KCSD & Me

• Nov. 10: No school. Veterans Day observed.
• Nov. 16: KCSD Board of Directors regular monthly meeting.
• Nov. 17: End of second grading period.
• Nov. 20: No school for students. Grade preparation day for teachers.
• Nov. 21-24: No school. Thanksgiving holiday.
• Nov. 27: Classes resume.
• Dec. 18-29: Winter vacation. No school.

Dear KCSD families,

As you know, weather conditions or other emergencies sometimes require us to take special action regarding school closures, delayed starts, or early dismissals.

Families trust schools to keep their children safe from the bus stop at the beginning of the day until the bus returns them home. By 6 a.m., many students in our district are heading to their bus stop, and our school buses are enroute to pick up those students and take them to school. Our plan is to announce any school delays or closures before 6 a.m. so students are not stranded at bus stops or greeted by empty schools.

To do that, we have a team that begins evaluating conditions by 4 a.m. The team checks with the Oregon Department of Transportation and reviews road webcams, live satellite radar, and weather forecasts. Team members include our transportation supervisor, the superintendent, our custodial lead in charge of snow removal, and administrators of outlying schools. The goal is to determine whether or not we can safely transport students to and from school that day.

Once we have a decision, announcements are made through our mass notification system and posted on our website and KCSD Facebook and Instagram pages. Our media partners, including television and radio stations, also help us get the word out. A parent may determine they cannot safely transport their child to school because of environmental factors in their area. If your child will not be attending, we ask you to call your school and let them know.

Following is KCSD's plan to let you know if there are closures, delays, or early dismissals due to inclement weather or other emergencies:

• Our first line of communication will be through our mass notification system. Please make sure that the school your student attends has your current contact information in the system. Parents can choose to be contacted by text, phone call, or email.
• If we find it necessary to close or delay school, we will make every attempt to notify families via our mass notification system by 6 a.m. We also will post announcements on our website – www.kcsd.k12.or.us – and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
• The media, including local radio and TV stations, will be notified and often announce school delays and closures.
• If it is necessary to dismiss school early, we will notify parents through our mass notification system as soon as a decision is made. The information also will be posted on our district website, and Facebook and Instagram pages.

Schools may be touched directly or indirectly by a crisis at any time. It could be a natural disaster such as a fire or earthquake or it could be a winter storm that closes roads and causes power outages. Our teachers and district staff train in crisis management and all classroom teachers have quick reference guides for emergencies.

It takes all of us within a community to keep each other safe. We appreciate your ongoing support for our students, teachers, and schools.

Sincerely,

Glen Szymoniak

Superintendent

Klamath County School District

“Do you know how a carrot grows?” farmer Katie Swanson asked Shasta Elementary School second-graders Oct. 26 during Klamath County School District’s sixth-annual Crunch at Once event. The students had just crunched their farm-fresh carrots and had questions for the farmer who grew them. Read more

We want to give a shout out to all student athletes who competed this fall. It takes dedication and effort to give it your all at practices and competitions and keep up your studies. Among our district high school teams, we have conference champions and several teams that qualified for state playoffs. Here’s who won what and what happens next:

To see all updated brackets and times, go to the OSAA website: https://www.osaa.org/activities

Congratulations to Henley's Samuel Iverson, who won the 4A Skyline District Cross Country championship! The Henley girls team placed 2nd overall at the district meet. The top 7 individuals and the two top teams are state qualifiers. Iverson and the Henley girls will compete Saturday, Nov. 4 in the OSAA 4A State Cross County Championships at Lane Community College in Eugene. Members of the girls team are Macie Schultz, Kiera Welch, Halle McKay, Kelsey Whitaker, Randi Benson, Ainsley Tripp, and Icelynn Chase.

Henley Boys Soccer: Skyline Conference Champions

Henley Girls Soccer: Skyline Conference Champions

Both Henley High soccer teams won the Skyline Conference Championships and qualified to compete in state playoffs.

• Henley boys soccer: 4A Skyline Conference Champions and are ranked No. 1 in the state, earning the top seed in the state playoffs. They won their first state playoff game against Gladstone Nov. 1 and play North Marion in the state quarterfinals on Saturday, Nov. 4.
• Henley girls soccer: 4A Skyline Conference Champions. They lost to Gladstone in a first-round state playoff game Oct. 31, ending their season.

Mazama Volleyball: Skyline District Champions

Three of our volleyball teams made the state playoffs -- Mazama, Lost River, and Bonanza. Mazama won the 4A Skyline Conference Championships, going into state playoffs ranked No. 3.

• Mazama: 4A Skyline Conference Champions. The team won its first round contest and will compete Friday, Nov. 3 in the OSAA state quarterfinals against No. 6 ranked Tillamook.
• Lost River (1A) finished the season 2nd in league with a record of 9-1 and 18-6 overall. The team beat Jordan Valley in their first round state playoff game and were bested in three to Joseph in the 2nd round.
• Bonanza: (1A) The team made the state playoffs. In the first round game, they beat the league champion, Mohawk, 3-0. In the second-round match up, they were defeated by No. 1 ranked Crane, ending their season.

Henley High Football: Big Sky Conference Champions

Lost River Football: Special District 1 Champions

Four teams are in the OSAA football state playoffs: Henley, Mazama, Lost River, and Bonanza.

• Henley: 4A Big Sky Conference Champions. Henley is the only undefeated 4A team in state and is ranked No. 1, earning the top seed in the state playoffs. They host Gladstone Friday, Nov. 3 in the first round of playoffs.
• Mazama: Mazama qualified for the 4A state playoffs for the 10th year in a row. The Vikings host Pendleton in the first round Friday, Nov. 3.
• Lost River: 1A Special District 1 Champions. Finished 5-0 in league and 8-0 overall. Ranked No. 1 in the 1A State Championships and qualified for a first round bye. Their quarterfinal game is Nov. 10.
• Bonanza: Bonanza qualified for the 1A state playoffs ranked No. 9 in state, and will play Perrydale in the first round of the state playoffs Saturday, Nov. 4 at Perrydale.

The Stearns Elementary community showed up in force Oct. 4 for the grand opening celebration of a new track on the school’s campus. About 250 students, parents, and community members walked and ran around the new 200-meter ADA-accessible track while the school served free smoothies and popcorn as part of the event. Jo2Go, a coffee cart operated by the district’s transition life skills program, sold specialty drinks. Read more

The Henley High School Drama Club will present three performances of Craig Sodaro’s “Curtains!” on Nov. 7, Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 in the high school’s Hampton Center for Performing Arts.

Each performance will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for adults and are available at the door or in advance at Henley’s front office.

“Curtains!” is described as a play within a play and tells the story of lead Charlie Leach and his new wife as they attempt to pay back Charlie’s debts to his former boss. To do so, they purchase a theater and plan to destroy it for the insurance money. To make the theater more valuable, they plan to put on a production of “Frankenstein.”

Come be entertained and support the Henley drama program!

Chiloquin Junior/Senior High School students got an interactive look at the intricacies of an annular eclipse during special science lessons Oct. 12 from Joe Minato, a semi-retired high school advanced science and physics teacher who specializes in astrophysics.

Chiloquin Elementary School students also learned about the upcoming eclipse from special guest Amy Minato, a Portland State University professor. Her lessons focused on eclipse-inspired art, writing, and poetry.

The couple has a connection to Chiloquin – Joe Minato’s parents graduated from Chiloquin High in 1947 and 1950 and his siblings were born here. His family later moved to Portland, where Minato was born. In 2022, he semi-retired from Portland Public Schools and started offering tutoring and special astronomy events.

The annular eclipse -- when the moon covers the sun, creating a ring of fire -- was Saturday, Oct. 14.

Our five KCSD school board members – Jill O’Donnell, Steve Lowell, John Rademacher, Marc Staunton, and Brooke Kliewer – enjoyed lunch with students Oct. 11 in celebration of National School Lunch Week.

Jill O’Donnell, a retired kindergarten teacher, was back in her element as she ate lunch at Stearns Elementary School surrounded by kindergartners and first-graders.

Steve Lowell chatted with and answered questions from students at Mazama High School as they enjoyed a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches and tacos.

Meanwhile across the county, Brooke Kliewer ate lunch at Henley Elementary. Marc Staunton, who represents south county, ate while he visited with students at Malin Elementary while John Rademacher was celebrated at Chiloquin Junior/Senior High School.

All board members were presented with tokens of appreciation, including signs, aprons, chocolate, cards, and balloons.

The KCSD food service team serves more than 7,100 meals a day – about 4,900 lunches and 2,200 breakfasts in 21 school buildings around the district. There are 57 cooks and assistant cooks that work in our school cafeterias as well as district office and warehouse team members.

National School Lunch Week was created in 1962 to promote the importance and positive impact of healthy school lunches for students. Thank you to all of our food service staff for your hard work and extra efforts for our students!

Mazama High School students had a chance to explore possible futures and talk to college representatives, military recruiters and even local employers Oct. 18 during the school’s second-annual “Don’t Dream It, Be It!” career, college, and military night. Read more

First-graders at Henley Elementary School were introduced to basic coding Oct. 5 as they learned to operate Bee Bots during their project-based learning class.

Project-based learning teacher Robert Nieman invited guest teacher Heather Armstrong of Southern Oregon Education Service District to teach the students how to operate the Bee Bots. Bee Bots are programmable robots that move in increments and do 90-degree turns that students can learn to program.

Armstrong works with SOESD’s STEM program and offers workshop classes to elementary schools around Southern Oregon.

This is the second year of small-group and project-based learning in KCSD’s elementary schools. The project-based learning classes focus on hands-on activities that supplement learning in the classrooms.

Merrill Elementary Huskies students raised more than $15,000 for their school by walking and running Oct. 12 during the Merrill PPA walk-a-thon fundraiser. Fourteen students raised more than $300 in pledges and earned the ultimate prize -- throwing a pie in the face of their principal and vice principal in front of all their classmates.

The noisy, and messy celebration -- earned because students raised more than their schoolwide goal of $14,000 -- took place Oct. 27. Principal Margaret McCadden and Vice Principal Heidi Friend dressed for the occasion and managed the keep smiling as the pies were doled out.

This month's KCSD Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 16 at the District Office, 2845 Greensprings Drive. When the agenda and livestream links are available, they will be posted here: KCSD School Board Agenda and Materials. Board meetings are now being streamed live on YouTube.

Click here for the 2023-24 school year calendar: https://www.kcsd.k12.or.us/cms_files/resources/23-24%20School%20Calendar.pdf

Check out our job openings: KCSD Employment Opportunities

In our KCSD & Me district newsletters, we will provide updates as well as share news from across our district. If you need information between newsletters, go to our webpage at www.kcsd.k12.or.us and follow us on social media. Keep track of KCSD & Me newsletters at: https://www.kcsd.k12.or.us/district/kcsd--me-newsletters.cfm. Follow district news here: https://www.kcsd.k12.or.us/district/district-news.cfm

Inspiring today's students to meet tomorrow's challenges!

Read our Strategic Plan

Email: kcsd_communications@kcsd.k12.or.us
Website: www.kcsd.k12.or.us
Location: 2845 Greensprings Drive, Klamath Falls, OR, USA
Phone: 541-883-5000