School Board April 12 Meeting Includes Many Positive Updates

The school board meeting on April 12 began with a presentation about the Asset Preservation Program (APP) by facilities director, Teresa Disher. She explained that the status of buildings built after 1994 must be reported to the state. This is a form of accountability for new buildings, giving proof that districts are taking care of the investment. The only school in the Cascade School District that is young enough to qualify is Alpine Lakes Elementary (ALE).

“Alpine Lake’s systems are running at 100%,” said Disher. Normally there would be about 2% degradation of assets from usage, but due to the under-capacity usage of the building during the pandemic, that hasn’t happened.

Disher also explained that all the buildings have preventative maintenance schedules that occur on an annual or biannual basis.

Next, the board heard from Kirk Sunitsch, director of Career and Technical Education (CTE). Sunitsch reminded them of the mission of CTE, which is “to provide diverse, relevant and hands-on learning opportunities for students that prepare them for career, for life and post-secondary opportunities.”

CTE classes fall into 16 nationally established “career clusters.” A cluster is a group of industries related by skills or products. Cascade High School (CHS) offers nine of those clusters, which is impressive for the small size of the school. These CTE areas include fields such as agriculture and natural resources, early childhood, computer science and sports medicine and health science.

CTE represents another pathway to graduation for some students, and these multiple pathways have been legitimized since 2019 by Washington State law. Students benefit from successful completion of CTE classes because they get credits, without cost, through Wenatchee Valley College.

The CTE department has received grants that have aided initiatives. A federal Perkins grant provided $12,800. Smaller grants gave $2500 for a 3D printer for STEM classes and $2600 for CPR dummies that give digital feedback and a trainer’s AED for CPR classes.

During remote education, hands-on learning is more difficult to accomplish, but teachers were able to send home kits with students, giving them supplies to complete assignments for culinary, robotics, visual arts and shop.

Some extracurriculars are tied to CTE, such as the successful Technology Student Association (TSA) and DECA, a business leadership organization, both of which have sent students to national competitions. Sunitsch mentioned, however, that the high school might go back to FBLA in place of DECA. “FBLA is a better fit for the programs offered at CHS, it has more competitive events including computer science, and it’s less expensive,” Sunitsch noted as some of the possible reasons for the switch. The decision will be made with the input from DECA officers, departmental staff and CHS administration.

CTE will continue to expand opportunities for students. For instance, upcoming construction of a greenhouse will be utilized for grades 3 through 12.

The next order of business included board approval of a few resignations and many hires. One hire was James Swanson as the new IRMS principal to begin July 1 after the retirement of current principal, Mike Janski. Swanson attended this meeting via Zoom. Swanson, a principal on Whidbey Island, was chosen out of thirteen applicants and three finalists who each spent a full day in the district. Swanson has ties to the area, saying, “I love this valley and can’t wait to get back and start building relationships.”

Beckendorf-Edou shared an update about the Leavenworth Farmer’s Market, which was hosted last year at ALE, but this year will be located at the district administrative office. She said it’s great community outreach and the new location is central to a lot of neighborhoods.

Next the board approved one final round of hybrid instruction adjustments. IRMS will increase to four mornings per week of in-person instruction on 4/19, and, on 4/26, PD and ALE will increase to five mornings per week, and Beaver Valley will return to full day every day instruction because no students are remote there and they can eat lunch outside.

“We received very good input from parents,” said Beckendorf-Edou, noting many expressed a need to not change teachers as the model changed. Thus, maintaining teacher/student relationships has been prioritized.

At the close of the meeting, Beckendorf-Edou and CHS principal Elia Ala’ilima-Daley, in recognition of National Assistant Principal Week, thanked CHS assistant principal Rudy Joya, noting Joya makes CHS a great place for students and staff. It is also on record that the district has a lot of job openings right now, looking for great qualified applicants who want to work with kids.