Bulldog Bulletin

9/3: Meet the Teacher! (5:00-6:00pm @ Awbrey Park)

9/4: First Day of School: Kindergarten (8:30am-1:45pm)

9/5: First Day of School: Grades 1-5 (8:30am-3:00pm)

9/18: Awbrey Park PTO Meeting (6:30pm, Room 16)

9/19: Site Council Meeting (5:30-6:30pm, Room 16)

9/26: AVID Parent/Guardian Back to School Night! (6:00-7:30pm)

9/27: School Picture Day!

10/10: Jog-a-Thon!

10/11: No School (K-12)

Dear Awbrey Park Families,

With the new school year right around the corner, I am excited to welcome our students! Below are the September updates regarding our Meet the Teacher event, Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) activities, volunteer opportunities, crosswalk safety, and reminders about the importance of regular attendance. Additionally, you will find some repeat information regarding back-to-school details.

Please don’t hesitate to call the school office if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Jared Tiecke, Principal

Join us for a Meet the Teacher event on Tuesday, September 3rd from 5:00-6:00pm at Awbrey Park Elementary School! This is a wonderful opportunity for students and families to see their classrooms, meet their teacher, and get to know classmates.

Kona Ice will be here for families who might be interested in purchasing a cold treat, socializing, and connecting with our school community. Our PTO will also be welcoming families to the playground for some popcorn and information on how to get connected. Hope to see you there!

Are you interested in volunteering and/or helping to organize events at Awbrey Park? If so, consider joining the Awbrey Park Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO)! Our PTO meets on the third Wednesday of each month from 6:30-7:30pm.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, September 18th at 6:30pm in Room 16. Parents/Guardians are welcome to enter through the purple hallway doors.

For more information, please contact our PTO Co-Presidents, Caitlin Alcorn and Brian Richardson at awbreypto@gmail.com.

We are excited to welcome volunteers back into our schools! If you are interested in volunteering at Awbrey Park Elementary School, please contact your child’s teacher for upcoming opportunities.

Volunteers will need to complete a volunteer application on the district website and be approved prior to volunteering. Please contact Jade Chrissis in the school office at 541-790-4050 for more information.

As the nice weather continues in the early months of the school year, we will likely see an increase in foot and bike traffic at the crosswalk near Awbrey Park Elementary School. Please help us in exercising additional caution when entering and exiting the parking lot to help ensure the health and safety of all students traveling to and from school. Thank you!

There is a strong correlation between good attendance and success in school. On the other hand, students who regularly miss school are also more likely to struggle in school.

Missed days add up quickly: Just two days a month (2 days x 9 months = 18 days/year or 10% of the school year) puts a child's success in jeopardy because students fall behind and disconnect. By third grade, it gets much more difficult to catch up. Students who regularly miss school can quickly feel hopeless, and returning becomes harder and harder (“Why Attendance Matters”, ODE).

It is our hope that we can work together to encourage your child’s regular attendance and success at school. When your child is going to be late or absent from school, please call the attendance line at (541) 790-4054, before 8:30am and inform our office staff. You may also leave a message on our voice mail if you are calling before regular office hours. Please leave your child's name, their teacher’s name, and the reason for the absence.

If we can be of any support to you or your child in improving their attendance at school, please reach out to our Student Success Coordinator, Kristen Gianforti at 541-790-4050 or gianforti_k@4j.lane.edu.

Kindergarten: Wednesday, September 4th, 8:30am-1:45pm.

Grades 1-5: Thursday, September 5th, 8:30am-3:00pm.

Regular School Hours:

Monday - Tuesday & Thursday - Friday, 8:30am-3:00pm

Wednesday, 8:30am-1:45pm (Early Release)

Office Hours:

Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:00pm

All students will enter the building through the front exterior gates and will be greeted by staff to help guide them to their classroom. For students who are interested in breakfast, cafeteria doors will open at 8:05am and classroom doors will open at 8:20am. More information to come on arrival and dismissal procedures. Stay tuned!

Medications:

If your child will need to take any medication at school, please drop it off at the school office before the first day. Thank you!

At the start of each school year, it is important to ensure your child’s health records are current. We want to be aware of respiratory-based diagnoses, allergies, or other health conditions that may affect their school experience. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to our front office staff or school nurse, Suzie McCall (mccall_s@4j.lane.edu) at 541-790-4050.

Class assignments will be emailed to families on Friday, August 30th by 4:00pm. If you did not receive a welcome email from your child’s classroom teacher, please reach out to Jade Chrissis in the school office at (541) 790-4050 for more information.

Arrival Procedures:

All students will enter the building through the front exterior gates and will be greeted by staff to help guide them to their classroom. For students who are interested in breakfast, cafeteria doors will open at 8:05am and classroom doors will open at 8:20am. If your child is not eating a school breakfast, please wait until 8:15am to drop your student off at school.

Students arriving before the classroom doors open should wait in line outside their assigned entry locations. See the list (and map) below for your assigned grade level entrance:

• Kindergarten: Side Gym Door (Awbrey Park Staff will greet your child as you arrive, check them in & walk your student to the gym)
• 1st Grade: Outside of Red Hallway (Near North Exterior Gate)
• 2nd Grade: North Exterior Gate
• 3rd Grade: South Exterior Gate
• 4th Grade: South Exterior Gate
• 5th Grade: South Exterior Gate

To help with the flow of traffic, we ask that parents/guardians dropping off their student enter and exit through the east parking lot entrance (green arrows) and proceed to the back of the building. Please avoid using the west parking lot (staff lot) or front parking lot (bus zone) to drop off your child. Students may be dropped off along the curb/pick-up/drop-off zone in the back parking lot.

Dismissal Procedures:

At the end of the school day, students will exit the building with their classroom teacher, using their designated entry/exit locations. Bus riders will be escorted by staff to their bus. Students biking or walking will exit with their teacher. Students waiting to be picked up will wait with their teacher in the designated waiting areas near the back parking lot.

Parents/guardians may “pause park” along the curb to pick up their student(s) at dismissal (back parking lot).

Please note the following rules for “pause parking”:

• Drivers must remain in their vehicles at all times.
• Drivers should pull forward as space becomes available.
• When getting in or out of the vehicle, students must use the door closest to the sidewalk. Student should not exit the vehicle on the driver’s side for both safety and traffic flow reasons.

Drivers should follow the one-way direction traffic flow indicated in the map below. K-2 drivers should display their student name plates in vehicle windows at pick up.

If you are walking with your child before or after school, please meet your student in the front of the school and use the designated cross walk areas. Thank you!

We’re excited to welcome our youngest students to the start of their schooling through the Kindergarten Smart Start Program. 4J has re-designed the first eight days of school for our youngest students to help set them up for success this year and beyond.

Providing this unique start allows for smaller classes and time to connect with families, giving teachers the opportunity to understand your child’s unique strengths, as well as their academic and social needs from the very beginning. Kindergarten Smart Start will help ensure a successful and personalized introduction to school for each student and a smoother start for all students.

Kindergarten Smart Start, Sept. 4–13, 2024
Last name A–L: Attend Sept. 4 (W), 5 (Th), and 9-11 (M-W)
Last name M–Z: Attend Sept. 4 (W), 6 (F), and 9-11 (M-W)

No Kindergarten Sept. 12 & 13 (parent/teacher conversations)
Regular school schedule begins on Monday, Sept. 16

If you have a Kindergarten student, please click here for more information about our Kindergarten Smart Start!

The 4J transportation department has provided an online resource to help students and families find their bus stop and eligibility information for bus transportation. For more information, please take the following steps:

1. Go to the 4J website at https://4j.lane.edu/busroutes
2. Login into My Ride K-12 via website or mobile app (Be sure to register first!)
   
3. Follow the directions on the links provided above
   

With the help of the district and our community partners, standard school supplies will be provided to all Awbrey Park students again this school year! Please see our 2024-25 school supply list for more details.

Students should still bring a backpack and water bottle to school each day (headphones are optional). If you have any questions or concerns regarding school supplies, please contact our Student Success Coordinator, Kristen Gianforti (gianforti_k@4j.lane.edu) at 541-790-4050.

Our office is now open for new student registrations. If you know of any new or kindergarten age students in the Awbrey Park community, encourage them to contact the school office and register today! Our office is now open from 8:00am-12:00pm and 1:00-4:00pm daily. Families may also call the Awbrey Park office at (541) 790-4050 or email our School Secretary, Jade Chrissis at chrissis_j@4j.lane.edu for more information.

Enrollment information is also available on the 4J website: Click here!

All students will be provided breakfast and lunch free of charge this school year. No paperwork is necessary, however please be sure to communicate allergy information to the school office and classroom teacher.

The cafeteria opens at 8:05am daily for breakfast. When students are finished eating, they should walk to their designated entrance and be ready for class at 8:30am. Students arriving late will have the option of a grab-and-go breakfast in the office. Breakfast and lunch menus are available on the 4J website here! (Be sure to filter to Awbrey Park Elementary School)

At Awbrey Park, we provide a nut-free table for students with nut allergies. Students are welcome to bring a friend to the nut-free table, as long as the friend has a school-provided meal, which is always nut-free.

The YMCA offers before and after school care here at Awbrey Park! At this time, we still have some space available after school. See the flyer below for more details.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the YMCA website or call 541-686-9622.

As we prepare for the upcoming school year, we want to ensure that our students and their families have access to all available resources. One such resource is the optional Student Accident Insurance that parents/guardian may purchase for the 2024-25 school year.

This insurance provides valuable coverage for student accidents that may occur during school, school activities, including sports. It’s an excellent way for parents/guardians to protect their children and ensure peace of mind.

To learn more about this opportunity, see the linked letter and brochure here for additional details.

As you gear up for the school year, it’s time to think about how your child(ren) will get to school. September weather and the start of the school year are a great time to set new goals for the family. Making small changes to your daily routine can lead to a surprising number of benefits for your family and community! We encourage students to walk, bike, skate, scoot, bus or carpool to school for their health and readiness to learn, the safety and congestion in our parking lot, and the environment. If you’ve got to drive, but still want the health and academic benefits for your child and want to avoid the challenge of the parking lot, try parking a few minutes from school and walking the rest of the way. It’s a great time to connect with your child and could become a favorite part of your day!

If you have concerns about your route or would like help planning a walking/biking route or starting a biking or walking group, contact 4J’s Safe Routes to School Coordinator at mazze_s@4j.lane.edu or 541-790-7539.

You can find tip sheets on walking and biking and more on the Safe Routes to School regional website at www.eugenespringfieldsrts.org/local-resources.

All students in 4J schools can get a student pass to ride Lane Transit District (LTD) buses for free. Student transit passes can be used to travel anywhere within the LTD service area. Student passes can be used at any time—after school, on weekends and during school breaks, as well as to get to and from school each day.

To get a free LTD student transit pass, available as a tap card or Umo smartphone app, guardians/parents can make the request for elementary students; middle and high school students can request their own passes. Passes are valid from September 1 of the current school year to September 30 of the following year and can be renewed by the school each year for ongoing free service.

Elementary students need to have a parent or guardian request the pass from the school office, but there’s no longer a permission form to sign.

The Eugene 4j School District administers both Reading and math assessments to each of our students three times a year—fall, winter, and spring. Students scoring below the 20th percentile may be recommended, by the building-level team, to receive instructional interventions in reading and/or math. Students receiving interventions will have their progress monitored during regular intervals. At our school, all students receive 90 minutes of reading instruction and 70 minutes of instruction in the area of mathematics, each day. Parents/guardians will be notified if their child is recommended to receive additional reading and math instruction.

Linked here is additional information about Title 1 in Eugene School District 4J.

Eugene School District 4J has policies and programs to prohibit and prevent bullying and harassment, including intimidation, cyberbullying, hazing and teen dating violence. District policy also prohibits discrimination, meaning any act that has the purpose or effect of unreasonably differentiating in treatment in any instructional program, extracurricular activity, or in the provision of any other service or benefit on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation (actual or perceived), gender identity or expression, national or ethnic origin, marital status, age, disability, military or veteran status, or any other factor protected by law.

The district encourages students, parents and other patrons to share their concerns with district officials if they believe they or someone else has been the victim of bullying and harassment, including intimidation, cyberbullying, hazing and teen dating violence, sexual harassment or discrimination. No reprisal or adverse action will occur as a consequence of initiating a complaint in good faith.

Incidents should be reported to the school principal or other staff member. An optional Student Safety Reporting Form is available in the front office of the school. If the complainant has worked with the school and is not satisfied with the resolution, or if the principal is alleged to have engaged in wrongdoing, a complaint may be directed to the superintendent’s office. Complaint forms and information about the complaint process are available in all 4J school offices on the 4J website at www.4j.lane.edu/complaints and at the 4J Education Center, 200 North Monroe Street, Eugene, OR 97402. For more information, contact your school principal or the superintendent’s office, 541‑790‑7707.

It has always been our practice to keep parents informed if their son or daughter receives a serious threat of violence or harm at school, but it is important for you to know about a procedures we have implemented to comply with recent changes in State Law.

Oregon law requires schools to inform parents if their son or daughter’s name appears on a targeted list (i.e., a “hit list”) that threatens violence or harm, or when he or she receives a threat of violence or harm from another student. We will be using the following procedure to inform you if your student either receives or makes a serious threat of violence or harm.

If your son or daughter’s name appears on a list threatening violence or harm, or if he or she receives other threats of violence or harm by another student, we will attempt to meet with you personally, or talk by telephone, within 12 hours of learning about the threat. We will tell you about the threat, who made it (if we know), and the action we are taking to respond to it. We will also send you a notice within 24 hours, stating that you son or daughter did receive a threat. Our number one priority will be to make sure that school is safe for your children.

If your son or daughter made the threat, we will let you know that he or she made it and the action we are taking, including informing the parents of the student who received a threat that your student made. We are also required by the district’s Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook to inform the police.

Email: tiecke_j@4j.lane.edu
Website: https://awbreypark.4j.lane.edu/
Location: 158 Spring Creek Drive, Eugene, OR 97404, USA
Phone: (541) 790-4050
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AwbreyPark