Hello Cascade Parents and Community,I am writing this letter to ask for your help. Cascade Schools is extremely short-handed with bus drivers for the 2019/2020 school year and beyond. We are in need of route drivers as well as activity drivers.If we don’t find more drivers, the school may have to close down as many as three bus routes and discontinue providing transportation for elementary and junior high activities and athletic events. If the school does not find route drivers and is forced to eliminate bus routes, the school could lose quite a few students who may choose to attend other school districts. This would lead to reduced enrollment for the school and loss of programs for our students. Combining routes is another option, but this would cause the bus routes to be much longer, as much as an hour and a half each way, and lead to more inconvenient and perhaps unsafe pickup areas. Our activities are also greatly affected by the bus driver shortage. The school has had numerous occasions in which a bus cannot be provided for athletic events. Without additional drivers, the transportation department will have to cut back on trips. As of now, the elementary trips and junior high trips will have to be eliminated, and some of the high school trips as well. The high school activities that will be most affected will be the fall and spring sports.Please help us by considering becoming a driver for our district. If you don’t have a CDL you may still be able to help. The transportation department has a program in place to help obtain the necessary licenses. If you are unable to drive for us, please help us recruit possible drivers. Even if you are interested in driving on a limited bases, please consider helping the district out. An occasional driver for activities or as a sub driver would be very helpful.Anyone remotely interested can contact Kevin Sukut or Rick Miller at 406-468-9383 or by email at kevin.sukut@cascade.k12.mt.us or rick.miller@cascade.k12.mt.us.Thank you for your help,Rick