Dear Parents~It has been great having your kids this summer, but next week is our last week of summer XCELL!. It is also water week, so please have your child come prepared. They will need to have swimming suits or shorts and a tee-shirt, towels, sunscreen and even bug spray. We will also have sunscreen and bug spray on hand but we have already gone through 4 cans of bug spray in three days as the mosquitos are crazy this year. Also, please have your children wear their masks next week. We are expecting quite a few kids for water week and could possibly have so many the masks will have to be worn. We will not be accepting any new kids and if your child has not specifically signed up for water week, they unfortunately will not be able to participate. Students who aren’t involved in XCELL! camp are still welcome to come get breakfast or lunch. You have the option to get your food to go if you would like, or the kitchen staff will serve to the students in the commons. Thank you all for your understanding. ~XCELL! Staff~
Please join us via Zoom for our work session discussing Cascade Public Schools reentry plan for the 2020/2021 school year. The meeting will start at around 6:30 pm and last no more than 1.5 hours.It's very helpful if your Zoom profile name is your whole name. We can verify your identity for the minutes. Nicknames or phone numbers could slow your admittance into the presentation. Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83753194198?pwd=d3E0aGRXVDd1Q1IxTFphSUZEZmJ6Zz09Meeting ID: 837 5319 4198Password: 9BjR56
August 14th is the first day of practice. Remember to get your sports physical done. All forms are on our website under the athletics tab.
Please join us via Zoom for our work session discussing Cascade Public Schools reentry plan for the 2020/2021 school year. The meeting will start at around 6:30 pm and last no more than 1.5 hours.Remember to use your name when you join us via zoom to allow us to identify you in the minutes.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/87206573677?pwd=aXowME1aeTAybmc1eWFxNTRZbVNPQT09Meeting ID: 872 0657 3677Password: 5R5x6x
Hello Everyone,The Cascade School District is working on a plan to reopen the school for the 2020-2021 school year. To help us accomplish this, the School Board will have two work sessions to discuss options. The work sessions will be July 7th and July 14th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. These sessions are open to the public but seating will be limited because of social distancing requirements. We would like to hear from you and your concerns. You can provide us with your input in three ways: complete the survey that will be sent out to parents and guardians by July 3rd. send Mr. Miller an email explaining your concerns, and offering any information you feel is important, attend the work sessions Cascade School District values your input and is striving to meet the needs of all of our students during this difficult time. If you have any questions, feel free to send an email to Mr. Miller.We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Dear Parents or Guardians,Our elementary summer school will begin on Monday, June 1st, and will run through Thursday, July 9th for 2nd through 6th graders of the 2019-2020 school year. The summer school program is designed to help students who need review to prevent loss over the summer or who have struggled to meet their academic goals for the past school year. We will conduct class from 9:00-11:00, Monday-Thursday. If you are interested in having your child attend, please contact Michelle Price at (406)468-9383 ext. 106 or michelle.price@cascade.k12.mt.us. We will need written permission prior to your child attending. Attached is the permission form. Thank you,Michelle PriceElementary PrincipalCascade School District
Dear Cascade Families, As I complete my first year serving this amazing community and its children, I am so thankful for the many relationships I've built and experiences I've had. Cascade is truly a unique and special place. We are already looking forward to next year and new opportunities for our students! We will be offering AP courses in English, Social Studies, Science, and Math. We have Mrs. Hardy teaching a Dual Credit Art class, and Ms. Corrigan, our new Agriculture teacher, offering Dual Credit Welding. There are also online Dual Credit classes offered. I admit I was curious when we made "Every student will complete every assignment at a 70% or better" a policy. It seemed too good to be true. After holding to that policy over the course of the year, and especially through the pandemic, I am a true believer. We had 8,470 assignments that were below standard or completely missing. Thanks to teachers, support staff, parents, and administration giving students extra support, these assignments were completed to expectations. We realize this level of commitment requires extra work from staff members, and I'm grateful they care enough about their students succeeding to put forth that extra effort. Thanks to this policy, we do not have any students needing to repeat classes. Other districts are having discussions about cutting electives to accommodate all the students needing credit recovery options. We are brainstorming ideas on how to bring our students even more enrichment options. Cascade Public Schools may be small, but we are mighty, and we care about our students learning and succeeding. As with any year, there are bound to be some staffing changes. We wish Mr. Mercer congratulations on his retirement, and Mr. Fredrickson, Mr. Tait, Mr. Tilleman, Mrs. Workman, and Mr. Wright well on their next adventures. We have been busy interviewing applicants for the open positions the last few weeks, and I am very excited for the knowledge and enthusiasm our new hires will bring to Cascade Public Schools. If you have not attended the last few board meetings, we discussed how we are Targeted in the High School based on our data from the 2018-2019 school year, meaning we are in the bottom 5%. This is unacceptable and we are taking steps to better support and challenge our students. We recommended the board hire the best candidate to propel our students' educations forward. Please keep on the lookout for Staff Spotlights in the coming months to learn more about our new teachers. I hope to see everyone during the summer and look forward to the next school year starting. --Respectfully,Nichole PieperJH/HS PrincipalCascade School District
On March 6, 2020 Cascade Public Schools was given our 2018-2019 District Report Cards. The results were reported to the school board at the March 17th board meeting. District Report cards are a requirement of the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA, formerly No Child Left Behind. Montana identifies schools in the following ways: Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) Schools, Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) schools, and Universal Support Schools.The data used to determine a school’s classification are student achievement scores in math, reading, science, student attendance, student growth, and graduation rates. Cascade Elementary and Junior High School have been classified as Universal. A Universal classification can be described as passing or that the school is performing above the bottom five percent on statewide assessments. The Elementary and Junior High exceed the state in all of the state test scores, reading growth, and school attendance. Cascade High School has been classified as a Targeted school. OPI classifies a school as Targeted if any student group performs in the lowest 5% of Montana’s schools.The High School is below the state averages in reading (Cascade has 69% below proficient, Montana 50% below proficient), and science test scores (Cascade has 64% below proficient, Montana is 39% below proficient), graduation rates in the last 4 years (Cascade 86%, Montana 87%) and school attendance (Cascade has 38% of HS students above a 95% attendance rate, Montana has 44% above the 95% attendance rate). The high school is above the state average in college readiness which is based on the number of students who plan to attend college (Cascade 95%, Montana 64%) and math scores (Cascade has 56% below proficient, Montana has 59% below proficient). Schools that are identified as Targeted must conduct a needs assessment of their instructional components (leadership, professional development, curriculum, and standards). After conducting the needs assessment, the school will be required to draft a Continuous School Improvement Plan with goals focused on the areas that need improvement. In addition, targeted schools must provide teachers with literacy and math improvement opportunities through regional training and on-line courses through the Montana Learning Hub, identify actions that the district will take in the Continuous School Improvement Plan, and attend OPI sponsored conferences.Cascade’s leadership tracked data from previous years using SBAC, ACT, MAPS, and FastBridge. The results were reported at school board meetings. The data identified a need for improvement in the high school. Cascade Public Schools is committed to bringing the High School up to a Universal Classification and has already begun the process, in the hopes that we can show improvement before the Office of Public Instruction steps in.The district has already been working on improving instruction and learning within the high school through professional development, curriculum training, and standards-based instruction. The school leadership believes that Cascade High School must take a cross-curricular approach to improvement in the identified areas, which means working together to accomplish our goals.If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Miller, Mrs. Pieper, or Mrs. Price to discuss. Copies of Cascade Schools ESSA report cards are included in this article.
Cascade Public School’s End of Year CheckoutPlease bring all school materials (books, Chromebooks, chargers) to the main entrance on your assigned day and time. Older students can bring in sibling’s items and check them out to avoid families having to return to school multiple times. Please contact Ms. Taft with any questions. Monday, May 18th11th Grade A – J 8:00 – 10:00 K – P 10:00 – 12:00 Q – Z 12:00 – 2:00 Tuesday, May 19th10th Grade A – N 8:00 – 10:00 O – Z 10:00 – 12:009th Grade A – J 12:00 - 2:00 K – Z 2:00 – 4:00 Wednesday, May 20th7th Grade A - L 8:00 – 10:00 M - Z 10:00 – 12:00 8th Grade A - J 12:00 – 2:00 K - Z 2:00 – 4:00 Thursday, May 21stElementary A – K 8:00 – 12:00 L – Z 12:00 – 4:00