News

SCHOOL BOARD VACANCY – POSITION 3 The Cascade School District is accepting applications to fill a vacant position on the Board of Directors. The successful applicant will serve in Position #3, succeeding Karen Ramseyer who retired from the board at the conclusion of the September 9th meeting. The Cascade School District Board of Directors meets in person and via Zoom on the second or fourth Monday of each month. The applicant selected by the Board will be sworn in at the November 25th Board Meeting. Term of Appointment: November 25, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

To assist students of all ages, we are gathering a variety of school supplies, such as notebooks, pencils, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, backpacks, and more.

The Budget Committee has approved a proposed budget for Cascade School District for the 2024-25 school year. The School Board will hold a public hearing for the budget during their meeting on June 10, 2024, before voting on the budget.

CASCADE TENNIS CAMP—SUMMER 2024 All Skill Levels Welcome Students entering Grades K - 9 Fall 2024 Monday – Thursday, June 17-20, 2024 5-7 PM (grades K-5) and 7-9 PM (grades 6-9) Location: Cascade HS Tennis Courts

Cascade High School is excited to partner with the Willamette ESD to host a major regional Career Fair next Thursday, May 2! Nearly 70 industry partners will show Cascade Opportunity and Cascade High School students, as well as students from four other high schools, a huge variety of career opportunities.

A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the Cascade School District 5, Marion County, State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 will be held at the High School Library, 10226 Marion Rd SE Turner, Oregon on May 13, 2024 at 5:00 pm.

Check out some of these awesome opportunities at the Cascade Family Resource Center! Kit Car Races for students K-12 coming up on Feb. 8; a parent cooking class on Feb. 15; and an estate planning workshop on Feb. 29!

State assessments will begin soon in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. These assessments cover math, English language arts, and science (in grades 5, 8, and 11). The Oregon Department of Education aims for every school to be above 95% participation.

After years of consistently high graduation rates, Cascade High School’s class of 2023 has proven the best ever! 95.0% of students earned their high school diploma in four years, a truly remarkable number that is in the top 10% in the state, and far exceeds the state average of 81.3%. The commitment of our staff and students to academic excellence is evident in these results.

Many roads are still very slushy. For safety of buses and cars, Cascade School District is on a 2 hour delay for Thursday, Jan. 18.

Due to ongoing poor weather conditions, Cascade Schools are closed for the entire day on Wednesday. All activities are canceled.

Cascade Schools will be closed on Tuesday due to prediction of continued freezing weather and potential freezing rain. All activities are canceled. We will continue to monitor the weather for Wednesday and notify you of any future changes to our schedule.

We will release from school today at the regular time, as temperatures have stayed warm enough. To ensure safety with the cold weather still on the way, we are closing our district buildings for the weekend and canceling all sports, extracurricular activities, and events like the Cascade Half Marathon.

We want to share a few upcoming FREE suicide prevention workshops for students and families in Marion, Polk, and Yamhill counties. We all can work together to prevent suicide.

The forecast has the chance for freezing temperatures and snow. We want you to be informed about how we keep our students and staff safe, and how we make decisions about closures and delays. Now is a great time to make sure your contact information is up to date so you don’t miss any announcements. Use the Parent Portal/Powerschool or contact your student’s school office.

We are excited to announce that beginning January 3rd, 2024, Cascade Jr. High and Turner Elementary students will join Aumsville Elementary, Cascade Opportunity Center and Cloverdale Elementary students in receiving free breakfast and lunch through the Federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)

Cascade High School players and coaches will host a softball camp for softball players of all skill levels in kindergarten through 8th grade. It will take place on three Sundays from 1 to 3 pm: Feb. 19, 26, and Mar. 5. The camp costs $60 for all three days, or $25 per session. If you register by Feb. 10, the cost is only $50!

Thank you to staff, students, and parents for responding so well to the early release today. All students and staff are safe and accounted for. Law Enforcement has thoroughly searched all buildings and given all campuses the all clear. School will be in session as normal on Tuesday.

Cascade Schools have received a generic threat by email to all of our schools that is not imminent. Other school districts in the area have received the same threat. We are working with police and sheriff departments and they have recommended an early release out of an abundance of caution.

The Oregon state legislature passed the Student Success Act in the spring of 2019. This funding can be used to make improvements in class size, well-rounded education, instructional time and/or health and safety. Each year Cascade School District submits a plan to the Oregon Department of Education for how we will use the funds.

There are still a few spots available in our Self Defense Class for parents tomorrow, Thursday, Nov 9 from 6:00-7:30pm.

Today we remember longtime Cascade teacher Matt McBeth, on the anniversary of his passing one year ago today. His impact was enormous. If you’d like to honor Matt, we encourage a memorial gift to a scholarship established in his name at the request of his family.

We want to help you get hired! The Cascade Family Resource Center is holding an Employment Expo on October 26, 2023, from 5:00 - 7:30 pm at their location on the Aumsville Elementary campus (574 N. 11th Street, Aumsville OR 97325).

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL for CASCADE SCHOOL DISTRICT CASCADE HIGH SCHOOL ORIGiNAL GYM SEISMIC REHABILITATION

We are excited to add four new science classrooms to the high school campus! Here are all the details for the delivery of these modular buildings on Monday Sept. 25th and Tuesday Sept. 26th. We will need your patience and your help so that student drop off and pick up go safely and smoothly.

At Monday night’s School Board meeting, Superintendent Drill was honored with a surprise announcement that he has been named the 2024 Oregon Superintendent of the Year. This is a joint award by the Oregon Association of School Executives (OASE) and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators (COSA), and demonstrates the strong respect Mr. Drill has from his peers across the state.

If you are planning for your student to ride the bus this school year, you must register for transportation. This can be done in PowerSchool through our ParentPortal if you did not do it during registration. Here is the link to our ParentPortal, or call your school office if you have questions.

Request For Qualifications Engineering, Architecture ​ Cascade School District (the “District”) is conducting selection procedure for an engineering/architectural firm to design and oversee the seismic retrofit of Cascade High School Original Gym. The District plans to award a contract to the highest ranked proposer selected from those submitting proposals. The anticipated contract or contracts will include: all design work; site analysis; assistance with contractor solicitation and award process; construction oversight; and procurement of all necessary government permits.

CASCADE HIGH SCHOOL ORIGINAL GYMNASIUM SEISMIC REHABILITATION ​ NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ​ The Cascade School District Board of Directors will conduct a public hearing before the Local Contract Review Board at their next regularly scheduled board meeting. The intent of this hearing is to review the findings and receive public comment in the Matter of Exemption Request of Cascade High School Original Gymnasium Seismic Rehabilitation.

We are excited for the new school year! All the information you need, including information on the new computer system for all students in the district, can be found here.

Any Jr. High and High School students participating in sports need to have a sports physical. Santiam Hospital is holding four Sports Physical Clinics in August that are available on a first come/first served basis. The fee is only $10, payable by cash or check only. See the flyer for dates, times, and locations.

At the May 8, 2023 Cascade School Board Meeting, the budget for the 2023-2024 school year was approved by the budget committee. It will come before the Board on June 12, 2023 for final approval. A budget hearing for public comment will be at 7 pm on June 12, 2023.

A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the Cascade School District #5, Marion County, State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 will be held at Cascade High School Library, 10226 Marion Road SE, Turner Oregon. The meeting will take place on May 8, 2023 at 5:00 pm.

Last night at the School Board Meeting, the Board approved not adding any school days to the school calendar. Even though there have been a few late starts and cancelled days due to weather, we still have had more than the required number of educational hours for the year.

After 21 years as an administrator in Cascade School District, Matt Thatcher, the district’s Director of Education, is retiring at the end of the year to find other creative ways to stay involved in education. Following a thorough search process, Bryan Dyer has been chosen as the new Director of Education. Mr. Dyer will finish his 6th year as Principal of Cloverdale Elementary School, and begin his new position July 1st.

We would love to have you as part of our team at Cascade! Substitutes for all positions are a big need.

Dear Cascade Community, I want to follow up after the threat incident over the weekend so that students, families, and staff know the procedures we follow at Cascade. While we cannot speak about disciplinary actions for specific students, we want you to be assured that we have detailed procedures in place to deal with all manner of safety issues.

Cascade School District is in the final stages of selecting curriculum for adoption in two areas: secondary math and elementary English Language Arts (ELA). Teachers and administrators have been looking at state standards and evaluating options from different publishing companies. If parents want the opportunity to review samples of the curriculum being considered, contact Director of Teaching and Learning Matt Thatcher: [email protected]

On Saturday, March 4, 2023, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Aumsville Police Department after they received a tip that a student had threatened over text message to take a gun to Cascade Junior High School. Deputies from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office worked closely with officials from the Cascade School District to identify the involved students and were able to determine the source of the threat.

State assessments will begin soon in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. These assessments cover math, English language arts, and science (in grades 5, 8, and 11). The Oregon Department of Education aims for every school to be above 95% participation.

Today, the Oregon Department of Education released every school’s graduation rates for the class of 2022. Once again, Cascade High School proves to be a statewide leader, with 94.44% of our students earning their diploma in four years. Out of 130 high schools in the state of Oregon with more than 100 graduates, Cascade’s graduation rate is in the top 10%—an exceptional accomplishment that demonstrates the dedication of our staff and students to academic achievement.

It is with grief that we inform you that one of our seniors, Jaxon Haverland, passed away in a car accident this past weekend. A smart, bright, humorous, and talented person, Jaxon had been taking classes in our Cascade Virtual Academy this fall. He will be missed by our Cascade community.

Parents, we want to help you prepare your child for school success, with Ready! for Kindergarten.