4J celebrates top transportation awards, Mid-Autumn Festival, Edison at 100

Presenter: The 4J school district has a new focus on school attendance. At the board meeting Oct. 7, Superintendent Miriam Mickelson:

Miriam Mickelson (4J, superintendent): Our schools are hosting a variety of attendance campaigns, and later this month, I will share with the board some of the strategies that our schools are utilizing. But for now, I want to share that our priority is ensuring that our communication around attendance reflects our desire to communicate with families compassionately, graciously, and sensitively as partners with our families in this work.

Community engagement is a foundational pillar, also named a focus 4J, and we have a couple of events this week that showcase our continued efforts to partner with our families and the community.

Presenter: Oct. 8, the Chinese immersion school hosts the Mid-Autumn Festival, Edison Elementary turns 100, and you’re invited. Superintendent Mickelson:

Miriam Mickelson (4J, superintendent): From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Edison Elementary will be celebrating its 100th birthday and the community is invited to attend. They will have food trucks and games and building tours and a variety of activities. 

And starting at 6 p.m., our Chinese immersion school will be hosting their annual Mid-Autumn Festival celebration. There will be student performances. This sounds really delicious: mooncake tasting, Chinese tea, traditional crafts, and more.

And so we hope our community can join us in these two celebrations this week.

And at this time, it is my pleasure to recognize our 4J Transportation team, who have earned state awards for their work every single day. They help get our students to and from school safely, and their dedication reflects the very best of our district.

To present these honors, I would like to ask our Transportation director, Stacey Cheshire, to come up and to recognize our recipients, 

Stacey Cheshire (4J, Transportation director): Good evening, everyone. Here in the state of Oregon, we have what’s called the Oregon Pupil Transportation Association across the state, and we honor people in different departments every year with the group. 

Last year, as a new director, I put  out the nominations and asked for people in the department to nominate somebody that should be recognized for an award. And there’s many awards. 

We brought home one which is really amazing: The Oregon School Bus Driver Of The Year Award in the state of Oregon went to Bryan Ribelin. Bryan has been with 4J for 19 years as a bus driver. He was selected by someone in the department, and the department is proud to support him in receiving this honor. 

There are several components. He must hold his school bus certificate (which he does), be a current daily driver, and then also a positive reflection on students and teammates in our department. And I’ve seen that since I’ve been here, and I appreciate that, Bryan. Super proud of you.

The next award is called Buck Klemm Special Needs Transportation Award. It goes to Marilyn Van Buren. Marilyn has been with the department for 19 years. She’s going to be hitting her 20 in April.

Marilyn has been recognized for her outstanding contribution in the area of special needs education with student transportation. We are proud that she plays a significant role on a daily basis with these students, and she is recognized by her colleagues in the department.

The next award goes to Nathan Misner. He’s been with the department for 15 years. He was nominated in the state for supervisor of the year. Also, he was recognized for his outstanding contribution to student transportation, his leadership abilities, commitment to safety, integrity, attitude, cooperation, and commitment to student transportation.

He must be involved directly with student transportation in a supervisory position in order to receive this award and a significant contribution to student transportation and recognized by his colleagues.

We are so very proud of our transportation team and especially our award recipients, Ryan, Nathan, and Marilyn, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you for all that you do.

Presenter: 4J recognizes its Oregon Pupil Transportation Association winners, celebrates a century at Edison, and hosts the Mid-Autumn Festival.