Cascade School Board Meeting—January 12, 2026

001All right, good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us. We will call the January 12th, 2026 regular board meeting to session. Uh the regular session of the Cascade School District board of directors will now convene in the district office boardroom or via Zoom. The laws governing boards of education require that their work be done where the public can observe their actions. Please remember that this is the board's meeting for the public to observe. Others may participate only with the approval of the board. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Good evening everyone. There is a visitor's guest list. If

002you haven't signed the guest list, please sign the guest list. And next we will go to uh number two to approve the minutes of the board meeting from what is that 11 >> 10 and then what's the special oh and then the special session from 123 and the executive session from 12:30. >> I move to Okay. Okay. So, we're doing minutes for it for the regular board meeting on November 10th, the special session meeting on 123 and the executive session meeting on 123 to 2025. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the regular and the special sessions from 111025 and 12325. Any discussion? [clears throat] >> Nope. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I >> oppose. Same sign. >> Motion carries. Mr. Weeks, prioritize the agenda if you

003would. >> I believe we can go straight through the agenda as listed. >> You got it. All right. Um board recognition and appreciation. Mr. Weeks. >> Yeah. Just like to thank the board. The focus on students, the community, the district itself has just been impressive for my time here in the district. Just watching the board and how you guys operate is just extremely impressive. And thinking about one of the leadership strategies you see out there just called the law of the lid. And what that means basically is an organization will not rise above the leadership that it has and the leadership of the board has really set such a high level for the district to be able to operate. You see that throughout the board throughout the district in the last several years with Cascade

004really rising to the top of so many areas. So thank you board for setting that high lid for the district to be able to excel to that. Uh with we start board recognition tonight, you'll see a table over here with different pieces from each school. Each school has contributed to board recognition. So, you'll have that here. We also have a video we want to start off board recognition with from Cloverdale that'll be played on the TV right over here. [music] >> Welcome to Cloverdale Elementary. This is fifth grade classroom. On behalf of the fifth graders and Mrs. Graham, thank you school board for everything you do to make us great. Thank you school board. >> We appreciate the school board for volunteering for the [music] schools to make a safe learning place for kids. So,

005thank you school board. I am so grateful that my school [music] board cares for us and makes our school even better every day and it makes me more appreciative every minute. So, all to you, thank you for everything. We appreciate our school board members because they give us a nice working environment and a safe school and they help us fund our school so we so we [music] can be in school. >> We appreciate the school board for taking the time out of the day to support student [music] learning. >> My class appreciates the grown-ups who help our school [music] and my teacher. Thank you. >> Thank you for um making the school a very good place to learn. >> [music] >> My class appreciates the grown-ups who make sure our school is fun and a

006place [music] where we can learn. Thank you. I just wanted to [music] thank you school board for keeping us safe and not letting our buildings fall. >> We are grateful for the school board for putting their time and effort [music] for helping the school. Thank you for making difficult decision for our [music] school district. Thank you to our Cascade School Board. Thank you so much, school board. [music] >> Thank you, Cascade School Board. >> Thank you, school board. >> Thank you, [music] Cascade School District. >> Thank you to our school board. >> Thank you, Cascade School Board. >> Thank you so much, school board, for what you do for us. >> Thank you, Cascade [music] School Board. >> Thanks, Cascade School Board, for everything you do for all of our schools and our community. Thank

007you so much, [music] Cascade School Board. Thank you, Cascade School Board. >> Uh, Cascade School Board, we thank you for everything you do. We know how important school boards are for running the school district, and I think we have one of the best in the state. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cascade School Board. Thank you to our Cate School Board. >> [applause] >> Thank you for putting that together. >> Well done. That was amazing. >> Good job. >> Thank you. >> So, thank you again from Cascade staff and community board for all that you do for us. Volunteer service hours, the amount of time that goes in, a lot of the stuff behind the scenes that people don't understand that school boards and that public services is. So, thank you so much for doing that

008for our district. >> That's very kind. Thank you. and the pictures over there are just amazing. So, [laughter] thank you. >> So, I will say Mr. Weeks, while you didn't ask to be in the role you're in, and we certainly um miss having Mr. Drill sit in that chair, I commend you for everything you've done. You've done an amazing job and I appreciate every time I talk to you every what the information you bring to us and how you've kept this going forward. So, thank you from personally anyway. You've done a tremendous job. >> I will. Thank you. I I don't want to see you leave, but I'd prefer you not be there any longer than you have to, but you've done an amazing job. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Appreciate it. Okay,

009let me get back on track here. Hang on. That threw us off. All right. So, now we've got the superintendent report oral Mr. Weeks. So, we have some board numbers of where we are for enrollment right now. If you go back to January 8th of 2025, we were sitting at 2,736 students. January 8th, 2026, 2784, a plus of 48 students compared to last year at this time. Almsville up 24. Uh Turner is down nine, Cloverdale up four, junior high down five, high school is up 33, Opportunity Center up one for the total of 48 district-wide right now. >> Okay. How much longer can we take those kind of increases at the high school level, Mr. Rasmmanson. >> I don't know if that's just an anomaly or what, but we're okay for a little while. >>

010All right. >> We built a good master schedule. >> Sounds semiconvincing. Thank you. [laughter] >> And we do know some of our classes have a little bit higher enrollment than others. So, there is an eb and flow to that. Uh we'd have some bubble classes still coming up. Uh our next year's sixth graders as they hit to middle school, we know is a big class. Uh so, that'll be a big one as well. So, we are watching the enrollment for each grade and how we're staffing those additions. >> Okay. Okay. All right. You good? Anything else? No. Good. >> All right. Thank you. >> Next, we've got the finance director's report. Mr. Wong, welcome. >> Happy board. Appreciate again. Thank you for what you do. I I always say in all the board meeting, my

011first start sentence is no business is like school business. It's important. It is extremely important. So, good news everyone. We have finished our audit for FY 24-2 and we uh the audit issue as a clean audit and that uh approves that we have worked hard uh we worked with uh strength the team worked as a unity together. Um last year people uh we can put all the timely documents um accurate reporting and responsive sporting from staff from across from different departments. So that's a really impressive outcome especially um you know I'm new to Oregon so I have received massive support from Miss Drill uh reaching out to Oaso uh to help me to finish this audit on time. So even though he's not here, I want to say he was really supportive of whatever I

012need I reached out he was there. So and uh any questions about the the Yeah. So the audit the the final letter it says that I mean at the end of the day the answer is um there's nothing of concern in here. Is that that's accurate? >> Accurate. Yes. >> Well I guess then on that hand on that note thank you >> for your role in that and and what you've done. Is there anything from your chair being new in this position that are of concern or red flags or things that you'd like to see changed or done differently? >> Um, I don't believe so. We have a very strong team. Um, consider that I am new to Oregon. Um, I am able to work with my team to finish this audit. Actually, the deadline

013for this year is February the second. So, I finished two months ahead of time. >> Right. Uh when I talk to OASBO, most of the school in the in the in the state has not finished, >> right? >> So I think I I do have a very strong team. I have a very supportive boss. Whenever I need something, I let him know and I call someone from Oasbo and then I get and um I want to thank you know everyone involved in this process. It's just like [clears throat] uh Jay said, it's just such a strong district. you know, people whenever I needed something, I reach out. They were there. Um, so I I I am very impressive with Cascade myself. >> Good. >> Yeah. >> And how did you feel about the auditing firm

014that did our audit? >> They're very good. >> You like them because I we had we had some hiccups a few years ago and we've changed firms and so I'm I'm curious how this one you felt how they did on this >> audit. They're extremely good. um they're very responsive and there are times that like they because they they have I want to say maybe a hundred clients in Oregon the cities and >> so I didn't expect to hear from them during the weekends >> they email me we work on things on weekends so >> I told them I want this done before December and I said whatever you need me to do just email me >> and are they an instate um >> they're off Yes, their office is in Roseber. >> Roseberg. Yeah.

015Okay. Because I know it was a few years ago where I think if I'm not mistaken the rules were changed where we could go out of state if we had to just because there was a shortage. >> Correct. >> But we were able to find someone in state that was able to do >> so the owner who who I think they had an ownership change recently like maybe two three years ago. So the new owner actually they are from Texas. >> Okay. >> But the operation is here in Oregon. Okay. and they will come for half a year to lead the team and do the process. >> That's my understanding. Yeah. >> Good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Wonderful. >> Okay. >> All right. And then uh a quick midyear up uh if you can see

016my chart a midyear finance update is um if we look at the local revenue it's down 3% 3 point something percent uh my assumption by the last compared to last time this year is because mayor and county whenever they post their revenue to us sometimes they post it in January and I already seeing part of it coming in in January. So when I do a year-to-year December comparison, it's normal to be a little low. I don't expect at the year end it will be down. I think it will be a steady growth and then the state revenue is ste uh about 2% growth that matches you know we have enrollment growth and and uh the expenditure the salary increase it represents about 3% which You know, it's we have a salary raise, a step and

017a salary raise. So that matches uh the salary raise from our bargaining. And then our benefit increase as we always talked about um purse increase as you can see the first four paycheck our increase is $734,000 just the first four paycheck compared to last year. So we're looking at $2 million this year increase just in purse. So um the good news is it's we we budgeted it and it's not a surprise and um you know if you can see my chart here we're following last year >> right >> the two lines are parallel so we are in we're controlling our pace very well uh that's that would be my take on any questions >> no no all right thank you very much appreciate Thank you. >> Okay, moving on. We've got Where are we at?

018Oh, director of education, Mr. Dyer. >> How's it going today, guys? >> Fabulous. Welcome. >> Good. Good evening. Good evening. Uh before I get started, I do just want to say thank you guys for everything. Um it's um I think William even or when we talk about when I go talk to my colleagues across the state and um and they talk about the school board members and stuff like that is I talk about you guys and they are just like really your board's like that. I'm like yeah they're they're just they're awesome. And um and I think the best way I can just put it just thank you for being you. You guys are all uniquely individuals and um you guys just thank you for being thoughtful and empathetic of of what we do here

019on a day-to-day basis and that means more than anything. So just thank you. Um I'm going to start off. I have two things that I want to talk about today. Um first off, you had safety since I do safety is one of my hats and so we had the safety um um board report in your packet. Um, the one thing that I really wanted to highlight that we went through this last year, we had PACE come in and they did a training for hazard identification walkthrough tool. And so what we did was they came in, they trained me, then also we trained our safety committee. And so um, just when we walk around the buildings, what are we looking for um, to make sure that we're keeping our employees safe and our children safe? Um,

020so that was great. And the other thing that we added on to our walkthrough is a sexual abuse hazard identification tool. So, it's one of the first things. I don't know where I picked it up at, um, but somewhere, not everybody does it, but basically when we walk around, we're just looking for is that office has no windows in it. Is that the best practice? Is that okay for a student to be in there alone with another student or with an adult or anything like that? Is there signage saying that that's not okay to do that? What policies do we have? How are we talking to staff members um about being alone with staff in this? It kind of puts everything together and it's just a check-in just to make sure that are we doing

021it and how are we doing it to make sure that we're protecting our students and also our other staff members. So those are two things that we did. Um the other thing that we inst um started implemented this year was we had a created a a spreadsheet uh and basically it identifies all the hazards that we have and it talks about who is in charge of getting that fixed to make sure that the hazard goes away. also has an ending date and a time that we come up. So, making sure that if we say that this needs to be addressed, it's going to be addressed and we can keep track of that. So, that's pretty cool. So, I'm excited about that. Any questions on safety? >> I have a question. >> Go ahead, Ruth. [cough]

022>> What is Who's on your committee? >> On my committee? Oh, man. I have the best committee ever. So, it is so cool. So, I have uh out of Almsville, Jody Mitchell right there. Raise your hand right there. And then we have Cloverdale. We have Julia Bradley. Don't look too excited there. Everybody's really excited when they come to safety committee. >> It is so cool. >> Turner, we got Kelly Cromwell right there. >> And Cascade, we have Greg Mullen. Uh the high school, we have Tony. Um let's see. The opportunity summit, we have Marie Thompson. Um the district office, I get those reigns. I'm all excited about that. Um we have maintenance. We got Joe Lule, food services. We got Kendall um Harris. And then we have Darrena um for a school nurse. And then

023also we added union representatives this year because before we didn't have anybody in the union. We did before but we kind of went away from that during COVID. And so we brought that back. So Tom Pitachic is um working on that for certified and then we're still kind of working on getting Olan to the first one as for classified. Okay. >> So we're excited about that just so we can have that representations. So any other questions on that one? It is. It is a good group. We meet once a month. We do it Zoom and it's a really exciting Zoom meeting. So, it's really cool. So, anyway, all right. And so, the next thing I wanted to kind of talk about was just um what we're doing in education curriculum. And I gave you guys

024because last year Brett, you asked like Avid, what is AVID? What are we doing? And some strategies. And so I thought I could give you like a five minute little blurp about, hey, this is how we're working through Avid and this is what we're doing. And I thought I'd kind of go through a worksheet with you. Now, one of the things you notice, one of the things in Avid, well, I'll start there. First off, one of the best practices is Cornell notes. They're really big on notes and we teach kids on how to organize their thoughts. And so that's what I gave you guys here today. And so, and then one of the things that we really want to do, any lesson we do, we always want to have a learning target, right? We kids

025need to know what they're learning and what they're going to try to get over. People joke about this all the time, but it's a great thing. And so your learning target today is schoolboard members will be able to discuss what Avid is, how Cascade utilizes it, and the future of Avid at Cascade. So that's what we're that's what we're shooting for today. Okay. Any questions on that? All right. Good. All right. So, first off, what is Avid? If we're taking notes, Avid and I did this is more of a fill in the blank. So as we get to like senior it might be a little bit more intense but this might be more of what we see in third grade or second grade. So AVID is advancement via and then it would be individual determination.

026And so that's what AVID stands for. And then how does Cascade use it? Well, oh we're going to do another strategy. This is an AVID strategy. It's called a coral read. And so I'm going to read and when you see something that's in bold and underlined, you got to say it with me. So this helps kids work on reading fluency um comprehension and we might do some vocabulary building within this coral read and so so I'll start here. So avid elective focus uh focus on small groups of students to support them to handle rigorous coursework in order to prepare for college and or workforce. Uh whole school serves as foundational professional development for the best teaching practices. And so that's how we kind of use it. We use smaller groups for avidity electives. And so

027a small group of kids and we're really working on them to prepare them um for college and really work with a smaller group of individuals. But then also we do things whole school where every kid has access to avid strategies across the school district. >> Uh when we talk about wicker, we're talking about writing, um inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading. And then Cascade right now we have 70% of our staff teaching staff is trained which is really well really good. Uh we do that through summer institute and online training. We have networking uh regional events online networks and different things like that. Um our district focus this year is avid leadership team. So we have a leadership team that we meet once a month and it's device principles and some principles and we get together

028to do a K12 alignment and also we're looking on collaboration I mean calibration of a walkthrough tool. So what we're trying to do is we're going to try to walk around we've already done one this fall where we the group of us get together and we walk through buildings and we see how AVID is being implemented across the district. um the secondary focus. So when we're talking about that they're working on reading strategies also they're working on their avid elective elementary they're working on collaboration strategies as well as organization. Um so speaking of organization one of the things that we do with organization we have tools and do different things. We have kids um in elementary we start to buy into supplies and so every kids have the exact same supplies and pencils so the

029kids never go without. we don't have to fiddle with things. So, one of the things teachers do is everybody might have a numbered pencil. So, especially your number two, you have a number two binder, you have a number two pencil, a folder, and it's all the exact same thing. So, kids all have the so there's no guesswork. There's none of this. It's all right there. And it's a really good strategy to keep kids organized and what they need. So, the future um AVID narrowing its approach and it training. So, one of the things that we're finding is that we are training a whole lot of people. It's kind of a shotgun approach. What we want to do is we're going to really narrow it down and we're going to hyperfocus on our Avid elective teachers.

030We're going to work on certified AVID educators. So, we have a couple people going through that program now. Um, and then also our new teachers. We want to work on onboarding our new teachers so they understand what AVID and how we do AVID across the district. All right. [snorts] Um, and then again, we're looking on AVID PLC. Do we have any questions on that? >> Quick question. [clears throat] >> How do you choose who gets to go to the conference every year? >> Ah, that's a that's a good question. So, before it was kind of do you want to go? A lot of times we really didn't turn people away if they really wanted to go. [snorts] Um, we worked on we did have a priority on Avid elective teachers. So, if you're teaching the

031Avid elective class at the secondary campus, there's certain trainings that we wanted you to get. Um, there might be some people that just needed some extra training and we want to make sure that they got training. Other people said, "I felt like I wanted to get trained and so they went." One, that's a one thing that's really cool about Cascade is everybody kind of wants to do it. They It's really It's a very small group that they have family obligations, they just can't make it. Um, but most of the time most people want to go. And so as we narrow it down, we really want to make sure that people were going to train people that to become trainers so they can tr they can come back and bring things back. So basically what I'm

032saying is if you're going to go, you're going to have to do something for us on the back end. And that's kind of the future of where we're headed. Okay. on the back side. The other thing as we kind of go through um the situation, next thing I would do is I would probably do a think pair share and I would have you guys talk about these two things. Today I learned that Avid is and you guys might write it down or you might talk to each other and first you think about it write it down and you would share make sure you have it and then I would ask the same question in the future cascade will and you'll be able to write that down and and that's called the think pair share and

033that's the strategy and then you would summarize it and that's what you guys would do. All right. Do you have any questions over that? Not as exciting as last year, but I could ask right now. Today I learned that AVID is. Does anybody know what the answer is? >> Going back in the notes, you guys know what that is? >> Advancement individual determination. >> Oh my gosh, Brett, that was awesome. Can we all give them a sparkler? It's called the sparkler. We go like this. >> All right. And then the last one is in the future Cascade. Will anybody think about in the future Cascade? What are we doing in Cascade in the future in the board? >> Approach to training. Avid elected teachers, certified AVID electors and new teachers. AVID elective PLC. >> Brett

034is on fire. Let's give him a sparkler right there. Nice job. >> All righty. That is AVID and that's where we're kind of going. Um, can >> Yeah, go ahead. >> What's the difference between an AVID elective teacher versus >> a Jedi? Yeah, >> just a regular. So avid elective is you have a cohort of kids that get assigned to you and you teach it's like a class and so instead of like an elective class might be foods class or metals class is a class actually called AVID and in Avid they do things like um they talk all things Avid. We do tutorials, we do study groups, how to study skills, we talk about um reading strategies. There's a whole they have um it's called weeks at a glance and they have a whole program

035that they run kids through in order for them to really attack hard and rigorous work so to get them ready for college. >> So would this would the idea be we're going to hire a new teacher that's going to specialize in that or is it going to be current teachers that then >> we have current teachers that do it. So like we have at the high school we have Matt Dylan. He's a social studies teacher, but he also that's one class he does an offshoot. That's his elective class that he does. David Medlock does it. Deb Belmore does it as well as uh Christine Bullock is the other one that does it. And then Emma Bales in the junior high and then um Emily Bazinski um also teaches it at the junior high as well.

036So they're held teachers, one's an English teacher. So it's just kind of a one-off that they teach. And so they are doing more training in order to teach that elective class. And it's pretty pretty intense what they have to do. >> Yeah. They're not really designed for the elementary schools then. >> Elementary is whole whole school. So we every teacher is going to be trained there and we're doing all AVID strategies across the board there. >> Okay. Right. Yeah. You're already doing that, right? >> Yep. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yes. >> So I got a question then along the lines of that. So if we've got in the high school they can take an elective about AVID. >> So when is AVID mandatory that they use it and when is it elected they can use

037it? So I mean what I'm hearing then is like at the first grade >> Yeah. >> does does do all students have to use Avid? >> Yeah. Because it's that strategy that the teacher's using, right? >> So AVID is not so much what the student does, it's what the teachers are doing >> and how they're right. How they're presenting it. >> When do we go from them having to use it in this format, if you will, to them morphing into they can elect to use it. Is that at the at the school? Does it happen at the high school? [clears throat] >> I would say as they as they get older. So like even in junior high they start kids and they become more individual individuals and they so you know how it is. So

038like a kid's a freshman how they attack their classes is kind of up to them. Some have a big binder, some don't have binders, some have notebooks, some don't have notebooks. >> So we we make them use it. We we we force feed them till what >> grade level? And then when do we start? >> I would say we really force feed until fifth grade. And so that's where we're doing a whole group. Sixth grade has a lot of things that is >> okay >> definitely shared across and then seventh grade is kind of >> sixth, seventh and eighth grade and then by the time they're in high school it's up to them to use it or not. >> They have to they have to take the tools that they've learned in every class and

039kind of develop their own strategies. >> Okay. And how many years now have we been practicing this formula? >> Whole group about 10 years now I think. >> So so the kids that are coming into their sophomore junior's year have been dealing with this since they were first graders. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And I would say like I said when we see see evidence of that and see what is happening. So like our current seventh and eighth graders right now just I brag about them a lot. Phenomenal kids in the junior high right now. When you walk past in the classroom, they're attentive. They're taking notes. They're paying attention. They can talk. There's collaboration. There's discourse, academic discourse happening across there. Absolutely. And that's what AVID does. It brings those skills with those kids that

040they build upon and by the time they get to the junior high, I would say they're seeing it up at the high school as well. Kids are just able to write more and do more. >> So, we're raising the bar. >> I think so. >> By by implementing this learning process, >> one of the big things they talk about is rigorous and and for kids to be to attack rigorous coursework. And so we again we want them here and we're going to help them get there by these other steps and strategies that we're going to have you get to there >> and and we see the numbers and it looks like we continue to grow the right way and so we're saying some of that perhaps is from >> this >> implementing the AVID program

041>> I believe so. Yeah. And like a lot of it's writing and reading strategies and we're like I said we have pretty I was just talking to a teacher at Almsville um fourth grade teacher and she was from California and I'm like what's the big difference between our schools and your school she goes you guys write a ton [music] and the expectations that you put on the kids and how how you push kids and the level of what we want out of our kids is absolutely phenomenal and I hear that from all the new teachers that leave other districts that come here. We just expect more out of kids, >> but we're going to support them with strong strategies. >> Okay. Well, we will continue to ask questions about AVID until we fully >> I

042just want to make sure you get there and I thought it would be kind of fun there. So, >> great. >> Anyway, thank you guys so much. >> You want your pencil back? >> You guys can have those if you want to use >> I'm going to give it's board appreciation. So, this is my gift to you. >> You can put mine in the notes because I understand you have to have that. >> Yes, I have. >> For the for the board notes, >> right? Thank you. >> Appreciate it, Brian. All right, moving on. We've got the high school principal report. Mr. Rasmmanson, welcome. >> All right, people. We've got a our Cascade foundational t-shirt for you guys. >> Thank you. >> On the back has our >> Oh, cornerstone principles of character, excellence, and

043community. Um, [clears throat] if I gave a wrong size or something, I've got extras here. We can swap afterwards, so if you want something different. Um today's board report is really a look back at last fall. Last fall um was a remarkable uh fall for Cascade High School in many different ways and I I've listed many of those there for you. Uh briefly, our arts department continues to grow and do amazing things when it comes to drama and choir and band and the art uh classroom itself. Um I'm super happy with what's happening. The number of kids that are participating in those programs. Uh we performed Wizard of Oz this last December. Um over over I I put over 800, but I think it's over a thousand people came to those four shows. Um the

044the auditorium was was brimming with excitement and energy each time. And so it's a great opportunity. Uh they're doing Beth this winter, so come out and see that. It's a great show. Um and they just did auditions for that, so it should be great. It's going to be in March. Um the rest of that's there. Um tonight [clears throat] we have Mr. Hedrickk who is our athletic director for us. He's going to speak in just a minute, but I do want to publicly acknowledge him and the accomplishments of our Cascade High School football team, state champions. Um we haven't met together um since uh they have uh been state champions because last time we met was November um publicly. Um and so it's a great honor to have coach Hedrickk here. Uh first undefeated team

045at Cascade history since 1948. There's no team that's gone undefeated at Cascade until this one. So, um, and they did it in dominating fashion. You can see some of the statistics I put in the in the thing there. Um, and then just a great group of kids have really great kids and even great coaches as well. So, kudos to to Coach Hedrickk and all he's built in his time here. So, we're super thankful for him. Um the rest of the thing of the the notes there are really about um continuing to do things for kids and continuing to find different ways to engage kids with school, find different ways to engage kids with their community and prepare them for the future. And that's really what we're doing and we are creating new things all the

046time. I was meeting with somebody today how Cascade can partner with uh the state fair um and get our name out there even more and find opportunities for kids to potentially work that into jobs. Um looking at all kinds of different ways to support kids as they prepare for the world here at Cascade and and and beyond. So if you have any questions about that, I'd be more than happy to answer those for you. >> I got a question for you. >> Let's go. >> So I thought it said cougar liar, but it says cougar layer. >> Oh yes. >> You want to talk to me about that for a minute? >> I do. And I I meant to bring you copies. So, The Cougar Lair is the Cascade newspaper and about 15 years ago,

047it slowly faded away like a lot of newspapers did. Um, we have a young new teacher, Brian Bohannan, who brought it back. Um, we taught a journalism class last year and then this year, um, he had asked us, "Hey, can I start reprinting the cougar layer?" So, uh, we did. We found some funds for him to get the first one started. And then after you do the first edition, it's pretty easy to find advertisers and so they just put in their second edition and uh it is out. So I will bring you editions next next board meeting of the the cougar lair. It's a multi-page paper. Um it's printed by the Albany Democrat Herald uh publishing company. So it's the same size as a full their full paper. Um and it's great. The kids love

048it. Um, our kids are practicing excellent writing, um, and, uh, coming up with great topics, um, and great great news stories to follow. So, I'll bring it to you. >> How often do you see it being published? What's the goal? [clears throat] >> Well, I I don't He's doing it more than I thought. Originally, I thought it'd be once a trimester, but we already have two. Um, I think he's looking for quarterly, like four. >> Oh, wow. >> Um, and so, and maybe more. We'll see. Um, right now, it is not a back in the day it was a paid advisor position. um it's in the contract, but because it it came across so quickly, he said, "I just want to do this." And we said, "Okay." So, um he's got a group of core

049group of kids and it got an editor and kids and they're meeting after school because they don't have a class this period or this trimester. >> And so, it's on their own time. Um they're out there taking pictures and reporting and so it's really good. So, it's fun. >> Great. >> You bet. It's outstanding. >> And somebody brought me some old copies of the Cougar today, 1997, '98, 999. And so comparing the two, it's just fun to watch um the differences there. So I was a lot younger back then. So [laughter] >> well, and in a world where we're staring at our phones all the time, seeing kids looking at newspapers might be kind of uh fun in itself. >> It's a it's it's almost something you wouldn't imagine. I mean, like these kids opening

050up a newspaper, what do they even know what it is? And so it's it's really cool. It really is. It really is. It's great. >> Thank you. >> Cool. Anything else? >> No. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. High School Athletic Director's Report. Mr. Hendrick, >> welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And congratulations. >> Well, thank you very much. I would say this, if you've ever been down to San Diego and they have a museum there, the USS Midway, and they have an elevator on that, okay? And I'm sitting on that elevator back in uh July, and uh it's my one week off, and I get this phone call from Mr. Rasmmanson [laughter] >> and it says we need you to be our AD. Well, not going

051to tell him no, but my vacation ended right there and here I am. So, thank you for having me. >> Thank you. [applause] >> I uh I appreciate more than you'll ever know being here at this uh the school district and many of you have said how special it is and it is special and if it weren't I wouldn't be here >> because uh I've got other things I could do and this is pretty special here. So, let me get into the good stuff. Um, I think these are worth uh celebrating, >> but I would go back to Mr. Bohan and not only does he do a great job with the with that paper, but he'll also announce our games. And of course, that's time and we will take a little bit of our revenue

052to put into his account to let him do what he's doing. So, we appreciate his voice, but he's also given us a lot of time and to help his program athletically, we help that as well. But let me talk about some of the special things that we have. And these are the GPA in the fall. Okay? And this is after having I don't want to call it a record number, but our numbers are increasing in all our athletic sports up there around 250 275 kids that are participating. Uh the GPA of these student athletes, football was a 3.32 GPA. Uh boys cross country 356, girls cross country 3.73, girls soccer 3.49, boys soccer 3.43, 43 and volleyball 3.81. >> Okay. Well, >> there's a carrot there, right? It's what we're offering here. [clears throat] Okay.

053That's very special. Okay. Very special. And that's a big deal. Our volleyball team finished fifth. Okay. Uh football was a unique year. We were undefeated at both levels, varsity and JV. We did not lose a game. But one of the things we had some really, really good football players. I mean, really good. But what was even better, they were better human beings. Okay? And that's a pretty special thing to go through and win in the fashion that we did and win the way we did. Okay? And that if you're in this community, you had to have been awfully proud of that. We came home from that game. We got we're coming home on the freeway right about Jefferson to Marian County. police uh cars escort us back through Turner where uh a gentleman in this

054room helped with our first responders and had fire trucks from almost every department within 10 miles of here escorting us out to the high school where there were about 250 people here waiting for us at 9:00 at night and uh I was ready to go home but uh we celebrated in the cafeteria and and it was very exciting for our kids and it'll be something that they will they will cherish the rest of their lives. Um the importance of extracurricular activities, sports and drama and all those things. I know Mr. Rashmanson said it. I went to that play with some football players and it was phenomenal. And there were kids that you probably wouldn't recognize in the hallway or don't stand out in the hallway but stood out on the stage. And we got to

055keep offering those things because those things are what keep kids in school. I will be here with you uh at least through May and then they'll I'm sure they'll decide the direction they want to go. But a couple of areas that I want to get us to is preparing an operational budget for athletics. There's really not something there. I'm just kind of signing things over and I really don't know what I'm signing. It's just this is the way we did it and that's what we're doing. So want to get that kind of dialed in and I know everybody here would appreciate if we get that done. And then I want to create a a a booster club and bring back the Hall of Fame. And those things are going to have to bring in our

056community. And there's no basketball coach here. Uh he's got a somebody on this board that he knows and I got to get him involved with this uh with this Hall of Fame a little bit because he he promised me he would help me and and we're going to do that. So I'm going to reach out to Mark and make sure that we can get that done in May and kind of kind of bring that connection in here. So that's my report and I'd be more than happy for any questions. >> I have one. >> Yes. Might you be staying in this position after May? >> Well, um if Mr. Rasmusson and Mr. Drill would ask me to stay, I would stay. Um I uh >> Yay. [applause and cheering] >> It is uh it is

057is more I've done this for quite a while as you know. It is a very taxing situation right now and this is one that it's every district on my winter sports right now. I don't have one person in the building as a teacher. >> All right. >> Okay. And we lose that educational part when we don't have that connection. Okay. And so being a classroom teacher and and being, you know, on the court or on the mat with kids, that's big, you know, and then being able to communicate with those coaches and making sure that we're doing the right thing. That's really, really important. So when they're not teachers, that's hard. But that's not just Cascade. That's almost every school district across the the nation. And uh but you know, we're trying really hard to

058put the best educators in the classroom and and those people in most cases are pretty good coaches, too. So, so yes, I I I would I I truly enjoy it here. Um I I won't sugarcoat it any other way. This is the only place I'd be right now. So, appreciate it. >> Well, we appreciate you. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate that. >> And if it's okay, I will be leaving and going home because 7 a.m. comes again and I'll be back in the morning. Do it all over. >> Well, thank you everybody. Appreciate >> it. A theme you'll notice here is uh Mr. Hendris talks and Mr. Rasmmanson, I just want to compliment the staff right now and that is you'll hear the engagement that staff are putting in, we [clears throat] know with

059research when you have kids engaged in school and extracurricular activities, >> their academics and their success goes up. So the commitment that Cascade has had over the years to build that onetoone onetoone connection whether it's a Dungeons and Dragons club whether it's drama whether it's sports is commendable what Cascade has done and the staff have really put a great job and just great effort into building something that makes Cascade special is to connect with every kid. So >> kudos to the staff. >> Great. [clears throat] >> Okay, moving on. We've got the elementary principal reports and it looks like it's going to be Mrs. >> Bradley. Hello. >> Yes, >> welcome. >> Thank you. Um I just first off want to say that the video that Greg put together for us. Um I think for

060me to see it here, I love my school. I love my staff. I could almost cry. I love those kids so much. And just to hear them thanking you guys is so beautiful. So, um I hope that meant a lot to you because it means a lot to me and and to Greg and we got to walk around the school and >> every teacher hated it. They were like, "OH MY GOSH." BUT BUT THEY DID IT and then as soon as the camera went on it was like, "Thank you, Cascade School Board." Um it was kind of funny, but it but it really does mean a lot. And I hope you do realize how genuine it really is and thank you for what you >> Some of those little kids couldn't have smiled bigger. It

061was awesome. That was so cute. >> It really was. Thank you for >> and again I have the best job in the whole entire world. I know we all say that but I really do. So and you guys make it that way. So thank you. Um you've seen my board report. It's very simple. Um basically I think something else about Cloverdale is just that um we have three staff out right now. So Renee West, who we just hired, she was a sub last year for someone on maternity leave. Now we hired her and now she's on maternity leave. Uh [snorts] but the great thing is one of our parents who's one of our subs um she is subbing. Her name is Sheena Shirts and she is absolutely phenomenal. She will sub every single day and

062it's she comes in and can just do it and she's she's a parent. She's also a teacher but she feels like a staff member to us. Um another one is Kerianne Grazo is out and then Riley Banganger who resigned last year to go teach abroad. The program fell through so now she came back to sub for us. the kids are so excited. Um, she's excited and it's just it's kind of neat to see the full circle of how staff can come or even just parents still want to participate. Um, and I think that just says a lot about Cloverdale. So, it's it's really a wonderful place. Um, and then also, I don't know if you heard, but Jean Marie is back. Maestro has returned with a vengeance, which is awesome. The kids were ecstatic. [snorts]

063Um, ecstatic. I I it was almost out of control ecstatic. Um, so I did have to bring it in, but the kids were they just love him. I don't know what it is, but boy, they love it. I do too. Don't get that. That came out wrong. Um, anyway, so, so that's just something really important is that people still want to come back. He didn't have to come back. And the fact that they asked and he was open and willing and came back, >> excited, too. >> Yeah. And he actually had a funny name for Cloverdale, which I never Maybe you've heard it, Brian. Um, but he calls it Cloverdale because all the kids are more affectionate at Cloverdale than anywhere else. He says that all the kids will come up and hug him. And

064we were like, "Well, that's kind of a compliment." I think like our kids are very affectionate, but he calls it Sea Ldale. So, we're thinking we need like a shirt that says Ca Lale. Um anyway, couple things. We are doing assessments this week to see um if we've grown. I went in and talked to all of the kids um in the classrooms just to say, "Hey, these really are important. Um we are hoping for growth. We're not looking for perfection, but just give it your best effort." Um, so we'll find out our data and we're always hoping for good data there. Um, and then on the back side, we just recently had um makeovers and memories. We decided to include a mommy, daughter, or bonus mom, whoever that may be. Um, and they all brought

065their own makeup and we did makeovers. They did each other's hair. My mom did my hair. It was kind of fun. Um, just a fun time for moms and daughters to get together. We also do a daddyaughter dance. We're bringing in um derby car races like a tournament for dads and their sons and then we still do a a mother son kind of Olympic fun um that we do. So it's just a chance for them to come and have special time. Um I would have loved that to have with my kids. So I hope to have it for my families too. And then we're doing camp read a lot which I'm super excited about. It'll be a literacy night. Um everything will be camping theme. Um we're going to have uh make their own little

066s'mores. are going to have tents where they can read with flashlights and it should be super fun and then they all get a free book which is great. Um and then just I just did my closing thoughts of just again thank you guys to you and um how appreciative we are of all of you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Any questions? >> Of course. >> So the assessments, I'm always trying to wrap my head around the assessments. What do we get from them? Why do we do them? What's the value in [clears throat] them? So talk to me about what we're doing different here on yours. What is the the growth setting? How is it different this year than last year? [snorts] >> Well, I know teachers have gone teachers have like within the I

067Ready the teachers talk with the kids, they show them their previous score like from fall and then they kind of have like their there's a growth goal and then there's a stretch goal and that's what we hope that they can do. Um, but this we wanted the kids to kind of make their own goal and then I went in and talked to them about it too just to see if that little extra push of having that self-belief that they can do well. Um but also to remind them to just slow down and take it seriously because sometimes they're just like click click click. Um and so I think just trying to show the purpose of it and to say why we why it is important and have them believe in themselves that they can do

068show some growth but to believe in that too and then they're tracking it. So they get to see what it looks like and then we we even talked about today that you know everybody has different growth. Some might be a sharp, you know, heavy duty growth and then some might be slow and steady. And I told them when I was a kid, I was like the tortoise, right? Slow and steady. [laughter] But but you still are making growth and that's the whole purpose of it. >> Um just to show them that that it's it's important, >> right? Okay. Fair enough. Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other questions? >> Any questions? >> No. All right. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on. We have elementary assistant principles report. It looks

069like Miss Cromwell from Turner is going to join us. Welcome. >> Thank you. Um, good evening. Thank you for being here to support all of us. I do want to let you know that your appreciation gift is an ornament. And the special thing about this ornament is that it was created by um the high school manufacturing class. >> So, it's for you created by Cascade students. Awesome. >> Next, something that I've been hearing all night is just a sense of community within Cascade School District. And I think that is really what my board report has um focused on is the community ties that Turner has with the Turner community. It's really been my focus this year is to try to put myself into the Turner community. I live in Salem, so I want to be

070part of the community um and let our kids know how important that is. So, just in the fall, um we've had two of our classes partner with Turner Retirement Home and they do that in a couple of ways. They go over and they play games and they visit. But those community members will also come over for assemblies. You know, they'll wheel over or, you know, it's just fun to have them. Sometimes they'll just come over and surprise us. They show up for lunch and they want lunch and okay, come on, let's go. Um, so that's been a real benefit for both them and for our kids. Next is the Turner community really helped um about 52 children from our school and their siblings um helped them have a very merry Christmas. Turner Tavern partnered with

071us. um Trisha Friselle, Turner Christian Church, all of those entities came together with our school and said, "What do you need and how can we make it happen?" And it's amazing. We always know there's need, but it's incredible what the need really is when we start going through family by family, kid by kid. And it's not only the kids in our school, it's the kids at the junior high and the high school and the siblings that aren't in school yet. So that was awesome to see that community connection. In addition to that, previous for Thanksgiving time during the whole scare of, you know, people were food insecure with the food program maybe going away. Lisa put out a challenge, as she's the greatest at, put out a challenge if we could collect one food item

072per student in our school. So 421, we wanted to have 421 cans of food. Then Turner Tavern would match that in dollars to give to the food bank. Well, the first day we had that we ended up having like $2500 and 25 food items to give to the T Turner food bank. That's amazing. In a week, that's incredible. Um, let's see. And last, you know, we our little winter celebration was kind of thrown off with the flood. Did anybody see our uh learning stumps going down Mil Creek? So much stuff from the playground just went down Mil Creek. We have people from the community bringing them by. We found your [laughter] Turner learning log. Oh my gosh. Dang it. I wanted that to go away. Um, so we that did not get to happen because

073school got cancelled. So we had that last Friday and it was a giant success. Kids had a great time. Enrollment numbers are on there. This year it's been stable. We are down a few students from last year. Enrollment stable right now. Um, our attendance rate is right at 95.5% which is up from last year which is awesome. Um, our chronic absenteeism is at 11% which is up a percentage. No, I'm not saying that correct. It's 1% better than last year at this time. And just to think that the state of Oregon's chronic absentee is 32.7%. And we're sitting at 11. That's pretty awesome. And I think that's pretty standard districtwide. Um, and also just like Julia said, we started our winter benchmarking for both reading and math this week. Um, and the purpose of that

074really in addition to what Julia said is to see um where our kids are, how they're growing, or if they're not growing, then what are we doing? We use that data strategically to try to figure out what we need to do next. We're always adjusting our teaching so that our kids can learn at the highest capacity and we really focus on those um trimesterly I guess you'd say beginning, middle, end of the year benchmarks to drive our instruction. Okay, so questions. >> Brett? >> Yeah. So, we're talking about attendance. Um, first of all, I'm just shocked when I hear things like C. Um, the Salem Kaiser, I think you said, is at 30 or state of Oregon, pardon me, is at 30%. That's just shocking. >> But number three, there it says, "Looking ahead, continue

075to collaborate with families to address barriers to attendance, including transportation and health related." >> What tell what does that look like? What does collaborating with these families look like? I mean, in general, I we're not talking to anyone specific. >> Yeah, a couple of things. Um, our attendance officer, I guess you'd call her, Anner, is awesome. She keeps amazing data on attendance. Um, and this year we've really been taking into account tardies because that's not always tracked very well in our system in my opinion. Um, so when we see those numbers every single month, we're connecting with every family that's below a certain percentage and saying, "Hey, what's going on? How can I help you?" Well, one family we found out their youngest child was very ill. And so we somehow figured out how to

076get her kids transportation even though they're not in that area so that those kids could get to school while mom and dad are going back and forth to Doran Becker Hospital. >> Right. >> That's a big deal that makes a big difference because there are three kids that go to the school. Um there's that. There's parents that have, you know, kids in a couple of places during the week. They're going to two different homes. So, we're trying to figure out how to um communicate with both sets of parents to make sure that they know all the accurate times that school starts. And >> so, I've probably asked this before, I'll ask it again. So, if you have a a child that's in a chronic absentee as as an first grader, y >> is it fair

077to assume that child will also be chronically absent as a second grader and a third grader? I mean, is are we is it fair to say that once a kid kind of is marked with that or branded, they're going to be potentially a or or does that number change on who the chronic absentes are? Is is it a is it random every year? >> Well, I the last two years I can say it has not followed that trend just because of the way we've kind of started attacking it, right, >> headon rather than well, let's wait till next month. Oh, let's see how things go or oh, their siblings were the same way. We just aren't accepting that anymore. Okay. >> So, we're really trying to confront it and change the pattern what we're trying

078to do. >> And do you find that the the parents are receptive when you're trying to work with them to help get those kids >> back engaged? >> I think overall, as long as we go at it in a way of how can we help you rather than why aren't you here, >> attacking them, but ask offering >> what is it that you need, >> right? >> Okay. And that that helps though you in your opinion to to bring that number down from 11 to 10 or whatever the >> Yeah, I do. And I think it also creates another connection. We're not just school. We actually see your kids as much or more than you do. So we're here to help you care for them. >> So if we can really partner with them and

079build that relationship, >> right, >> that's helpful. >> Good. So >> wonderful. >> We're hopeful, >> right? >> Yeah. >> It won't continue. No, but it it when I hear this, it's it's impactful on how much effort people put into making those kids be aware and the families and getting them to school. So, thank you for doing that. Yeah, it is. It really is. So, um nice job. [snorts] >> Any other questions? >> Nope. >> All right. Thanks so much. >> Yes. >> Good job. >> All right. It looks like we are down now to personnel. Mr. Weeks. >> Yep. We just have one to bring you tonight for hiring and that is Jean Marie. We talked about that already. bringing him back for the rest of the year. It is a temporary assignment just

080until the end of June to when school ends. Uh in which case he does desire to go back into retirement. Uh so we'll be uh recruiting a music position here for the following year. >> All right. Very good. Thank you. Um 6B health uh curriculum adoption. Mr. Dyer. Um, in your board packet, you guys have a recommendation um, for the new health adoption that will be adopted and we could actually probably start using it this year um, at the end, but teachers will start playing with it, but fully implement it next school year. Uh, K5 is going with the Great Body Shop um, published by Children's Mental Health Market. uh 6 through 12 is actually using the same curriculum which is great because we'll have we'll be vertically aligned um through 6 through8 and they're

081using live well and that's published by human kinetics. I want to say a huge great thanks to the health department to come together because again it takes a lot of time out of school [snorts] meetings when they're supposed to be doing PLC's or doing other stuff that they got to come together and we got to talk about this and look at all the other stuff out there um and make a decision on that. I'm really confident about what they chose. Do you have any questions about that? >> Do we have roughly an idea on what the cost is for these three? >> Uh, it depends. It's actually not it's not a huge adoption because it's not like every single grade has to get it. So, >> just throw a number out. >> Gosh, >> come

082on. >> Uh, we're looking at 80 to 90,000. >> All right. Fair enough. >> Somewhere there. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Roughly. >> Wonderful. >> Yeah. >> I mean, science, full-blown science was like 250,000. Excuse. I just asked for a number. It's all right. [laughter] >> All right. No, that's good. Thank you. >> And uh do you have any other questions? >> Anything else for Mr. Der? No. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> All right. Next is proposal to add boys volleyball as an OSAA sponsored sport at Cascade, which is Mr. Rasmusson. Um, this last uh fall, the delegate assembly of the OSA, which I'm a member, a voting member on, um, approved to move boys volleyball from a club status, emerging sport status to an approved uh, certified sport. Um, the last

083three years at Cascade, we have had a boys volleyball club team um, playing and they've had uh, 12 to 15 boys each of those years. Um, so there is a movement. I asked some students and some staff to get together. do we have 20 boys who are interested in doing this? Um, and I got a list very quickly back. And so, um, we are bringing a request to add this as a sport. It's the first sport we've added at Cascades since girls wrestling, uh, in 2022 when girls went from wrestling within boys to wrestling as an independent um, uh, division. Um, actually a different sport. So, we're asking to do that. Um, it's a spring sport. Um, we did not budget for it this year because we didn't know the OSA would be voting on

084it. This is October is when we voted on it. So, the budget made last March uh did not include that. So, we're going to scrape together some some funds and find some ways to make this happen. Uh, we are recommending a yes vote from you guys to approve it. Um, there is a caveat. Um there are a lot of spring sports already and um one of the negatives is that you start to uh cannibalize and compete for kids so to speak. Um and so there is a danger in that. But um because this group has a three-year history um um because it has been successful um and uh we have the facility to use it. They would they're in the gym um and uh we were recommending that we add that this year. >> Okay.

085A couple questions. How many games do you see happen in the first year? Um what's the a cost roughly that this is going to scrape together? And if you had to throw a dart, what sports is it going to cannibalize from? >> Um so first of all, any any varsity sport, and we'd we'd just be capping at one team for now. Um so that's 12 to 16 players probably. Um it's going to be roughly 10,000. It might be less this year because we're going to find some creative ways to um fund fund it. Um the last three years it's been self-funded. It was volunteer people um transportation there. There was no cost to the district other than the use of our facilities. So this group um went through that. Um we're looking at borrowing some

086of the older equipment from the girls um and um they're looking at doing some fundraisers, this group of boys already. Um, and so cannibalizing or taking other athletes, um, it's hard. Uh, track will probably get hit a little bit. Um, because those are some pure athletic type kids who jump. Um, volleyballers or jumpers. Um, maybe some baseball players. Um, maybe some tennis players. Don't know. But the group the last couple years, some of them did both. Um, and that we're looking at that. But because now it is a official sport, um it's going to be harder to share. It's going to be more complicated to share. Um so anyway, that is an issue. Um there are other sports on the OSA's um horizon coming and so we'll definitely have to take a harder look at

087that, but I do like the fact that we have a three-year history of the club here. Um no other club sport has a three-year history. And so I won't probably be bringing you any sport until we at least get two to three years under our belt of those sports. And and how far are we going to have to travel? Is it our normal league? Will we have to go outside of our league? >> There there are roughly the at the at the OSA delegate meeting, I don't have the notes in front of me, but there were roughly between 45 to 60 schools that were going to be offering boys volleyball. >> Um and um so there'll be enough to play. Um and uh we will find as close of uh loces as we can in

088our league. I think just two or or one or two other schools in our cap our Oregon West conference will be doing that. Um and the the number of matches you asked earlier 12 to 15. >> Okay. >> So, >> and this is going to continue to evolve of course as more teams come on and more >> for sure >> more districts. >> If it's if it's successful it will it will grow. That's fabulous. >> Um it is >> cool. >> Questions. >> Dynamudos out there though. Pete and his team, speaking of OSAA, going to OSAA in December, advocating for the Cascade community and keeping Cascade 4A uh with that size. So, Pete, kudos to you and your team >> for that advocation for Cascade School District. >> Yep. Nice job. >> Great job. >>

089Okay, I think you're back up anyway, Mr. Rasmmanson. We've got the um out of state trip request for DECA. >> Okay, DECA is our business club that just started a year ago. Mr. Steuart Foster is just doing a bangup job. Um he is uh raising all kinds of money. Kids are getting fired up. He's got vending machines in our schools. We're making money. We got t the t-shirts you have there are from his uh his uh printing press. Um and so he is taking four boys to Florida for the national DECA convention. Um he uh one one uh uh father and four boys are planning to travel. Um and because it's out of state um overnight, we need to ask for your approval of that. And that's coming up late this month. >> Okay. >>

090Questions? >> Thank you. >> Sounds great. >> Okay. Next, we've got the SIA grant agreement. >> Hello, Mr. Dyer is back again. >> How we going? And we're talking about SIA again. All right. Here we go. >> Mr. Dyer, your attachment didn't hook up. So, this is all new news to us. >> Oh, okay. That's okay. That's not a big not a big issue. >> You're going to have to wing it here. Oh, so basically what we're saying um I've already presented the SIA integrated plan to you guys um a couple times last year when we developed the new plan. This year we had to do an annual report in uh I think August September board report. So basically we just talk about our integrated plan. Um our integrated plan is pulling from SIA high

091school success uh measure 98 all all the special grants that we get from the state is all plugged into that. Um, basically we roughly get around $5.4 million somewhere around there in that grant. Um, so this grant agreement tells us how much numbers we how much money we get in year one and year two. And then also what we're attacking. Um, so I also have to talk about like we have four strategies or four outcomes that we're hoping to get. We're looking for 80% uh foundational reading by second grade, 85% uh graduation rate with focal groups. Um let's see the other one is 80% of math um grade level by third grade. Um fourth grade is non-traditional students in CTE programs. And then the last one is 20% fewer high-risisk behaviors, social um social mental

092health issues and different things like that. So um those are the outcomes that we're attacking with this money. And then in the agreement, it talks about what we have to do. Basically falls on myself, falls on William and Nick Drury um in the financial office. And if you have any more questions about it, we've we've gone over a lot. Um Darren signed off on it. I think William signed off on it as well. So I just need your guys' approval for it. >> No problem. And without have being able to look it over, I don't have any questions for you. So yeah, >> no problem. >> Good. All right. Thank you guys. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay. Next is F Oba, [clears throat] pardon me, 2025 election for Marian region position 11. Um, so Mr.

093Weekes, are we voting on this right now or are we talking about it? What is our objective right this minute? >> Yeah, sorry. >> Nope. Go ahead. >> So in this particular case, there were two that ended up getting signed up to run for it. >> The board could choose to vote for someone and put your stamp behind someone. You could also choose to abstain and not put your stamp behind someone and leave it there. So, it's really the board decision on how you want to >> so run. >> Gang, we've we've got two individuals, if you've taken the time to look at it on here, that are are running for this position. Um, we in the we we did nothing, I believe, is the position we took last time and it's now at a

094runoff, right, where they had they each are tied for votes. >> So, right now, Salem Kaiser has voted on what's the name on that one? Um, Karina Guzman Ortiz, is that right? Has, they've voted on that individual for their candidate. We have taken no position on it. And I guess we're being asked to vote because it's a tie. My opinion is because big brother, if you will, voted for um, Guzman Ortiz. I'm my vote is to back that candidate because that's the the big brother, if you will, the the tail that wags a dog in in the area. and I'm I'm fine putting my vote behind the individual that they voted for. Um, if you three feel otherwise, um, let's talk about it. >> Is it the big brother Salem Kaiser? >> That's who I

095was saying. Yeah, that's the Salem Kaiser voted for um, Guzman Ortiz as their candidate. >> Okay. >> And but those two individuals are tied right now. Okay. >> And they're looking for tiebreers. And I guess what I'm saying is I'm fine putting Cascad's vote behind Guzman Ortiz because Salem Kaiser has voted. That's the one they've said the candidate they've said that they're behind. And if we are indifferent and have no opinion, I'm fine um backing the candidate that they have voted for because frankly we play very well with Salem Kaiser and I'm fine supporting the candidate that they have put their um vote with. >> I am too. >> Understand? Yeah. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Spencer, >> that's fine. >> Okay. Then Mr. Mr. Weeks, it looks like the board has agreed to move

096forward with the um the Guzman Ortiz candidate >> and so we can just do that when we when we get to the when we get to the resolutions. Whomever is speaking on that one, we're just going to put that candidate's name in there and vote affirmative on that. >> All right, we're good on that, Mr. Weeks. >> Yep. >> Dynamite. >> Okay, moving on. Number seven, we've got staff resignations. Mr. Weeks, >> just one. It's our music position. Jonathan Ang was our music teacher. Moved on for personal reasons. Okay. And that's what brought John Murray back. >> All right. Very good. Thank you. Anything on that board? Nope. Okay. Next is the coach advisory list. Um probably the same. Yep. Mr. Weeks. >> Yep. We had five uh new coaches coming in. They're all volunteer

097stipens. Uh basketball for middle school and wrestling uh junior high as well. >> Okay. Any questions on that gang? >> Nope. >> All right. Moving on is 7C employee recognition first trimester. Mr. weeks. >> All right. So, every trimester we bring some employees that are voted on or chosen by the administration at their schools that they look at that have just been exemplary in this first trimester. Their pictures are just outside the boardroom here. They're up there for a semester. Uh and each administration put some kind words out for those individuals. So, we have some of those uh to recognize this evening. Uh later on this week, we'll be going around and recognizing them at the schools. Uh but tonight, we just want to publicly list them and recognize them. Uh, Cloverdale, Tori Rule, classified.

098Uh, here's what it says for Tori. Tori is serving dually as our math interventionist and our wellness champion, providing essential math support for students while transforming our staff culture through comprehensive wellness initiatives. Her efforts from updating the staff room to organizing regular fitness classes and fun morale boosting activities make our entire staff feel motivated and appreciated. >> Mr. Weeks, I believe it's pronounced C. Loverdale, >> right? Sorry. Got it. duly noted. So cute. Turner Elementary. Uh we have a certified and a classified. Our certified is Desiree Shettin. Desire is an outstanding educ special education teacher. She expertly leads meetings, tending to details that seek to seek to benefit the individualized education plan created for each student she serves. She works well with others and establishes strong connections with students and families she serves. Desiree is

099a top-notch educator. Emma Bosler. Emma is an incredible asset to Turner Elementary. She serves as a skills trainer and is an expert at building connections. She instinctively understands how to best serve our kids. She fulfills a unique role of great benefit to our school community. As the first skills trainer at Turn Elementary, we cannot imagine life without her skill set and presence. At Almsville Elementary for certified, we have Audrey Miller. We are proud to recognize Audrey Miller, a phenomenal upper elementary educator and superb teacher leader. As our AVID site team leader, Audrey champions best practices and ensures a seamless integration of AVID strategies campuswide. Known for her her dynamic classroom and commitment to critical thinking, she models excellence for students and colleagues alike. We are grateful for her passion, leadership, and high standard of instruction

100she brings to our school community. uh for classified Gabby Hoyce. We are proud to recognize Gabby Hoyce for her outstanding dedication to our special education students. Gabby has a unique gift for building inclusive environments where [clears throat] every student thrives. Recently, she successfully completed her student teaching in our foundations a classroom while pursuing her special education certification. Her patience, joy, and deep passion for her work make her an invaluable team member, and we look forward to her becoming an special exceptional special ed teacher in the near future. At the high school, Allison Art for certified. Allison has done a tremendous job this term, teaching her classes and preparing for our school musical, The Wizard of Oz. The countless hours of teaching, rehearsing, prepping the audio, lighting, and stage crafting all the props. She has worked

101tirelessly for her students and his and community. We are so grateful. Mariah Theon for classified. Mariah has been a great addition to Cascade High School. She is always willing to help students who are not even on her case load. She is calm and help students do the same. We are grateful for her consistency and positive attitude. At the junior high for certified, Jackie Everett. Jackie's MLL students made huge growth. She has 30% of her students pass the ELPA this year compared to the statewide average of 8%. This is beyond amazing for classified CC Bador. CC came into the administrative assistant position after just a few months at Cascade. She's willing to jump in and figure out what needs to be done. Is willing to ask questions and it's a delight to have in the office.

102Especially additionally, she is bilingual which is a huge asset to the junior hunt. Our last one that we're adding in this year are our support departments. So technology, we're adding in a support. That's our first one. Mustrun in the family. Chris Padornne for classified. Chris is an invaluable asset to the IT department. His proactive can do attitude, genuine eagerness [clears throat] to learn, and unwavering commitment to Cascade perfectly complements his strong technical knowledge and abilities. He is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure that the needs of our students and classrooms are heard and that their technology actively enhances their educational experience. Thank you, Chris, for your hard work and dedication. >> Thanks. Wonderful. Any questions? Anybody? No. All right. Thank you, Mr. Weeks. >> Okay, we've got 7D program reports. Uh we're

103back to Mr. Dyer for the informal safety report. I think we already did that. >> Yeah, we got we went out of order on that one. Okay. Um, no public comments. We're moving on to resolutions. Hang on. All right. 91. Resolution regarding new higher recommendations. >> Be it resolved. The Cascade Board of Education moves to approve the new hire recommendations of Jean Marie Van Bronorst as recommended by the administration. >> Second. 91. Resolution regarding new hire recommendations has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same [clears throat] sign. Motion carries. 92. Resolution regarding health curriculum adoption. >> Be a resolve. The Cascade Board of Education moves to approve the health curriculum listed below for the 2026 through 2032 curriculum cycle. Grades K through

104five, The Great Body Shop. Grades 6 through eight, Live Well, Middle School Health. in grades 9 through 12 live well comprehensive health skills. >> Second 92 resolution regarding health curriculum adoption has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. N 9.3 resolution regarding boys volleyball as an OSAA sponsored sport at Cascade High School. >> Be it resolved. The Cascade Board of Education moves to approve adding boys volleyball as an OSAA sponsored sport at Cascade High School. >> Second. >> 9.3. Resolution regarding boys volleyball as an OSAA sponsored sport at Cascade High School has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion

105carries. 94 resolution regarding outofstate trip request. Be it resolved, the Cascade Board of Education moves to approve the request from the DECA to travel to the National Convention in Orlando, Florida from January 28th, 2026 to February 1st, 2026. >> Second 9.4 resolution regarding out of state trip request has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. 95 resolution regarding 2025 OSBA runoff election for Marian regional board position 11. >> Be it resolved the Cascade Board of Education moves to select uh Karina Guzman Ortiz as the candidate for the Marian region board position 11 OSBA runoff election. Second 9.5 resolution regarding 2025 OSBA runoff election for Marian region board position number 11 has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> No

106discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. 9.6 resolution regarding SIA grant agreement. Be it resolved. of the Cascade Board of Education moves to prove move to approve the SIA grant agreement. >> Second. >> 9.6 resolution regarding SIA grant agreement has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries. 9.7 resolution regarding construction excise tax. >> Be it resolved. The Cascade Board of Education moves to approve the increase in the construction excise tax CCT rate in accordance with the recommendations of the state of Oregon. The new CCT tax rate effective July 1st, 2026 will be $1.70 per square foot residential and 85 cents per square foot non-residential with a

107nonresidential maximum of 42,400. I do have a question on this. >> So do I. >> Help me understand what we're talking about. >> I agree. >> So we'll may pull William up for a little bit more on this, but your construction exercise tax is this can be done for capital improvements. So for instance, if you have an HVAC unit go down, it can't do your repair, but it can replace the entire unit that goes in there. And so that's a tax through the state of Oregon that is assessed. The money then comes through when new places are built, houses are built or other construction items are built that is then placed into a fund that comes to the district. >> So any any building within the district that is built, residential has one rate of

108um what does it say? Um one point $1.70 a square foot for residential and 85 cents for commercial buildings being built in the district. So my question to you, William, or or Jay, if you know this, what was it, if we're going to 1.7 and 85 cents, what were we at? What are we at now? >> Was it 1.6? >> 1 I want to say 65 or it's not very much. >> There's a few cents difference. >> Let me check. It it comes a recommendation comes from um OD every year to stay on track like they propose this amount this year, this amount this year. So they give us a three to four year layout of what they're proposing the increase and this is we we've gotten behind in the past and we want to

109stay on top of it. We it's important that we stay on top of it with budget issues the way they are. I don't disagree with that, but I don't want a money grab anytime we can max out and grab every penny we can because that that doesn't do anybody in the district any good. So that's why I'm curious what we're >> So it was 1.67. >> It was 1.67 and we want to jump it up to 1.7. So we want to take it up three cents. >> Correct. >> So we're looking at about Yeah, that's >> So that's recommended by OD, >> right? And so we're looking at about a two What is that? 1.8 2% increase. >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. Okay. And what was the commercial if we're going to from 167 to

110>> the nonresidential from8485? >> Okay. So, so really minimal there as well. >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. >> This is an OD recommendation [clears throat] I guess. Maybe. Did we have materials on that and I missed them? Yes, >> we did. >> That were in the Were they in the packet? >> No, they were not. >> We had nothing. No, >> they should have been. >> So, sorry. I can this is the f actually this reading of it is the first that we've seen of it in this board in this in this um >> sorry >> yeah so with that being said can we hold off on making this voting on this until next month after we have the documentation? >> Sure. >> Or would that really be >> I mean for four cents I'm

111I'm fine moving forward at this point. I just I just wanted more understanding about what it was. >> Let me explain just a little bit about the transition. I'll try to be quick. So normally what we do, we approve it in January or at the latest [snorts] February and then we get this information to each of the municipalities. So Almsville, Turner and >> Marian County and then they have until July to get it to their board to change all their forms and to implement so that when somebody comes to do permits and all those things, they have the current information in place and they are able to get it on. So what you're saying is if we delay it, it potentially could be a problem down the >> if they downstream. >> The longer we

112wait, the harder it is for them to get it on their timeline. So it at the very latest we should do February. So >> but I I also agree with Aaron on this because our our increase is is minor, fine. But that's why I wanted to know what if we're just on a cash grab, hang on. But if we're if we're simply trying to stay in in in line with the the cost of inflation, if you will, then that that's a different discussion. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. And it's on OD website and sorry we missed this but definitely >> yeah my apologies. We we were having some difficulties with >> board book. So um >> not a problem. Understood. But I appreciate that information. So with that being said, Aaron, are you wanting to

113second this motion to move forward? >> Yeah, I will second it. >> Okay, it's been moved. So 9.7 resolution regarding construction excise tax has been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Nope. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Any future agenda items that we need to discuss at this point from the board? No. Mr. Weeks? No. Okay. With that being said, thank you everyone for attending this evening. Meeting adjourned.