Community Newsletter

Dear MRSD Parents and Community,

Welcome to March! This year is going quickly and I want to again thank the voters for approving the bond to replace Molalla River Middle School. The design process is progressing, and we are excited about the facility that students will be enjoying in the fall of 2027.

Here are some recent accomplishments or milestones:

• Principal Randy Dalton was named Oregon's Middle School Principal of the Year. He does an exceptional job and represents educational leadership and Molalla very well. Surprising him with this honor was a great moment. Please see the video below to hear how he addressed students at an all-school assembly.
• The middle school design open house provided the community with the preliminary design for the replacement middle school.
• Share the Love raised over $109,000 this year. Thank you to the entire community for generously supporting families. This program bridges generations, teaches students leadership skills, and mobilizes the community in acts service.

These are just a few highlights that highlight this wonderful community.

Yesterday, March 4, there was an accident on bus route 22 from Mulino Elementary School.

Thankfully, there did not appear to be any serious injuries, and all students were safely reunified with their parents at the bus depot. The Molalla Fire Department was exceptional and provided on-scene care and sent two paramedic/firefighters on the bus with the students to the bus depot, where firefighters briefed parents on the condition of students. I am grateful there were no injuries and appreciative of district staff who stopped at the scene to provide aid and support. In addition, my thanks to staff who were deployed to aid students at the scene and parents in the reunification process. Today, staff at Mulino were supporting students with extra care, reminders about bus safety and personal calls to families to check on the condition of students in the accident, who were absent from school today.

The District's goal is to provide the right information and the right time, and we fell short of this standard. We communicated with the Mulino parents after reunification and again today about the incident and our need to improve emergency communication. This accident impacted the entire community with highway closure and traffic problems. Students were on buses for several hours longer than usual. Modeling continuous improvement, I want to share that we know we missed the target and will work on improving our information gap between the District and First Student, our transportation partner.

Thank you for your trusting us with your children and your time to help us improve.

March 9: Daylight Saving Time begins. Remember to set your clocks AHEAD one hour.

March 12-13: K-5 Parent Teacher Conferences and High School Finals

March 14: All students do not attend school for a teacher grading day.

March 17: Students K-8 attend, Students 9-12 do not have school for a teacher work day.

Contact Laura Klyzek at klyzekl@gmail.com