Upcoming Events
Friday, February 9th, Grandfriends Day (RSVP)
Saturday, February 10th, Heart of the Village Celebration (Volunteer Signups)
Thursday, February 15th, 10:15am & 6pm, 4th Grade Play
Monday, February 19th, No School, Presidents Day
Tuesday, February 20th, 5:30pm, Board Meeting (in Library) 2023-2024 Calendar is available here!
Quick Links
In the interest of reducing the sheer length of the Village Voice, we have replaced several repeating items with links to shortcuts:
Heart of the Village Volunteer Signups (5 more days until Heart of the Village!)
Administrator's Message
Greetings Village School Community!
Happy first Monday of February, aka halfway (ish) between winter solstice (longest night) and spring equinox (equal day and night)! This is the time of year when the seeds of spring are starting to awaken deep underground and life is beginning to unfurl. Take a look around and see if you can note the hints of change!
Springtime heralds another unfurling at TVS…state testing! Here is our annual reminder about what you need to know about state testing:
The Village School is required to administer annual statewide assessments of language arts and math for students in grades 3–8 and science in grades 5 and 8. Testing at The Village School will begin sometime in the spring. You will be notified which days the test will be administered once the precise days are determined.
All public schools in the U.S. are required to systematically assess student learning and report participation and results in school accountability systems. Students in Oregon are assessed periodically to measure proficiency in state and district standards, including completing statewide assessments in certain grades. State test results provide important information for students, parents, teachers, schools and districts.
The expected time spent in class on the ELA test is 1.5-3 hours. The math portion of the test is estimated to take 1.5 hours. The length of time and standards of the Oregon assessments have been reviewed again since last year and were adjusted to alleviate long testing sessions and to give a better picture of where the students are in the academic realm.
Can students opt-out of state testing?
Yes. Under Oregon law, a parent or adult student may opt out of Oregon’s summative statewide assessments of math and language arts for any reason, by annually submitting a form. Students who opt out of state tests, beyond a certain threshold for our school, are counted as “not proficient” in our school’s test results that are reported statewide. A student's name or whether they opt-out is not public information. The school’s participation rate reflects the degree to which the number of students opt-out of testing.
Opt-Out Information for the Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS)
Parents may submit an opt-out form at any time. Preferably the forms are submitted 30 days prior to the administration of the tests. If you have any questions please send an email to principal@eugenevillgeschool.org
OSAS Science Assessment Exemption Request
For science assessments, parents may request their student be exempt from testing based on disability or religion. Unlike the opt-out process for Math and ELA, parent requests for exemption from all other tests must satisfy the following conditions:
Be submitted in writing to charter school office
Include the reasons for request (disability or religion)
Propose an alternative learning activity for the student
Exemption requests are subject to charter school review and determination whether to approve. The form for science test opt out must be printed and returned to the office or emailed to office@eugenevillageschool.org
Last but not least, get ready for Grand Friend’s day and Heart of the Village! See this issue for more info.
Hopefully everyone is healthy, contented, warm, and dry,
Sincerely,
Roz, Shannon, and Andy
Heart of the Village
Heart of the Village is just FIVE days away! It is happening this year on Saturday, February 10th (the day after Grandfriends Day) from 11am - 3pm. This festival is a hands-on showcase of music, arts, crafts, and food from Village School students and the community. There will be games, a bake sale, musical cakes, musical performances by our students, a photo booth, crafts, and a silent auction. It's the biggest parent council fundraiser of the school year and a whole lot of fun!
It is imperative that we fill the few remaining volunteer shifts to ensure that our beloved event is a success! Please take a look at the signup sheet below, and pick a shift that works for you! Please make sure to also sign up to bring in baked goods to our bake sale and Musical Cakes event! Signups are located on your class bulletin boards.
Heart of the Village Tickets Pre-Sale
Purchase your Heart of the Village Admissions Tickets and Lunch Tickets in advance here to skip the line! Once you purchase your tickets, we will have them ready for you to pick up in the office.
Volunteering
Please reach out to chrissy@eugenevillageschool.org with any questions about volunteering! We ask families to contribute 40 hours of volunteer hours per year, and single parent households to contribute 20 hours. If you would like to know how many volunteer hours you have accumulated this year, please let Chrissy know. There are many events coming up, as well as classroom and kitchen opportunities that can help to meet these hours.
Heart of the Village will be held on Saturday, February 10th. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year for Parent Council. Please sign up for a volunteering shift here.
Another way to contribute to our school community is by attending Parent Council Meetings! We will be holding our next meeting on Tuesday, February 13th at 6pm in the Village School Library. If you would like to attend virtually, here is the Zoom link
*Please make sure to sign in, grab a volunteer badge, and sign out at the office when you volunteer
School Climate Survey
Please remember to take the Climate Survey. You should have received a few invitations by now to provide input on your family's experience at the Village School for the 1st half of the 2023-24 school year. The survey asks your opinion about school climate and your child's experience. This is an opportunity to let us know areas where our school is successful and where it needs to improve. This survey is confidential, but you may leave your name at the end of the survey if you would like. Please let us know in the office if you did not receive the survey invitation.
Annual Giving Campaign
Thanks to everyone who has donated so far to our annual giving campaign! You can donate by card without fees or by check. We hope you will join us in bringing more excitement and fun for students on the playground.
Importance of 100% Participation: Unlike regular district schools, The Village School receives no dedicated funding for facilities improvements. With the expenditure of the last pandemic funds, we will be relying more on local grants & donations for facilities improvements. If everyone contributes, regardless of amount, this helps grantors know that our school is appreciated by our community and thus worthy of their grants.
Grandfriends Day
Grandfriends Day is happening this year on Friday, February 9th from 8:30 to 12:30. Please let the Grandfriends (grandparents or nearby grand friends) in your life know that they can RSVP here or on the Village School Website. We look forward to having them join us!
Kitchen News
What a fun surprise to have 6 Village School graduates ask to volunteer in the kitchen on Thursday. Kai, Kaia, Viv, Rosie, Izzy and Olivia helped prep and cook food then served lunch to all the grades before sitting down to enjoy a VSK lunch of their own. It was a gift to hear about many of their high school joys and challenges. One student shared that it was her first time back since she graduated. Another shared that she "felt so excited" as she walked to our school in the morning. It warms our hearts that these teens wanted to join us in the Village School Kitchen on their day off from school!
Local Food Spotlight
This month we are featuring salad greens from Upriver Farm located just past Walterville along the McKenzie River and black beans from an Elmira farmer and inventor whose thoughts and discoveries can be accessed online, where he openly shares Appropriate Technology for Small and Subsistence Farms at http://members.efn.org/~itech/ His designs are public domain, a gift to humanity, and encompass a wide spectrum of topics, from how to grow organic black beans in the valley, to solutions for weed control and pests, to instructions on how to build a wood dryer, grain huller, grain thresher, and winnower.
Free Handy Dandy One Gallon Buckets!
We have a plethora of white plastic gallon buckets with handles and lids available. They are super handy for storing or carrying a variety of items. Let me know if you would like one or more.
Toña Aguilar
Family Directory
The Village School Family Directories are ready in the office if you would like a copy!
Library Card Fundraiser
All School Sing-a-long
We recently had another All School Sing-A-Long, led by Conor and Jennifer!
Parent Council
The next Parent Council Meeting will be on Tuesday, February 13th at 6:00pm! We will be meeting in the Village School Library. For those who would like to join us from home, here is the Zoom link
Please join us and send questions and ideas to parentcouncil@eugenevillageschool.org.
The notes from past meetings can be found here (updated).
Every Village School parent and guardian is a part of Parent Council - Parent Council Meetings are open to all parents and guardians on the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
You can also engage with Village School families on the Parent Council Facebook page, The Village Vine!
Help Wanted
Substitute Teacher & Substitute Educational Assistant
Duties: Serve as substitute teacher or substitute classroom assistant.
Qualifications: Experience working with groups of children. Knowledge of Waldorf curriculum a plus.
Teachers require Valid Oregon Teaching License:
[Main lesson (K-8), Movement/PE, Spanish, Music, Handwork]
Instructional Assistant (BA and fingerprint background check required) Willingness to get CPR training Background check required Complete Covid vaccination records Salary Range: $26 per hour for Teachers, $18 - $20 per hour for Assistants
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Benefits include our healthy lunch service, PERS coverage.
Community Bulletin Board
Village School Alumni Performance:
Come fall asleep with the circus and drift off into your most magical dreams. As we delve deeper into sleep, be prepared to fly through the clouds, get lost in the vivid abstract, face fears (and maybe some spiders), and get that eerie sense that we have seen this all before. Let’s count some sheep and learn about the stories we tell ourselves once we close our eyes.
Zenith Aerial Arts (ZAA) is Eugene’s pre-professional aerial circus ensemble at Bounce Gymnastics and Circus Arts Center. These elite young artists are recognized for their strength, dedication, creativity, and desire to perform. With the guidance of their coaches, they train and rehearse together to create their own original aerial arts shows.
Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC) is a local nonprofit that works to educate and organize for peace, human dignity, and social, racial and economic justice. They have been working since 1966 to create a more just and peaceful community. They seek to collaborate with organizations, institutions, government and individuals to bring about lasting change.
Come support Village School Alums, local art and a great cause! We hope to see you there!
Arts Access is a ticket subsidy program at the Hult Center that provides free or subsidized tickets to community members lacking adequate access to the performing arts.
What is Arts for All?
Arts for All is a program that supports community members currently using an EBT or Oregon Trail Card. A patron can show their Oregon Trail Card/EBT and can purchase two (2) $5 tickets to many of the Hult Center’s best music, theatre and dance groups. Participation varies by event and will be clearly labeled on our website.
How does it work?
Arts For All offers $5 tickets to select Hult Presents shows. Participating shows will have information on the website. Patrons must purchase tickets in person to present their Oregon Trail Card and can then set up an account so it is noted they have purchased their allotted 2 tickets. Tickets will be on a first come, first served basis. Please note, Arts For All cannot be applied to past purchases.
Below are the events we can currently provide these tickets for:
If you have any questions, please contact the Hult Center Ticket Office at 541-682-5000 or hultcentertickets@eugene-or.gov.
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