MOSIER — Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, students at Mosier Community School shifted to a 4-day school week with an added bonus: a FLEX Friday, which takes place roughly every other week.
Instead of being home that day, they have an option on 17 Fridays throughout the year to participate in two programs in the morning, enjoy lunch, and then be a part of an afternoon program.
So far, it’s been a hit with students, teachers, and administrators alike. In the first week of school, sign-ups numbered around 60 kids out of 205 attending the school. By the third week, 80 students had signed up, and 119 have experienced at least one FLEX Friday.
Fourth grader Stevie Vogt with his project.
Contributed photo
Mosier Community School Executive Director Michelle Dawkins said that kids can take part in Arts in Education with different teaching artists demonstrating music, ceramics, watercolors, print making, and maps.
“Kids love the FLEX Friday,” she said. “It fosters social emotional learning, artistic ability growth, and builds communities.”
The program also features outdoor curricula on the grounds of Great River Natural Burial, just outside Mosier, where students have hands-on, experiential education learning about flora and fauna, as well as the cycle of restoration and sustainability.
“Some of the kids have never experienced the outdoors like this,” said Lisa Kosglow, director of Let’s Get Out and self-proclaimed nature maven who coordinates the outdoor activities for Mosier students. “In fact, they are learning that when they are quiet, they see things they would normally miss in nature.”
Stevie Vogt, fourth grader, with her art project.
Contributed photo
She cited the example of the kids encountering turkeys one day, and one of the students who had been turkey hunting was able to share knowledge he had about the birds with his fellow classmates. According to Kosglow, this was a huge opportunity for peer-to-peer learning as well as leadership.
Students at Great River also have been working on a dugout canoe, building a ground shelter, collecting acorns for the Friends of The Gorge Oak Restoration project, and making acorn flour.
Dawkins says these activities go far beyond the classroom and build a community within the students.
Parents love FLEX Fridays because there is no charge to families. Funding for the program runs about $80,000 to cover staff time, activities, and lunch, and school officials have applied to the Ford Foundation for additional grant money to keep the program in place.
Dawkins added, “We have also been able to get $10,000 in business sponsorships, combined with donations, and a jog-a-thon fundraiser for FLEX Friday programming.”
Jordan Kim, one of the school’s teaching artists, is excited too.
“This is an opportunity to build longer-term relationships with the students to help them build their skills,” she said.
Kim is currently part of a statewide collective called “5th for the Arts” which is aiming to make the fifth day of the school week dedicated to arts in more than 100 schools across Oregon.
A FLEX Friday project.
Contributed photo
Her own background is in mixed media and collage, and as Kim put it, “It’s so cool to bring back arts to schools, and growing it locally,” in reference to her work at Mosier Community School.
All three staff members unanimously championed FLEX Fridays as a way to help kids connect to their senses, engage in movement, and participate in activities that help self-regulate.
Dawkins put it simply, “The kids are happy.” She observed that there are “outsider” students who are now suddenly connected to their classmates in shared outdoor and artistic experiences.
“At the end of the day, this program lets kids … be kids,” Dawkins said.
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