Orenco Community Newsletter
January 25, 2022
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News and Updates
We appreciate everyone's cooperation with us and our team of LPNs, office staff, and contact tracers when you may get the call about a close contact or a sick child at school. We follow the latest guidance from OHA and it has changed recently in schools, as well as updating our systems so they run smoothly. We know none of this easy and can create burdens that we did not anticipate. This last week we closed two classrooms due to increased cases. It's only Tuesday and it seems a little calmer. It is wonderful still seeing students show up in a livestream broadcast of their classes as well as turning in their classwork in the Google classrooms. We will get through this!
In service to you,
Allison Combs, Principal
She/Her/ella
Remote number: 971-231-5383
Office phone: 503-844-1370
Special Dates
Jan 26--Yearbook cover contest--entries from students are due (details below)
Jan 27--End of 1st Semester
Jan 27--Thursday--Spirit Day--PJ/Jammies Day
Jan 28--Friday, No School for Students (Grade prep)
Jan 31--Monday, No School for Students (Teacher prep)
Feb 21--No School--Presidents' Day
Thursday, Jan 27
Happy New Year!
2nd Semester
Current News--
Covid19 Testing Sites (from WashCo site): LINK here
- Staff vacancy rate was 99% on Friday and 97% on Monday. We are fortunate that substitute teachers and support staff enjoy working at Orenco. We are keeping things running smoothly. **It's the students! They are the best!**
- We said good-bye to Library Media assistant, Rachael Patterson, who moved on to a new position. We have hired Ana Velasquez who will be helping students in the library. She will start soon.
- Thank you to our Boosters! Several teachers were awarded mini-grants to help fund projects in their classrooms. We also purchased Scholastic News magazines for the remainder of the year for most grade levels.
- Do you need daycare on Friday, January 28th or Monday, January 31st? Champions is offering their daycare service at Tobias Elementary school on this day for $44.00. Please reach out to DiscoverChampions.com if you have interest.
Crystal Apple Award
HSD Chromebooks Filtering Info
General information about how filtering works and recommendations or suggestions for home use and possible restrictions that some families use:
- Google chat is turned off at elementary level
- YouTube is in a restricted mode and teachers can approve or restrict
- Safe Search is enforced on Google and YouTube
- The system will not stop everything, especially if the student is finding ways around it.
Free Dental Clinic
Pdfs attached below.
Volunteer Request
Email: combsa@hsd.k12.or.us
Yearbook Cover Contest
Thank you to Mandi Bailey who works hard all year putting the time and energy into crafting our yearbook publication. Entry forms went home with ALL students and they are due by January 26.
Library Amazon Wish List
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3A89AYOU6GSM0?ref_=wl_share
Updated School Calendar dates
January 14
March 4
May 6
Parent/Caregiver Support Classes for SPANISH Speaking Adults
Please see the information in these fliers regarding Promotora classes being offered January through June 2022 through LifeWorks NW. Facilitated on ZOOM in Spanish.
Promotora Program Parenting Classes - English
Promotora Program Parenting Classes - Spanish
Promotora Program Parents Connection Groups - English
Bucket Filling Campaign
Orenco Booster News
STAFF LOUNGE
We are looking for volunteers to help stock the staff lounge for our amazing Orenco staff. Sign up here to help out. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4aa8ac22ab9-teacher
Fred Meyer Community Rewards
Link your Fred Meyer Rewards card to Orenco Elementary and earn money for our school. We receive cash back on purchases storewide every quarter at no cost to you! You keep all of your normal rewards and fuel points.
Simply go to www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/community-rewards, scroll half way down the page and click “link your rewards card now”. Sign into your account or create a new one if this is your first time using the site. Search for Orenco Elementary Booster Club by name or Organization Code: BQ854.
Art Literacy
Booster Club Meeting
Join us for our next virtual Booster Club meeting Tuesday, January 11th at 7pm. We will be discussing upcoming events and hearing grant proposals from Orenco staff.
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ekh-taty-uhe
Or dial: (US) +1 440-688-1117 PIN: 578 318 340#
School to Home Support Resources
For questions, concerns, support, food assistance (breakfast/lunch) and additional resources, please contact our main office. We are here to support our families:
HSD: Form to Request Resources / Distrito Escolar de Hillsboro: Formulario para solicitar recursos
- Community Resources/Reccursos Comunitarios
- Need community resources and support?: This flier outlines 211 and Safety Contacts: Where to Find Support
Ongoing/Repeat News and Notes
Picking up your child at school during the day? Here's what to do:
- You may use the Birch St Main Entrance and park on the curb for short-term parking.
- Walk to the front door. The doors will be locked.
- Use QR code to check out student.
- Push the "doorbell" to get the attention of office staff.
- Breakfast and Lunch are available at NO Cost to students and families. Costs are incurred for additional milk/juice or extra meals. Link to school meal menus
- Overseas or Extended Travel: We are not offering CDL like last year as an option. If you have extended travel plans (beyond 10 days), please reach out to your teacher or our office if you have questions.
- TAG Referrals: TAG referrals can be made at any time! Our TAG coordinators are Joe Wilson and Mandi Bailey. TAG stands for Talented and Gifted.
- Our regular school hours are 8:00-2:20 pm. Wednesday dismissal is at 1:50 pm. Please note that our tardy bell rings at 8 am and Morning Meetings begin in classrooms at this time. We request that you plan on arriving at school between 7:35-7:55 am.
- Students should bring a water bottle to school. Community water fountains are turned off and water is available in classrooms and bathrooms.
- Please label items that belong to your child, such as water bottles, lunch boxes, and hoodies & jackets.
- HSD has many open job positions with great benefits! Please take a look on our district site and see if there is a position waiting for you! ESS West is also accepting substitute teachers and classified staff through ESS substitute services.
Please be sure to S L O W D O W N when you are driving through the Orenco neighborhood. Let's keep our neighborhood safe! The speed limit is 25 mph and 20 mph in our school zone.
Tardy Schedule: 8 is late!
Students will need to check-in at the office before heading to class, If you are dropping your student off past 8, please do so at the Birch St. Main Entrance and park at the curb for short-term parking.
Goodie Bags from home (ex: celebrating a student's birthday with the class)--Please check with your teacher first. Required Absences (RA)--If a student is required to be away from school due to a positive covid test, a close contact, primary symptoms awaiting a test result or quarantine, students may be a part of a teacher's LIVE Broadcast or Record/Post in Google Classroom. The teacher does not have to interact with the child (like in CDL/hybrid), but make the direct instruction available for students.
**If a student is home/excused absence, they can access assignments through Google Classroom, but there is not an expectation of the teacher for the Live Broadcast or Posting of direct instruction videos.
Request for Immunization Status
Oregon state law requires that students have received appropriate vaccinations for school entry. To view the State of Oregon’s complete list of Immunization and Dosage Requirements, click here (en español). If your student(s) is missing one or more immunization, please download and fill out the Certificate of Immunization Status form and turn in to the school office or email it to our secretary Maria Bartolome Sop at bartolom@hsd.k12.or.us at your earliest convenience.COVID-19 Dashboard
In our effort to be transparent, the Hillsboro School District is publishing data on reported positive or presumptive COVID-19 cases (isolations) and quarantines for students and staff. This data is collected by our contact tracing team and school nurses with help from the Washington County Public Health Department. To protect the privacy of those involved, no names or grade level information will be displayed. Please note that this data may differ from data reported by the Oregon Health Authority because isolations and quarantines will no longer show up in our active data set once the person has returned to school/work and/or the classroom quarantine has ended.
Please click on this link to access the dashboard.
Remind app
HSD Coronavirus Updates
Stay updated with HSD information
Link: https://www.hsd.k12.or.us/coronavirusTechnology
We can also help with WIFI hot spots and COMCAST connections.
Phone (503)- 886-8956 (Monday-Friday 7:30am- 4:00pm) or email techhelp@hillsboro.incidentiq.com
Online Verification: ParentVUE
Online verification is open and ready for parents and families to update their information. This is one of our best methods for making sure our student and parent/family data is accurate across HSD. In addition, we have added Covid vaccine status into the immunization portion of the verification process. This enables families to indicate if their student has received the vaccine, which can help us better control the virus in schools and make contact tracing more effective.
Since parents must create a ParentVUE account (if they don’t already have one) to complete the verification process, this also gives schools and teachers a better ability to communicate with them.
Here is a link to the information on the HSD website for parents.
Ready Schools, Safe Learners
Principal Combs is available to answer any questions or concerns you have. Please don't hesitate to reach out! Email: combsa@hsd.k12.or.us
Orenco Elementary School
At Orenco
We all belong,
We all learn, and
We all Succeed, because
We all get what we need.
Email: combsa@hsd.k12.or.us
Website: http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/orenco/Home/tabid/2559/Default.aspx
Location: 7050 Northeast Birch Street, Hillsboro, OR, USA
Phone: 503-844-1370
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Orenco-Booster-Club-136235193790/
Twitter: @teamorenco