April 1, 2020

Dear Cascade Families and Community Members,

Thank you for your patience and support as we have moved to distance learning due to the school closures in Montana. I know this has been a difficult and stressful time as we have all had to adjust our lives to fulfill social distancing and shelter in place. We’ve had some hiccups getting our online and offline services out to you, but with your feedback, I hope we are overcoming most of those issues. Our main priorities at this time are the education of your children and the health and emotional well-being of our students, their families, and our community members.

To meet the educational needs of our students, our teachers are providing instruction online and offline. In EK-3, they are providing weekly packets that can be picked up in the entrance at the Commons. Please be mindful of others when you pick up the materials and continue social distancing by waiting for others to leave before you enter. The online sources for materials and video instructions are posted on the teachers’ webpages, so please check these frequently if you have internet access. You can visit each teacher’s webpage by going to https://www.cascade.k12.mt.us/ . Scroll down to the Cascade Public Schools left-hand sidebar. Select “Academics”, “Classes & Teacher Pages”, “Elementary Classes”, and then your child’s teacher. If you should have any issues accessing the information or links provided, please don’t hesitate to contact the teacher. In the 4th-6th grades, the instruction is provided through Google Classroom and weekly offline packets, as described above, for those that do not have internet access. There are also internet access sites available at the school. They are located in the elementary entrance along the alley and the staff entrance by the teachers’ parking lot. These sites are video monitored and are only wifi accessible to students and staff. Please contact the school for more information.

All of our decisions on how to proceed with following the state laws, requirements, and waivers are made with the Montana School Board Association. They represent school districts as our lawyers as well as help us interpret the decisions being passed down. We were told by the governor that we didn't need to make up our hours as long as students were proficient, so our goal is to help all students achieve proficiency. The plan in place will require any student who does not meet proficiency standards approved by the school board and the governor to complete the required 1,080 hours of instruction unless proficiency is met beforehand. The teachers are monitoring the students' work daily and are helping the students and families that need support. The approved standard of proficiency is achieving a 70% or better using grades and classroom assessments. It is very important that the students complete the assignments provided by their teachers. If circumstances are hindering your child’s ability to complete their work, please contact us as soon as possible. Our goal is for all of our students to reach proficiency. Your cooperation and feedback are essential for meeting this goal.

To meet the health and emotional needs of our students and families, our school is providing meals and additional support. Our kitchen staff is preparing lunch and breakfast for any child between the ages of 1 to 18 free of charge. The meals are available for pickup from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm, Monday - Thursday. Just let the staff member at the door know how many children you have at your home that day. The children do not need to be enrolled at our school to receive a meal. If transportation is an issue, please call the school to make arrangements for possible delivery. To help alleviate some of the stress associated with distance learning, our teachers and staff are working very hard creating lessons that you can facilitate at home. The teachers miss the students terribly and are spending a large portion of their day meeting with students either one on one or in small groups using the phone or video conferencing. Please use these opportunities to meet with the teachers. They love seeing and talking with the students and have found these methods have helped reduce the overwhelming stress some of our students are feeling. I will also do my part in helping the matter by communicating more frequently with everyone. Please don’t hesitate to offer feedback on what is working and what might need additional support. 

Thank you, again, for your patience. Let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you further.

Sincerely,

Michelle Price

Elementary Principal

michelle.price@cascade.k12.mt.us

(406)468-9383 ext. 106