The Cascade School District will begin using the Raptor Visitor Management System in our schools to build on the district’s program of campus safety for students and faculty. Part of keeping students and faculty safe is knowing who is in our building at all times and the Raptor system will allow us to do that. The Raptor system will better allow us to track visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.    Upon entering our school building, visitors will be asked to present a valid state ­issued ID, which will be scanned into the system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our buildings. It is important to note that the Raptor system only scans the visitor's name, date of birth and photo for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. Additional visitor data from the driver's license is not gathered nor is the system connected to any other system such as the Department of Motor Vehicles. Therefore any other information on the ID is not scanned by the system and is not accessible to any of the users. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit.   A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork. In the event that a person does not have identification, he/she can still be given access to the building, but will be escorted by a school staff member.   If you are interested in learning more about the Raptor visitor management system, please visit the Raptor Technologies website (www.raptortech.com). If you have any questions, please contact a school administrator.   The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system provides a consistent way to aid in keeping away people who may present a danger to our students. Therefore, all visitors to the school must be scanned into the system at least annually and obtain a visitor badge. Thank you, in advance, for your understanding and support of enhancing school safety protocols in our district.

Listen to an interview with Superintendent Justin Barnes and Ms. Hathhorn, our elementary principal, to find out more about Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT). Cascade Elementary is beginning its second year of APTT, which is an effective program for developing parent-teacher partnerships to better support student learning.

The Cascade School District is hosting a two part meeting for their next Strategic Planning session. The first meeting will be at 9:00 a.m. on Friday October 14th in the school lunchroom.  The second meeting will take place at 5:00 p.m. November 15th prior to the regularly scheduled board meeting. These meetings are part of our ongoing planning process to ensure that we are meeting the  needs of students, parents and the community.  Plan on joining us to learn about the great progress we have made thus far and provide input on the future success of our school district.  We hope to see you there!    

As part of the Homecoming celebration, the Cascade Booster Club, the BPA and the National Honor Society are sponsoring a school wide food drive!  The drive will end Monday of next week. Boxes have been placed in all of the elementary classrooms and in the Jr. and Sr. High advisor classrooms.  On Tuesday of next week, the boxes will be weighed and the class who brings in the most food will be treated to a pizza party! Here’s to a successful Homecoming – and an equally successful food drive!  

Click this link or click on the picture to watch a video of Supt. Barnes welcoming all our students and staff back to the 2016-2017 school year. The video was recorded and edited by our TV Media class. We hope you enjoy it.  

Check out this KRTV Game Changers of the Week for Sept 5th, Item #3, Cascade vs. Centerville this past Saturday. QB Josh Pepos throws a pass to Wade Wombold who completes the play with a touchdown. Cascade is 2-0 for the first time since the 1990s. Way to go BADGERS! Catch the full story here on KRTV: http://www.krtv.com/clip/12711248/gamechangers-mon-sep-5  

Y'all may have noticed over the past several months presence of an Osprey nest embedded with the top row of lights on the football field. It's a common occurrence....wherever there's a high spot, a nest will be built. In recent weeks we've observed momma Osprey flying back and forth from the river with a fresh fish catch for the single offspring that hasn't flown the coop yet. Maybe this was the reason why the nest hadn't been abandoned yet, as this morning several people observed and reported the young Osprey entangled with parts of the nest, and flailing while hanging below the nest, near the lights. A call was placed to FWP, but a timely response was not possible, so our very own Ag Teacher Eric Tilleman and Bus Driver Lee Disney (who owns a lift), rose up to the occasion (that's a play on words) and rescued the young Osprey from its entanglement. Once on the ground and freed of the debris, the young one attempted flight (maybe for the first time) and made it up by the score board. It's attempted landing on the scoreboard didn't go well, probably due to the bum leg, and the bird landed along the incline south of the goal post. A check of the area later showed no signs of the bird, and no return to the nest. We hope it's on to a good life, and hope we can get to removing the nest now, which is a potential fire hazard because of the hot lamps used to light the football field.

You're Invited to our 4th, 5th, and 6th Grade Back to School Orientation for Parents on Tuesday, September 6th, 2016, from 5:30-6:00pm in the school cafeteria. Our teachers would like to formally address the changes this year in Grades 4-6. We will go over our classroom procedures and rules, homework policy, and behavior plan. We encourage all our parents and guardians to attend, and hope to see you there. Mrs. Johnson, Ms. Rose, and Miss Allen.

Join us for Back to School Night, Monday, August 22nd, at 5:30-7:00pm, in the cafeteria. We'll have good info to help get students started on the right foot and be prepared for the upcoming school year. XCELL will host a spaghetti feed, by donation, starting at 4:30pm. Teachers will be in their classrooms starting at 5:30pm, so please stop by!