Upcoming Events
Wednesday, April 21: Board Meeting (Zoom)
Thursday, April 22: Grades 3,5,and 6 begin combined cohort on site learning
Monday, April 26: Grades 7 and 8 begin combined cohort on site learning
Friday, May 7: No School - Prof Development Day (No School)
Monday, May 31: No School - Memorial Day (No School)
Thursday, June 17: 1/2 Day Last Day
2020/2021 Calendar is always available here!
Administrators Message
Dear Village School Families
Do you remember fire drills when you were a student? We had a successful fire drill today. Well, you might say, “Schools always have fire drills.” That is true and that is the beauty of this particular fire drill. We did another regular and normal school activity at school today. Granted each classroom cohort was required to keep the proper physical distance and line up outdoors in a specific formation which added extra protocols to the drill, but it was our school fire drill nonetheless. The students did a marvelous job!
Lane County Case Count is Rising
It has been in the news that school age children cases are rising. Please note that those are primarily students ages 14 - 18 years of age. The county health officials report that for the most part those cases are occurring primarily at non-school related sporting events, household or close contact exposures and out of state travel, not during school hours.
With the increased rates/higher risk, please know we are monitoring the impacts of shifting to a single cohort for each grade level, and we may need to make changes depending on input from Lane County Health and Oregon Dept. of Education. At this point we are currently sticking to our gradual rollout of creating single cohorts for hybrid instruction for all grades K-8.
Daily Screening Questions are Important
It is of paramount importance that each parent/guardian conduct home-based screening each morning with your child before bringing or sending them to school. We are erring on the side of caution. Any child with a primary symptom must stay home. For non-primary symptoms families must follow our overarching guideline of keeping ill students out of school. This is a critical part of mitigating against the spread of Covid-19. Please see the following on Home- Based Student Screening.
Students Arriving to School Unaccompanied by a Parent/guardian
Historically it has been a practice and part of our school culture for parents/guardians to walk children in grades K-5 to the classroom door. With the critical need to screen students during the pandemic, we have required staff to speak directly to the child's guardian before admission. We are changing that requirement. Parents and guardians of students in 4th and 5th grade may now work directly with their child’s teacher and discuss a child’s route to school and their independent arrival. For this to work, parents are expected to screen their child at home each morning before sending them to school to be screened by our staff. Please know if your child has any primary symptoms or answers "yes" to any of the screening questions you will be notified and arrangements will be made for the child to return to home. If they have non-primary symptoms we will follow our conservative guidance and send ill children home also.
Praise and Thanks
We are grateful for the excellent job The Village School students are doing to protect themselves and the entire school community. Each day we see students properly wearing their masks, keeping their distance and washing or sanitizing their hands. In addition they know the why and how to maintain stable cohorts. Thank you parents and guardians for all that you are doing to model the high expectations necessary for our children to attend in-person or choose to stay home to receive instruction via distance learning
Bob and Andy
Each class has their own direction to enter the classroom, be sure to check and see which way you and your child will be getting to class! Let your teacher or the office if you have any questions.
Ceramics Donation Request
Our after-teacher ceramics teacher, Donica Beath-Bigongiari, is looking for donations of ceramics supplies, shaping tools and even a kiln. Please call us at 541 345-7285 if you have any items to donate. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Village School Kitchen
Today in the kitchen we bagged up dried turkish apricots for hundreds of Village School students. As we prepared this treat to go out in food bags tomorrow we wondered out loud what percentage of students at our school have eaten these before. Oftentimes dried apricots are treated with sulfur dioxide to keep them a bright, light orange color. I learned today that the sulfur dioxide can trigger asthma attacks in some people. Rest assured that the apricots heading your way are sun dried, organic fruit with no chemical treatments! Pair them with some nuts for a perfect morning snack.
Farmers Natalie and Wes from L'Etoile Farm in Noti will be delivering fennel for our food bags tomorrow morning and we'll have tortillas, bean dip and salsa this week from De Casa Fine Foods.
Thanks to Village School mama, Emily Nance, for sending us a photo of the yummy blueberry muffins she made last Tuesday as soon as her family's food bag was delivered. It warmed our hearts and made our tummies grumble.
Enjoy the sunshine Friends!
Warmly,
Toña Aguilar The Village School Eugene, Oregon w - 541-345-7285
Library News
WANTED: Village School Library books!
I need your help getting back Village School library books that were checked out last year. Some students still had books checked out when in-person school ended in March, and several families came in and checked out books while school was closed. Please check around your home for any books that belong to the Village School. They will have a label on the back that says “The Village School” with a barcode. If your child participated in OBOB this year, now is the time to return OBOB books.
There will be a bin outside the office to return books, or your child can give them to their teacher. If you cannot get them back to school, please let me know and we can make other arrangements to have books picked up. Please also contact me if you know books have been damaged or lost. Thank you for your help keeping our library stocked with amazing books!
Molly Bautista, VS Librarian
Parent Council
Parent Council will be having our next meeting Wednesday, May 12th at 5:30. Please join us and send questions and ideas to parentcouncil@eugenevillageschool.org.
Zoom link:
The notes from past meetings can be found here.
Every Village School parent and guardian is a part of Parent Council - Join in on the Virtual Parent Council Meetings that are open to all parents and guardians on the 2nd Wednesday each month!
Engage with us on Facebook!
Calendar
Please check the full calendar for the dates for future events. We have updated the calendar through the end of the 2020-21 school year. Due to the delayed start the Monday after Spring break is a school day.
Friday, May 7, 2021: No School - Prof Development Day (No School)
Wednesday, May 12, 2021: Parent Council Meeting
Monday, May 31, 2021: No School - Memorial Day (No School)
Thursday, June 17, 2021: 1/2 Day Last Day
Free Comcast Internet Essentials - Extended
The Village School is partnering with Comcast to provide free Internet Essentials services until June 30th, 2021 for Village School families that
qualify for free and reduced lunches under federal guidelines,
live in an area served by Comcast
Previously, you could not be an existing Comcast/Xfinity customer, but this condition has been lifted.
Please contact support@eugenevillageschool.org for more information.
Another resource that might be helpful to families is free cell phone service (for those who qualify). It is called Lifeline phone service through Assurance Wireless. Those who qualify will receive a free Android smartphone that can text, access the internet, etc. There is no charge for the phone or service. https://www.assurancewireless.com/lifeline-services/states/oregon-lifeline-free-government-phone-service
