Community Corner

Bringing Roseburg School District news to you — Oct. 6, 2022

Welcome to our newsletter!

Hello, friends and community members. Welcome to the first edition of the 2022-23 Community Corner newsletter. School news isn’t just for parents, students and staff. Our schools belong to our entire community, and this newsletter is one of the ways we hope to share the important updates and stories that impact us all.

You can expect this newsletter to land in your inbox the first Thursday of each month during the school year. We’ll cover a range of topics from elementary school reading programs, job training programs, School Board meetings, facilities updates and more. I look forward to sharing more about the wonderful things our students and staff are accomplishing every day. Thank you for reading and being a part of our school family!

Sincerely,

Jared Cordon

Superintendent

Roseburg Public Schools

SCHOOL DISTRICT SCOOP

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Nursing Assistant program serving students, community

With health care facilities nationwide facing an increasingly dire nursing shortage, Roseburg High School is providing opportunities for students to explore the industry and get a leg up in training.

RHS offers juniors and seniors the chance to participate in a Nursing Assistant program offered in partnership with Umpqua Community College. The program is the only one like it in Douglas County and one of only a handful in Oregon.

“One of our top goals at RHS is to help students find their passion and prepare for success after graduation,” said RHS Principal Dr. Jill Weber. “Through vocational education programs like the Nursing Assistant program, students can learn about and gain experience in high-wage in-demand careers.”

The Nursing Assistant program was reinstated at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year with the help of Measure 98 (High School Success) funding intended to support career and technical education (CTE) as well as college-level education opportunities. Students accepted into the program are dually enrolled at RHS and UCC. Aside from shoes required for clinicals, there is no cost for students to enroll and participate, which saves each student approximately $2,000.

Click here to read the full story.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT

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Regional Teacher of the Year

Roseburg High School social studies teacher Gwen Bartlett was named 2023 Regional Teacher of the Year. The award celebrates knowledge, dedication, innovation and leadership. Exceptional teachers are honored annually in up to 19 regions across the state, with Oregon’s Teacher of the Year selected from among regional finalists.The Oregon Department of Education, in partnership with the Oregon Lottery, presents the annual awards.

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Rewarded with reading

As part of ongoing efforts to increase access to books for students, Roseburg School District used Student Success Act funding to purchase customized book vending machines for every school in the district. The vending machines work by using a positive reward-based system to help encourage students to read more. Each school will determine particular behaviors or benchmarks to set for students, who will be rewarded with special tokens to vend their favorite book. Students can take the books home to keep for their at-home library.

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Eye on 21st-century skills

What do robotics and STEAM lessons have in common? Students have a blast while learning the types of skills required for many 21st-century jobs and careers. The district's STEAM Team is in its second year of bringing weekly lessons in science, technology, engineering, art and math to elementary schools. Meanwhile, robotics clubs are thriving at our secondary schools, with after-school robotics opportunities coming to elementary schools this year too. Whether it's computer coding and programming, science experiments or nature projects, students are getting true hands-on, minds-on experiences.

COMMUNITY PARTNER SHOUT-OUTS

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Making a Difference

Four of our elementary schools as well as Phoenix Charter School were chosen by the Make a Difference Day - Douglas County organizers as projects for the upcoming day of service on Oct. 22. Make a Difference Day is a nationally recognized day of service that is held the fourth Saturday of every October. A consortium of local community service leaders has come together to organize this first of what is anticipated to be an annual event to promote volunteerism throughout Douglas County. Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083394325135.

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Preserving our legacy

Fifty years from now, someone will dig up the big metal box that was buried next to City Hall on Monday as part of the City of Roseburg's Sesquicentennial Time Capsule Ceremony. Inside they will find objects representing Roseburg School District as well as a thumb drive full of photos and articles about our schools in 2022. Thank you to the City of Roseburg for allowing us to help make history.

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Fighting food insecurity

The Office of Student Services continues to work with community partners to help provide support to students experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. With support from First Presbyterian Church, the district started providing weekend food packs this month with nonperishable food items for students to take home.