and the “banner” can be held up when you and or your family finish your run and want to take a picture!  The pictures can be emailed to the email address on the flyer.  Anyone that sends in a picture will be eligible for a grand prize drawing of a one year Family Pass to Willamalane Parks and Recreation.  The pictures sent in will also be used in a video that will go out on social media.  If you want to be included in the drawing, but not in the social media posts, just mention that in the email that you send.

VIRTUAL BIB

VIRTUAL BANNER

UPDATED MEAL ROUTES:  Route 13, beginning tomorrow May 6th, will drop the Fleck stop and add a stop at the Department of Forestry Parking lot.  CLICK HERE for the updated meal bus route schedule.

PACKET PICK-UP AND DELIVERY:  This continues every Monday.  Yesterday we were able to pick up over 40 packets, and deliver around 20.  If you would like to try out having your distance learning packet delivered, please communicate with your child’s teacher or school.  The route and stop times can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

Our teachers are amazing! Thanks for the dedication and love you show to the VES community. ♥

RETURNING DISTANCE LEARNING PACKETS/WORK:  There are several ways this can occur.  While teachers would like to get completed work back so they can review it, assess it, and provide feedback to the students, we understand this may be a challenge for some so just do the best you can.

• Families who have been picking up their packets can continue to do so. There will be a “Return Work/ Completed Packets” box at each building. When you come to school to pick up the new week’s packet, please deposit the previous week’s packet in the box. Paperclips will be available if the packet has been taken apart. Please make sure your child’s name is on each page in the packet in the event that the packet becomes separated.
• Families may also choose to scan and email their child’s packet directly to the teacher. Staff Contact Information link.
• For families that are needing to have packets mailed to them, we will have a bus route to collect finished packets every Monday. You can CLICK HERE to see the routes and “stops” along those routes.  These routes begin after the lunch/meal drop off routes that occur each day.  These “homework pick-up” routes begin anywhere from 11:50 AM-12:30 PM.  If a bus does not come by your exact location, and you cannot make it to one of these stops at the designated times, contact Amie at the bus barn at 541-935-1969 and we see if we can accommodate you. Please contact your school as early as possible the week prior to ensure we can make this happen.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Good morning FRSD families.  We continue to serve around 1100 meals a day to the youth of the community.  Thank you for continuing to access this.  The staff loves to see the students at the bus stops or come through VES.

There has been one change to the routes that will begin today, Tuesday the 21st.  The stop at the top of Bolton Hill is not being accessed, so we are moving that stop down to Woodland St. and 5th street.  Hopefully, it will get more use there.  The complete list of routes and stops can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Hello FRSD K-8 Families,

As we move forward with Distance Learning, we are working to create an efficient, safe way for learning packets to get back to your child’s teacher for review. To this end, each Monday we will have a box in front of our school that is labeled “Returned Work”. When you come to school to pick up the new week’s packet, please deposit the previous week’s packet in the box. Paperclips will be available if the packet has been taken apart. Please make sure your child’s name is on each page in the packet in the event that the packet becomes separated. If you forget to turn a packet in or your child does not finish it during the current week, no worries. Just drop it off the following week.

The box of returned work will be brought into the school on Monday afternoons and will sit for 5 days before work is handed over to teachers (based on current guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19). After this time frame, teachers will enter work as completed in gradebooks. Work will not be returned to students due to logistical and safety concerns, however, work can be reviewed/discussed with teachers via phone or email.

For those of you receiving packets through the mail, please reach out to the school office to make individual arrangements.