McKenzie School District

Hello McKenzie, We need to combine the DOWN RIVER ROUTE for THIS AFTERNOON, Thursday, 9/22/22, FROM school. The bus will travel from the school to Thurston. Please follow the link to the sheet or visit our Transportation page on our website, mckenziesd.org for your stop. If you need a specific time, call your building office. We will also be running the ACTIVITY ROUTE today at the regular time leaving campus at 5:30 pm. Thank you https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RMZVNZvmn7hB7hNOOGtvHsRJg9qrX6TWs3HZx3Is0SQ/edit?usp=sharing

Don’t forget it’s picture day tomorrow!

Mckenzie Families, Take a look at some important health insurance information from Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace. Their primary goal is to help all Oregonians find affordable health coverage that fits their needs.This is the primary time for people to apply for financial assistance and enroll in a health plan for 2023. You can choose to distribute the attached flyer electronically or we can have them printed and mailed to you. Please respond with your preference. If you prefer printed copies, we can send them in bundles of 25. Please let us know how many copies you’d like and the best mailing address to send them to.

McKenzie Families, We are very happy to announce that McKenzie is looking for volunteers! We need help in a number of different departments, including: Sports coaches Volleyball line judges Football chain crew Concession stand helpers Classrooms Our volunteers are so great! We all have missed this piece of our community and are glad to welcome you all back. Here are some guidelines: How to volunteer! Fill out our application and background check form found on our website and available in each office. Returning volunteers need only to complete the application, not the background check form. Background checks can take up to three weeks to be returned to the district. Please get them to us as soon as possible to allow adequate processing time. In compliance with the Oregon Health Authority's rules related to COVID-19, vaccination is required. If you'd like to volunteer but have a deeply held religious belief that prevents you from being vaccinated, complete the OHA COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Exception Request Form and schedule a time to meet with Mr. Tompkins by contacting any office. To help keep everyone at McKenzie healthy, if you are sick and scheduled to volunteer, please stay home! Just call the office and they will relay it to the teacher(s). Click here for more information: https://www.mckenziesd.org/page/volunteer We are excited to see all of you on campus this school year! Go Eagles! Lane Tompkins, Superintendent

McKenzie Families, Our first early dismissal day of the year is coming up this Thursday, September 15. If you are in need of after-school care for your student on early release days, please email Niki Jones as soon as possible at: niki.jones@mckenziesd.org. We will provide after-school childcare from 2:50 pm - 4:30 pm for students grades K-5. Families using this option will need to pick up their student at the school by 4:30 pm as we are unable to transport students home at this time. We are very appreciative of this time to collaborate as a staff in order to best support all of our students. Childcare Center: We are also excited to announce that through generous philanthropic funds we can remodel an existing space to create a childcare center for children ages 3 months to 6 years. This space will also be the home to the Little Eagles Preschool program. The plan is to have the center open in early 2023, with more information to come in the next couple of months. As a new center and program, the district is seeking parent input and involvement in the process. If you are interested in joining the Early Childhood Parent Involvement committee, please contact Lacey Joy at lacey.joy@mckenziesd.org for more information.

Good Evening McKenzie, We need to combine the DOWN RIVER ROUTE for tomorrow, Tuesday, 9/13/22, TO and FROM school. The bus will be starting at our Thurston stop and traveling up river in the morning and from the school to Thurston in the afternoon. Please follow the link to the sheet or visit our Transportation page on our website, mckenziesd.org for your stop. If you need a specific time, call your building office in the morning. Thank you https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RMZVNZvmn7hB7hNOOGtvHsRJg9qrX6TWs3HZx3Is0SQ/edit?usp=sharing

Help us congratulate Xochilt Diaz, our Outstanding Staff Member. One staff member said this about her, "Xochilt creates a wonderful and positive environment for her students. I always see them so engaged in their learning. She plans amazing experiences and projects for her class that I am sure they will never forget." We are lucky to have her teaching some of our youngest students.

Activity Route-The Activity Route will begin on Monday, 9/19/2022. Middle School volleyball and football practices will start today. They will run 4 pm-6 pm this week. Parents will need to coordinate pick up for their student-athletes this week. As a reminder, due to construction, all pickup and drop-offs are happening in front of the middle/high building. Thank you

Good Evening McKenzie, We need to combine the DOWN RIVER ROUTE for tomorrow, Monday, 9/12/22, TO and FROM school. The bus will be starting at our Thurston stop and traveling up river in the morning and from the school to Thurston in the afternoon. Please follow the link to the sheet for your stop. If you need a specific time, call your building office in the morning. Thank you https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RMZVNZvmn7hB7hNOOGtvHsRJg9qrX6TWs3HZx3Is0SQ/edit?usp=sharing

Hello McKenzie, We just lost power at school. We are getting things organized to send students home at noon today. We were just about to serve lunch so we will continue with that and students will leave campus at noon.

Due to extreme fire conditions and Lane Electric's mandatory power shutdown tomorrow at 5pm, we are canceling our football game tomorrow night against Days Creek. We are going to try to play it on Monday night, 9/12.

McKenzie Families, It has been a wonderful first week of school. It was so great to see everyone back on campus! We have some very important updates regarding weekend fire risk and early release next week. Please read this update: https://conta.cc/3B0LW0I

Good Morning McKenzie! We had it in the works to do a BBQ in conjunction with the Football game on Friday, 9/9/2022. Due to the increased temperatures and Red Flag Warning that was issued we will not be doing the BBQ. We will plan for another safer time. Thank you for your understanding.

Hello McKenzie! Please follow this link to our website, https://www.mckenziesd.org/page/transportation, to determine your bus time. Please be ready at your stop at least 10 minutes early, remember times can fluctuate in the first couple of weeks as everyone gets back into routines. Remember, all drop off and pick up is happening in front of the middle/high building due to construction. Also, please check your email for our latest update. Free breakfasts for all students, starts at 7:45 am and classes start at 8 am. See you tomorrow!

McKenzie Families, We are so excited to be welcoming back all of our students tomorrow. As a reminder, here are some important dates to mark on your calendar for the upcoming school year. You will see our full calendar year with changes highlighted below. Wed, September 7: First day of school Fri, September 9: School In Session Thur, September 15: First early release day Tue, September 20: Health screening day Wed, September 21: School picture day Tue, October 5: “We are McKenzie Night” Open house; free dinner at 6 pm; more details to follow You will find some additional information below on the weekly COVID PCR screening testing. Go Eagles! Lane Tompkins, Superintendent Click here to read more: https://conta.cc/3Rxq3ge

Just a friendly reminder for Middle School if your student is planning on participating in sports they need a current sports physical before they can practice and play. They are good for two years. Practices will begin soon. Thank you

Construction Update: As you arrive on campus, you will notice that construction is still happening. We ask that all students be dropped off at the High School's front door and for all non-district/construction staff vehicles to remain in the front parking lot. You will not be able to drive around the Elementary Building due to construction. Due to the construction, middle and high school lockers will be assigned during the first week of school. Chromebooks will also be handed out at this time. Click here: https://vimeo.com/744294001

Look at all of those smiling faces. A huge thank you to The Hope Project for donating school supplies to our teachers and staff! They also provided coffee and breakfast. We are lucky to have such a caring organization in our community.

Check out this important back to school message! We are getting excited to welcome you back to campus. Click here- https://conta.cc/3AzzOn8

We just wrapped up Session 2 of the Camp White Branch Summer program. This camp included youth in grades 1st-4th. The students once again enjoyed time on the waterslide, experimenting with big bubbles, playing 9-square, GaGa Ball, building Legos and working with natural dyes with Alex Evers from Lane Arts Council.