First Family Newsletter 8/13/24

 Dear Parents, Guardians, and students of Dorena School,                                               8-13-2024


    It is my greatest pleasure to welcome you to your first or to another wonderful year at Dorena School. I hope that you had a wonderful summer and are feeling eager and excited to start the 2024-2025 school year! We feel very honored that you have chosen us or continue to choose us as your school. This year we have capped classrooms and are continuing to grow enrollment as more and more people are hearing about the wonderful things we are doing here.  We have a very exciting year planned with rigorous reading, math, and writing instruction, filled with high expectations for all, kindness and belonging for all, and of course lots of fun! 

The following statements represent what we are all about here at Dorena School.  

Dorena's Mission Statement
        Dorena School is a community of learners and leaders where everyone will belong and thrive. 

Dorena's Vision Statement
Dorena School is a place where everyone will be respected and valued. We believe in building a strong foundation that honors all generations of the Dorena School community. Together we will learn and grow to positively impact the world. 

So welcome to our Dorena family, we can't wait to see you in person on September 4th, 5th, and 9th! 

There is a lot of information to share. Please do not hesitate to reach out if have questions or concerns. Our office is open M-F 8am-3pm 541-946-1506.

Announcements:
  • We will review all attendance exceptions on August 20th, all families that currently have attendance exception applications in will be notified on the 20th. 
Staggered Start Schedule
First-Eighth Grades 
    • At the beginning of the school year half of the students will attend on Wednesday, September 4th and the other half of students will attend on Thursday, September 5th. Both September 4th and 5th will be EARLY RELEASE days where students will be released at 12:30pm. 
      • September 4th- We will welcome all 1st graders, 3rd graders, and 5th graders, 7th and 8th graders from 8am-12:30pm. All 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders will stay home on this day.
      • September 5th- We will welcome all 2nd graders, 4th graders,  and 6th graders from 8am-12:30pm. All 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th grade students will stay home on this day. 
      • September 6th we will welcome all 2nd-8th grade students for a full day 8am-2:30pm. Please not that Kindergarteners and First graders will not attend school this day, this allow for our K/1 teacher to have home visits and family meetings with our incoming Kindergartners. 
      • September 9th we will welcome all 1st-8th grade students for a full day 8am-2:30pm. 
    • Please note that the school day starts at 8am, there is not supervision for students prior to 7:45am. Breakfast will be available in the cafeteria starting at 7:45am for K-3rd grade students. 
Kindergarten
    • As we welcome our kindergarten students to Dorena, we will be operating on a different schedule for the first few weeks to support their transition into school. During September 5th  and 6th, families will schedule a one-on-one family visit directly with our  NEW Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Fallert. 
    • Kindergarten students will start school on Monday, September 9th and attend school on an early release schedule through September 27th with a daily schedule from 8am-12:30pm. 
    • Starting Monday, September 30th kindergarteners will begin a Full Day schedule 8am-2:30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Wednesdays will continue to be early release 8am-12:30pm. 




New Staff
Please welcome our new Dorena Staff and some new changes to positions. 

K/1 Teacher

Barrieanne Fallert
Barrieanne is so excited to be teacher K/1 at Dorena! She is originally from the small coastal town Brookings, Oregon. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor's of Science in Educational Foundations and a Master's of Education in Teaching and Curriculum, so she is a double Duck! Go Ducks! She comes to us from Bethel School District where she taught Kindergarten and 2nd grade. 

Office Manager
Hannah Pinkham
"My name is Hannah Pinkham. I’m so excited  to be part of the Dorena family and community. I have worked in education for 22 years. My family and I live in Cottage Grove. I have been married for 23 years to my husband Josh. We have three kiddos. Isaac, who attends OIT in Klamath Falls.  Cody who just graduated from high school and Isabella who will be a sophomore this year. We also have three dogs, Jasper, Charlie and Zoe and a kitty cat named Sunshine. We love to play outside as much as possible, camping, hiking, swimming, and going on adventures."

Nurse
Mckenzie Deckard, LPN 
"Hi Dorena Families, I am Mckenzie Deckard, students call me Ms. Mckenzie, I'm so excited to introduce myself as the Dorena School nurse. Some thing I wanted to share about myself is the love and passion I have for Dorena and all of our students is endless. I've been a nurse since 2015; I have accumulated an abundance of experience and knowledge that have led me to this wonderful opportunity of being the school nurse. I love the outdoors, gardening (Currently Dorena's Garden Coordinator), the color yellow, and spending time with my family and our goats. IF you have any questions or concerns please always reach out to me. I am looking forward tp another incredible school year at Dorena." 

4th/5th Teacher
Beck McCoy
















Ms. Beck is definitely not new to our building but is returning in a new exciting role in our 4th/5th grade classroom! 

Volunteers
    • We are always looking for more volunteers to help in our school. If the activities listed below are something that you are interested in, please stop by our office and pick up a volunteer packet. Processing applications takes about 2 weeks so please get your forms in quickly. 
      • Helping in the classroom
      • Attending and assisting on field trips
      • Helping with school events such as assemblies, field day, etc.
Transportation
    • If your transportation plan has changed and your student now requires bussing, please call our front office 541-946-1506. 
Other Information
  • Our School Supply List is HERE, please remember we have scholarships available, please reach out if you need support. We are HAPPY to help! 
  • We will practice several ALICE drills this year in conjunction with our emergency drills (Lockdown, Earthquake, Fire). Please see the follow letter for more information. 
    • Please also see these handouts that we will be presenting to students. 
    • See this FAQ sheet to answer further questions about the SLSD ALICE drills. 

On the Radar: 
  • Open House 9/5 5:30-6:30pm 
  • Kindergarten starts half days 9/9/24
  • Kindergarten starts full days September 30th

  • First Week of School 9/2-9/6

    Monday

    Tuesday

    Wednesday

    Thursday

    Friday

    Labor Day
    No School      		Teacher Inservice
    - No School     		First Day of School for 1st, 3rd, 7th and 8th grades

    Early Release 12:30pm    		First Day of School for 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades

    Early Release 12:30pm    		Full Day schedule for 2nd-8th Grades

We are so happy that you and your students are members of our Dorena School family! We will partner together to have a fantastic school year. Thank you for all that you do.  Please do not hesitate to reach out if you ever have questions or concerns.

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