Principal Anna Wallace sent the message below to families via School Messenger email on Friday, August 16. It is posted here for currently registered families to reference. See the communications section below for information on how to make sure you stay in the know, all year long.
Dear Cascadia Families,
I am excited to officially welcome you to the new 2019-2020 school year! I hope you are having a restful and fun filled summer. I am excited to start our third year in the new building as well as my third year as your principal. The summer has been quiet around the school, so I’m looking forward to the building being filled with students ready to learn and have a great year!
Many teachers have been attending trainings throughout the summer and some are learning new curriculum. They are starting back in the building in a couple weeks and are about to start setting up the classrooms. They are excited to share with your students all the new things they’ve learned and been planning.
We are welcoming several new staff to our community this year and are excited for you to meet them. In 4th grade Rebecca Peacock will be teaching ELA, and in 5th Grade Cynthia Fitzsimmons with be teaching Math and Science. We are also excited to welcome Sandra Mackey as our Assistant Principal, Jean Mishler as our General Music Specialist and Pete Halfaker as our Custodian. Kate Scott will be our ELL specialist. Please help me in welcoming them to our community!
We also have one other teacher leaving us this year. Ms. Elizabeth Savage has decided to pursue her literary career and has some wonderful opportunities lined up for herself this year. She will be greatly missed in our school community, but I hope you join me in wishing her good luck on her writing endeavors. We still have to hire for the position but expect to have it filled by the start of school!
Our school website, www.cascadiaes.seattleschools.
If you are dropping your student off at school, please do not park in the spots along the curved sidewalk in front of the building. Those are for people dropping off quickly. On the first day, or any day, if you need to walk your child in to the playground please find a spot in our lot, the lots at Eagle Staff/Licton Springs or legal street parking. Teachers will always meet your child on the playground so all students (even those getting breakfast) should start their day by entering through the gates to the playground.
For pick up, you can park anywhere (excluding the fire lanes or crosswalk) in the lots and meet your child around the front doors. You are most welcome to walk with your child and play on the playground with friends afterschool. Check out the website for a more detailed explanation of the drop-off and pick up procedures. And always remember to turn RIGHT ONLY out of the lot during drop-off and pick up to keep the cars flowing!
Families often wonder about Bus Transportation at the start of school. The Transportation Department sends out letter in late August of your child’s stop. If your child needs to get off at a non-assigned stop, we can only issue temporary ‘yellow cards’. To make any permanent changes you must contact Transportation at 206.252.0900 or if you have an issue with the bus. Also, the busses are often late the first few weeks of school. We still encourage kids to ride the bus the first few days as that is when we have the most support available to kids and drivers. If your child is riding the bus I encourage you to help them memorize their bus number (both am and pm if different) and what stop they get on and off at. Please see below for more information on how to read your transportation letter and ensure your child has a great start to the year riding the bus.
Throughout the year we want to stay in touch with you! School and the PTA send out regular communication about events happening at school and in the district. Make sure you are in the know!
Monthly School Newsletter: sent via email from webmaster@seattleschools.org. Also, all back issues can be found at www.cascadiaes.seattleschools.
PTA Dragon Digest: sent via email from the PTA. Sign up for PTA communications at www.cascadiapta.org/join (wait until you know your teacher)
SchoolMessenger: these emails are sent when time sensitive or emergency information needs to come out. Sometimes they come my email aewallace@ and sometimes the come from SPS or Transportation. You sign up to receive these via the SOURCE. https://ps.seattleschools.org/
Room Parents: Each class has a room parent that will send out information about parties and other class specific information. Sign up usually happens around Curriculum Night.
Library Blog: Merrick Bodmer, our wonderful Librarian keeps a blog about happenings in the library. You can find it on the Cascadia website www.cascadiaes.seattleschools.
Principal’s Blog: Principal Wallace also keeps a blog about fun and social things that happen at school. You can also find it on the Cascadia website and sign up to receive email alerts.
If you have any questions, just ask!
Office: 206.413.2000
Attendance: cascadia.attendance@
PTA: president@cascadiapta.org
In a couple of weeks teachers officially start back to work preparing for the year, expect to hear from your child’s teacher that week! On Wednesday August 28, from 4:30-6:00 pm we will be having our Welcome Back Event. You will have a chance to tour the school and meet your child’s teachers. We will have the start of school packets and volunteer paperwork you can fill out.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your summer and I am excited to work with you and your family to have a successful school year.
Best,
Anna Wallace
Cascadia | Principal
How to Read the Transportation Letter:
You should receive a mailed paper letter to your service address in mid to late August. Please read the letter carefully to ensure all the proper information is there. If you find errors or have questions call Transportation at 206.252.0900 or email at transdept@seattleschools.org. The closer to the start of school the busier they get.
On your letter you should find several things. If any are missing, contact transportation.
- Service Address: this will most likely be your home address but might be a daycare or other address you want service to or from.
- To School Route #, Address and Time: This will include the route number (usually between 668-682), the intersection the bus will pick up your child and the time they will pick them up.
- From School Route #, Address and Time (MTThF & W): This will include the route number (usually between 668-682), the intersection the bus will drop off your child and the time they will drop them off.
You want to make sure you have routing information for both TO (am) and FROM (pm) School.
If anything is missing it means that your child is not fully assigned to a route. Please contact transportation. For some students the Wednesday route may be different than the rest of the week. The routing is slightly different because of early release.
If you need to contact transportation here are some pieces of information to have handy:
–your student ID# (found on the letter or in your SOURCE account)
–your service address-if you are requesting any changes they need to know the service address to be able to know if the change is allowed per the rules.
Also, please note we don’t get routing information at school until a day or so before school starts.
If transportation makes a change but they tell you it won’t be in effect until after school starts you can fill out the online “Yellow Card” request form for a temporary pass.
