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A note from the Superintendent;

Dear Staff and Families of the Klamath Falls City School District,

As we begin to start another school year, I wanted to remind everyone of a benefit that KFCS provides our staff, students, and families in KFCS. We are dedicated to the health and well-being of our students, staff, and families, and I am pleased to share some exciting news about a new resource available to our community.

The Klamath Falls City School District has partnered with Care Solace, a trusted provider of mental health and wellness services, to enhance the support available to everyone in our district. This partnership reflects our commitment to ensuring that every member of KFCS has access to the care they need to thrive.

Care Solace offers a comprehensive service that navigates the mental health care system on your behalf, helping to connect you with community-based providers and secure appointments as quickly as possible. These coordination services are provided at no cost to you, thanks to the district’s investment in this valuable resource.

At any time, students, staff, and families can reach Care Solace's 24/7/365 multilingual team at 888-515-0595 or visit caresolace.com/kfalls to confidentially find providers on their own.

What Care Solace Offers:

1. Mental Health Support: Access to a wide range of mental health services, including counseling and therapy, for students, staff, and families.

2. 24/7 Availability: Support is always available to help you find the right care provider, ensuring help is just a phone call or click away.

3. Confidential Service: Complete confidentiality is guaranteed for all who use their services, protecting your privacy at all times.

4. Easy Access: Connecting with Care Solace is simple—through their website or dedicated hotline. Additionally, our school counselors are here to assist with referrals and guide you in making the most of this resource.

Why This Matters:

We understand that the challenges of school, work, and daily life can be overwhelming. Our partnership with Care Solace provides a safety net for our community, ensuring mental health and wellness are prioritized. By offering these services, we aim to create an environment where everyone feels supported and empowered to achieve their best.

We encourage you to explore the services offered by Care Solace and reach out if you or your family could benefit from their support. Together, we can ensure that KFCS remains a place where health and well-being are at the forefront of our collective efforts.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to the success and well-being of our students and community.

Sincerely,

Keith A. Brown

Members of the Klamath Union High School girls soccer team were recognized this past Monday during the Klamath Falls City Schools Board of Education monthly meeting.

Klamath Falls Police Department Chief, Rob Dentinger, was present to thank and honor members of the KU girls soccer team for their courage and valor during an unimaginable situation they faced during its summer camp.

Dentinger presented the girls soccer team with challenge points and a certificate.

"They are pretty hard to get. We give them out for bravery and for heroic things. Some of you who have been in the military might know what a challenge point is," Dentinger said. "In a moment of stress, you showed courage and knew what to do during a shooting to keep the little children in your camp safe. You guided them to safety and shelter and checked up on them with phone calls. You all deserve to be recognized for your bravery."

KFCS Kindergarten Jumpstart featured over 80 students from Mills, Roosevelt, Conger and Pelican elementary schools. The incoming kindergarten students took part in what it will be like to be in school and met their kindergarten teachers weeks before their very first day of school.

The incoming kindergarten students took a stroll to the KFCS District Office Thursday and were greeted by staff with snacks, coloring books, crayons and popsicles, welcoming them to the district after completing their two-week camp.

As we look towards the future of our community, I want to bring to your attention a critical need that we must address to ensure the success and readiness of our students: the replacement of Ponderosa Middle School.

Klamath Falls is on the cusp of growth, and we need to be prepared to meet the educational demands of our expanding population. Last year, during our community conversations, we received a clear message: our community wants our youth to be life and career-ready. Specifically, there is a strong desire for more hands-on, applied learning opportunities, such as Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.

Effective career-ready programs must begin with robust middle school initiatives. During the Board’s visit to California last year, we saw firsthand the exceptional programs at Mad Tech Middle, which serve as an inspiring model for what we can achieve here. These programs are essential for setting our students on a successful path through high school and beyond.

Our district is diligently working to build these programs at the high school level and forge strong connections to postgraduate destinations like the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) and Klamath Community College (KCC). However, to truly accelerate our students along this track, we need a middle school that supports and enhances these efforts. Unfortunately, the current Ponderosa Middle School is outdated and does not meet the needs of our evolving educational goals.

The urgency of this need cannot be overstated. While the current middle school building is safe, our engineers have indicated that it could become unusable at any time because it is located on an active fault line. Our trusted advisors and the Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee have unanimously agreed that the time to act is now.

We estimate the budget for replacing Ponderosa Middle School to be around $120 million. This number may fluctuate slightly up or down as we consider incorporating other essential items, such as security upgrades and early learning facility support, into the overall bond. We may also determine that we can build at a lower cost depending on what year we decide to call a bond election to support the possible project in the future.

Replacing Ponderosa Middle School is not just about updating a building; it is about investing in the future of our community and ensuring that our youth have the tools and opportunities they need to succeed in life and their careers.

We appreciate your continued support and engagement as we take these crucial steps forward. Together, we can create an educational environment that prepares our students for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.

Over the next year, we will engage more with our stakeholders about Ponderosa. We will also schedule tours of the building for the community to see the current facility.

We do want to be very clear that we have not set any date for a potential Bond election. We just want to make sure our community is aware that we are working on a solution to replace Ponderosa on a different site that does not have an active fault line on it.

For anyone who has any questions about his message please e-mail Keith A. Brown at brownk@kfalls.k12.or.us.

The new district website has an Alumni page for graduates of KU. This past week, six KU alumni sent us updates on their lives since they graduated. Take a look on the KU Alumni page on the district website. And, if you are an alumni, be sure and send us YOUR update!

Read about our alumni

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PARENT LINKS
Click Here for the Family Friendly 2024-2025 School Year Calendar - English

Synergy SIS Portal/Registration

Electronic Flyers for Your Students School

Andrea Jensen, Zone 1, Roosevelt - andrea.jensen@kfcityschools.org

Andrew Biggs, Zone 2, At-Large - andrew.biggs@kfcityschools.org

Vanessa Bennett, Zone 3, Conger - vanessa.bennett@kfcityschools.org

Kathy Hewitt, Zone 4, Mills - kathy.hewitt@kfcityschools.org

Trina Perez, Zone 5, Pelican - trina.perez@kfcityschools.org

Patrick Fenner, Zone 6, At-Large - patrick.fenner@kfcityschools.org

Ashley Wendt-Lusich, Zone 7 At-Large - ashley.wendt-lusich@kfcityschools.org