Upcoming Events
Thursday, February 27, 1:50pm, Fire Drill
Thursday, February 27th, 5:30pm Meeting to Develop Statement of Support (Zoom Link)
Friday, February 28th, Middle School Dance
Thursday, March 13th, 8th Grade Field Trip to Jordan Schnitzer Museum
Friday, March 14th, 4th Grade Field Trip to Next Step Recycling
Thursday, March 20th, Author's Night
Quick Links
In the interest of reducing the sheer length of the Village Voice, we have replaced several repeating items with links to shortcuts:
Village Vine This is the Village School Facebook Community.
Administrator's Message
Greetings Village School Community!
Yesterday NPR rebroadcast a podcast originally aired in the spring of 2024 titled The Political Power of Theater. The podcast highlighted the work of James Shapiro, author of the book The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War. Shapiro states
The play is waiting to be realized, and it needs an audience. It needs actors. It needs stagehands. It needs ushers. It needs an audience of whether it's 12 or 1200 filing into that theater to have that communal experience. And to me, it's not just an aesthetic experience that changes your worldview. It's fundamental to democracy. And 1 of the things that's so crucial for me is [that] democracy and theater were twin born in ancient Greece, and they depend upon each other. So 1 of the reasons that I wrote The Playbook was simply because I see in an increasingly silo world, we don't meet together in the theater. We don't sit cheek by jowl and take in some great or sometimes not so great work of art together.
This broadcast got me thinking about our community here at the Village School. We are huge fans of theatrical performance! Each grade performs their own play each year. So far this year the eighth grade performed their play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the sixth grade performed their self written play entitled The Triplets, and a week ago today the fourth grade students performed their play Iduna and the Golden Apples with rave reviews from the audience. The remaining grades are all on the calendar to perform in the spring.
Recently our staff collaborated to define which events we consider to be pillars of our school year, to happen rain or shine. We divided up our events into school-wide “Keystone Events,” loop/grade specific “Cornerstone Events”, and a third category of mandatory and/or necessary fundraising events. Our staff feels so strongly about theatrical performance as an integral part of our school that they named class plays one of our four Keystone events (along with Día de los Muertos, the Winter Concert, and May Day).
Why do we care so much about plays? Some of our reasoning is pedagogical: putting on a play is a time when we can bring to life the very stories and skills that the students are learning about in class. Plays are a way to ground stories and experiences into reality, to invoke the student’s imagination, to give them the experience of living into the life of someone else, and the opportunity to practice standing in front of an audience to perform a skill.
Some of our reasons are more in line with James Shapiro: a play is community, engaging together, reflecting life. Whether it’s happy life or sad life, fair life or unfair life, the theater tells the story. We are so grateful to be a part of a community we can sit with and hear these stories year after year, each performance with a different set of ingredients, and practice healthy democracy.
Sincerely,
Roz, Shannon, and Andy
Commemorative Tiles for Our Courtyard Mural!
To raise funds for our courtyard mural project, we are offering commemorative tiles. The tiles offer a great opportunity to share a legacy with our school. The tiles come in two sizes and businesses can upload their logos. They will be situated under the roof by the entrance to the Commons, right next to the location of the mural.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Middle School Dance
Calling all 6th, 7th & 8th Graders! We're looking forward to seeing you at the Middle School Dance this Friday 7:00pm - 9:00pm!
Please send your student with $5 in cash for the admission fee. (No one denied entry for lack of funds). If you plan to have your child walk home or be picked up by another parent, make sure to fill out the digital permission form that was sent to you through Jupiter, as we will not be able to release them without express permission.
See you Friday night!
Grandfriends Day
What a beautiful turn out we had for Grandfriends Day! It's always such a joy to welcome them to our school. This year we had roughly 85 Grandfriends visit us!
Heart of the Village
Thank you to our incredible volunteers for helping to make this Heart of the Village Festival one to remember! We had great weather (for most of the day, and only a mild sprinkle of rain after that), an endless array of yummy cakes and baked goods care of our awesome families, delicious lunch thanks to our hard working volunteers and kitchen staff extraordinaire, Danielle, and many fantastic offerings for the kids including a photo booth, crafts room, treasures from pocket people, musical cakes, a silent auction, and wonderful performances from our students and special guest performers!
It was all made possible by your hard work and commitment to our school. We appreciate you!! Please take a look at all the fun that was had below:
Bottle Collection Fundraiser
If you have any empty bottles or cans, please bring those in garbage bags. We will be collecting these behind the office (by the parking lot). They will be used to fundraise for the 8th grade class trip!
Animal Policy
Dogs and Other Animals at Village School
Limitations Regarding Animals
No animals shall be allowed in school buildings or grounds while school is in session, including Village Care hours, and students are present unless specifically permitted by an administrator, and proof of appropriate and/or current rabies vaccination is provided.
A parent/guardian is allowed to walk their dog, on a leash, in the breezeways during drop-off and pick-up times (8:15-8:25 and 2:50-3:00). We reserve the right to revoke this privilege at any time, for reasons such as, but not limited to, complaints, barking, biting, snapping, etc.
Animals granted permission to be in classrooms, buildings, or grounds will be allowed access only for a specified and appropriate educational purpose for the time necessary to achieve the educational goal. When permission is granted to allow an animal into a classroom or building, the health and safety of students and staff must be given the highest consideration. Public Health regulations prohibit any animals in the school cafeteria at any time.
Access By Persons Requiring An Assistance Animal
Access to Village School property by people whose physical impairment, as defined in ORS 346.690, or employees requiring accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), who require the use of an assistance animal shall not be restricted from access solely due to the requirement and/or presence of an assistance animal. Parents or employees requiring an assistance animal are urged to contact administration for appropriate accommodation.
Village Kitchen
Serving fruit kebabs to the students and staff was great fun on Valentines Day!
Citrus season is still in full swing. This week we will be introducing the children to the mandarinquat. This citrus is a cross between a mandarin and kumquat. Their size makes it easy to pop the whole fruit into your mouth. It is a lovely balance between bitter and sweet and packs a lot of vitamin c.
March Menus
The Village School Book Exchange
● Put children’s and/or young adult books from home that you are no
longer reading and could donate to the exchange in a bag.
● You can put in as many books as you’d like.
● On Thursday, March 20, you will go to pick out books
during the school day (the number of books will be
dependent on the school wide donation numbers).
● We don’t want to leave any students out, so please
donate as many books as you can. All students will receive at least
one book.
● All remaining books will be put out that evening during Author’s Night.
● If your adult would like to volunteer to help, they can contact Maestra
BRING YOUR BOOKS TO EXCHANGE TO SCHOOL ON OR BEFORE Wednesday,
March 19th at 8:30 a.m.
Author's Night
Mark your calendars! Be on the look out for volunteer opportunities, as well!
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.
Toña is still in need of a couple of kitchen volunteers. Please email her if interested at taguilar@eugenevillageschool.org
Our Handwork teachers are looking for some parent volunteers to read stories to the kids while they sew and knit their creations. Please email Chrissy at chrissy@eugenevillageschool.org if interested.
Ms Frédérique is looking for one or two volunteers to help hem a set of small tablecloths for the art room. Please, emailfrederique@eugenevillageschool.orgif interested.
- The art room is also looking for a kitchen blender to make handmade paper. Please, contact Ms Frédérique if you wish to donate a used blender in working condition.
State Testing
Under Oregon law, a parent or student age 18+ may opt out of Oregon’s annual statewide math and language arts assessments by filling out an annual opt-out form, which starting this year can be submitted online. Exemptions from the English language proficiency (for students whose primary language is not English) or science tests may also be requested based on a student’s disability or religious beliefs. We will only be accepting online opt-out forms for English and Math until we return from spring break. If you would like your 5th or 8th grader to opt-out of the Science testing, you must fill out a paper form and return that to us. The template for this and the online opt-out form for English & Math can be found below, along with some other helpful information:
Student Educational Equity Development Survey (SEED)
Starting in 2023-24, The state of Oregon requires (HB 2656) school districts to make the Student Educational Equity Development Survey (SEED) available to all enrolled students in grades 3-11. The content of the survey varies by grade level. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and measures student perceptions in four core constructs:
Access to learning resources
Opportunity to learn
Self-efficacy and
Sense of belonging
The middle and high school versions of the survey also include questions about extracurricular engagement and career and technical education. A full list of survey items is available online.
Parents or guardians can opt their student out of taking the SEED Survey by completing this form: SEED Survey Opt-Out Form OR SEED OPT-OUT Spanish and turning it into the office.
Students may decline, at any time before or during the survey, to participate in the SEED Survey via their answer to the first SEED Survey question.
In August, the Oregon Department of Education will release aggregated and suppressed SEED survey results to schools and districts through the Achievement Data Insight (ADI) application, and on ODE’s public website. Though not a test, the survey is distributed via the OSAS (state testing) portal, and it's open during the testing window.
Village School 25th Anniversary
Save the date!
Community Bulletin Board
Dance into the new year by joining us for enrichment, connection, and growth. Parenting is a practice. Let’s explore together!
Register on-line.
TELL YOUR OUT OF TOWN FRIENDS: On-line 4 series parenting class now offered.
Blessings on your journey,
Nina
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