Message from the Superintendent
Hello, friends and community members. I hope this message finds you enjoying the bright colors, fresh air and pumpkin spice flavors that come with the fall season.
It has been wonderful to see our buildings bustling, community events returning, and our students enjoying activities in and out of school this year. I feel blessed to be a part of such a loving community that continues to pull together to support our youth.
I am also grateful for the partnerships our district continues to build with local businesses, organizations and community leaders. Communities are stronger when we work together, and I am excited to watch these partnerships grow.
I hope you enjoy reading about some of these community partnerships in today’s newsletter. You can also find updates from our School Board meetings, hear about some of the fun things our students are learning, and check out some upcoming local events.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
Jared Cordon
Superintendent
Roseburg School District
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Try something new Umpqua Valley Farm to School Executive Director Erin Maidlow hands out samples at Winchester Elementary School. | Green thumb The garden at Winchester Elementary is flourishing and contains a variety of fruits and vegetables that will grow throughout the school year. | Recipe feedback A student shares his opinion on the roasted red pepper bean dip. Students choose from "Liked it," "Loved it," or "Don't like it yet." |
Try something new
Green thumb
Recipe feedback
School gardens connect students to nutrition, agriculture
Students at Winchester Elementary lined up patiently at Erin Maidlow’s cart in the cafeteria as she handed out samples of roasted red pepper bean dip with fresh veggie sticks. Some happily crunched away on the lunchtime snack. Others seemed a bit skeptical.
The produce used in the recipe came from the school’s garden, which is supported by Umpqua Valley Farm to School. Maidlow is UV Farm to School’s Executive Director. She and her AmeriCorps member, Louisa, whipped up the snack using September’s Harvest of the Month item from Oregon Farm to Child Nutrition Programs. Students can rate the samples on a scale of “Liked it,” “Loved it,” or “Don’t like it yet.” This particular day, most students weren’t quite sure they liked the bean dip yet.
“It helps when there’s a dip, but this one doesn’t seem to be a huge hit today,” Maidlow said, laughing. “I feel like I should have brought Ranch.”
There are over 780 school gardens in Oregon, according to the state, and most schools within Roseburg School District have spent the past several years installing and improving their garden sites. The gardens allow students to learn about agriculture and how to grow their own food, taking part in the process from seed to table. Giving children a chance to taste the food they’ve grown makes them more likely to try new fruits and vegetables.
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Lessons from 1,000 cranesFir Grove Elementary School’s library is now home to a special display of 1,000 origami cranes. The cranes were folded last school year by fourth-graders in Wesley Rea’s class. Each fall, Rea reads the book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” to his students. The children’s book is about a young Japanese girl injured in the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In the book, Sadako sets her mind to folding 1,000 origami cranes. Folding the cranes, according to Japanese legends, can bring good fortune. Fir Grove librarian Tracy Clements installed the display to honor the work of Mr. Rea and his students. Read the full story. | Sell coffee, gain business skills The coffee shop at Roseburg High School is open for business. And while students are whipping up coffees, teas and slushies, they’re also learning valuable job skills. RHS got the student-run shop off the ground last spring and reopened this fall. The small business gives students real-world, hands-on experience. Students in the high school’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) group and special education students participating in the school’s Pathways Program work together to run the shop. Read the full story. | Cross country coach honored Congratulations to Roseburg High School cross country coach Nathan Eckman for earning Oregon’s National Federation of High Schools 2021-22 Coach of the Year award for Boys Cross Country. Mr. Eckman reports that it has been a joy and an honor to have coached at RHS for all of these years. “At the end of the day, coaching cross country, in my mind, is about giving kids the wings to take risks and to learn how to push themselves.” |
Lessons from 1,000 cranes
Fir Grove Elementary School’s library is now home to a special display of 1,000 origami cranes. The cranes were folded last school year by fourth-graders in Wesley Rea’s class. Each fall, Rea reads the book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” to his students. The children’s book is about a young Japanese girl injured in the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. In the book, Sadako sets her mind to folding 1,000 origami cranes. Folding the cranes, according to Japanese legends, can bring good fortune. Fir Grove librarian Tracy Clements installed the display to honor the work of Mr. Rea and his students. Read the full story.
Sell coffee, gain business skills
Cross country coach honored
Learn about our safety and security updates
Lions provide vision screenings
Volunteers with the Roseburg Lions Club continued their long-standing service tradition last month of providing vision screenings for our students. With their computerized vision screeners, volunteers can examine an entire class in 5 to 10 minutes. The Oregon Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation’s goal is to screen every kindergarten through fifth-grade child in Oregon. The early-detection screenings can help catch and prevent cases of visual impairment.
Douglas ESD serving students
Students in the Complex Needs Classroom at Fir Grove Elementary are once again receiving hydrotherapy at the YMCA of Douglas County. The Douglas Education Services District runs the CNC program for these students experiencing complex medical needs. Hydrotherapy allows the students to experience the relaxation of weightlessness and movement in water. The program is led by Douglas ESD school-based physical therapists Sue Nicklin and Emily Cormier, as well as special education teacher Pamela Schneider.
Safety connections with RPD
As the district continues its focus on increasing safety and security in our schools, we are grateful for our partnerships with local law enforcement agencies. Recently, officers with the Roseburg Police Department toured some of our schools to familiarize themselves with the campuses. RPD School Resource Officer Dan Knott, along with our district security team, work closely to support students and keep the focus on learning.
They made a difference
Volunteers for Make a Difference Day Douglas County braved wet and cold weather to help spruce up some of our elementary school campuses Oct. 22. Green, Fullerton IV and Hucrest were among the dozen project sites identified for the community day of service. There was landscaping, window-washing, garden bed-building and more. It was a wonderful day of service and a great example to set for our students.
Classified and licensed openings
We post new positions regularly! Apply online through Frontline Education.
Current openings:
- School Psychologist.
- Special Education, Developmental Learning Center at Hucrest Elementary.
- Special Education, Learning Resource Center at Fullerton IV Elementary.
- Instructional Assistant III (6.5 hours), Developmental Learning Center at Fir Grove Elementary.
- Instructional Assistant I (7 hours), Learning Resource Center at Fremont Middle School.
- Instructional Assistant I (6 hours, temp), Learning Resource Center at Winchester Elementary.
- Custodian (full time) at Eastwood Elementary.
- Instructional Assistant I (6 hours, temp) at Fir Grove Elementary.
- Instructional Assistant I (6.75 hours) at Eastwood Elementary.
- Instructional Assistant III (8 hours), Elementary Resource Center at Eastwood Elementary.
- Custodian (full time) at Fremont Middle School.
For more information, call Human Resources at (541) 440-4008 or visit our HR page.
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