June 14th School Board Meeting Recognizes 7 Retirees

The meeting began with an appreciation of seven retirees, whose cumulative dedication totaled 173 years of service to Cascade School District, students and families! These staff, holding a variety of roles, included Brooks Murphy, Mary DePaz, Kathy Wendlandt, Mike Janski, Peggy Kinnear, Cheryl Simicich and Kim Miller. The retirees were thanked by school board members and attending administrators and staff, and they also had a chance to say some parting words.

Murphy said, “I worked for two corporations and for myself before working in the schools. This was the best job.”

Wendlandt was praised for her smiling presence in the CHS office and her work ethic, which was apparent because she was still working while tuning in to the meeting.

PD principal Emily Ross gave a heartfelt thanks to DePaz and Kinnear for their work with children and families, and English language learners and special education students, respectively, who might have struggled without their care.

Retiring principal Mike Janski was noted for his humor, intellect and care for students and the community.

Miller, who spent years at four of the schools, said she was thankful for the friendships she made, the opportunities she was given and the students with whom she worked.

Simicich was unable to attend the meeting, but was thanked for her years of service in the transportation department.

Next the school board heard an update about Home Link from its principal, Terry Muscutt. The Home Link program expanded enrollment last year, serving about 75 students across K-7th grades. The teacher to student ratio was 1:17, but each teacher (Shanda Holm and Daena Medina) also had a paraeducator assisting, so students were often in groups of eight or nine.

Home Link chose, in part for COVID-19 safety reasons, to only meet outside for experiential ed and over Zoom for classes like applied math and science and Spanish. The experiential education units included orienteering, survival skills and gardening.

Muscutt explained that staff improved the resources for homeschooling parents. Now Home Link has an organized library and copy machine to aid parents with robust curricular materials. Forty families chose to have their students take the NWEA test of achievement in math and English. “Each parent receives a report with info about their child,” said Muscutt. “My hope is that they use it to celebrate what went well and adjust instruction to improve in areas that could have been better.”

Dwight Remick, CSD business manager, gave a brief budget presentation on the four funds that are separate from the general fund. The Capital Projects Fund has less activity in it now that the buildings are mostly complete. It still houses the funds for the Tech & Safety levy and is where the proceeds from the sale of Osborn were deposited. However, the Osborn monies will be transferred to the Debt Service Fund in the near future, when it will be most advantageous for the community. The Associated Student Body (ASB) Fund is set with opening and ending balances identical to the last pre-COVID school year. It is a best guess in terms of expenses and revenues. The final fund for Transportation will receive money from the state in August to go toward the purchase of either one or two buses. There are waiting lists for buses, so the transportation department will determine the best option. CSD benefited from purchasing three used buses with low mileage last year from other Districts.

The final budget hearing and adoption is set for July 19^th.

The school board approved a long list of hires. Notable among them were Corinna Hanson and Monica Kirkman for the new positions of IRMS girls’ soccer head coach and assistant coach, respectively. Also, Ashley Kakish will teach the new American Sign Language courses at CHS, and Karlye Risdon will be the new Transitional Kindergarten teacher at PD.

Under policy review, the informational forms signed by parents who do home-based education received clarifying updates. The policy in regards to community organizational banners placed at the schools now follows rules similar to that for flyers.

Superintendent Tracey Beckendorf-Edou closed the evening with commendations. CHS English teacher Roselyn Robison and her journalism classes received prestigious recognition from the American Scholastic Press Association’s national competition. The CHS Weekly newspaper won first place with special merit, and the yearbook won second place.

Beckendorf-Edou and the school board members praised principal Elia Ala’ilima-Daley and his staff for a fantastic live/virtual graduation ceremony, and the other notable ceremonies of 8^th grade transition and kindergarten graduation were also considered enthusiastic successes.