Hello to all our Cascade Ridge Students, Parents and Staff and WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL! I hope you all had a fabulous summer break despite the cooler temperatures and are ready for what is sure to be another great year at Cascade Ridge. I would also like to send out a big welcome to all of our new students. We are glad to have you here and hope that you enjoy your first year at Cascade Ridge!

This special edition of the Coyote Howler includes most of the information you’ll need to make your way through the first few chaotic weeks of school. It is the PTSA’s hope that we can ease you into the transition of school schedules, paperwork, and activities, and that you can use this Howler to answer many initial questions. Note that as in recent years, in our continued efforts to minimize paper use and waste, this is the only issue of the Howler that we will print during the year. Future issues will be available for viewing, download, and printing from our website at www.cascaderidgeptsa.org. You may also request to have it sent directly to your email inbox during your First Day Packet sign-up. We hope that you will rely each month on the Howler and every day on our website to bring you important information and keep you current with our activities throughout the year. Our webmaster, Rajeev Goel is continuing to update and add features to our “newly-improved” website in our effort to continue to push our PTSA forward and to increase our effectiveness of communicating within our community! We encourage you to mark this website as a “Favorite” and visit it often to stay informed and current about the PTSA organization and the many programs and events we are planning throughout the year.

This year, as in the last, we, as a PTSA continue to focus on supporting the core educational needs of our students, while encouraging community involvement and solidarity. Thus, we have diligently worked to develop a budget that focuses on central requirements of the school based on feedback from our staff and parents. We plan to do this primarily through direct project-specific and grade-level funding and grants as well as programs and community events that meet those needs.

It will be a busy and fun year filled with some old favorites as well as new program opportunities. Our plans for this year include:

• Continuing and expanding support of our amazing staff through funding and grants for Art & Science Enrichment, Staff Grants, and much-needed Reading Support,
• Working with our state and council units to continue to be engaged in student needs at the state level and to support successful legislative focus and prioritization, as well as our Issaquah Schools Foundation,

• Resuming and expanding many programs that our community has grown to love and expect, such as Reflections, Spelling Bee, Eager Reader, the Book Fair, Science Fair, and more, ¨
• Bringing the community together through events and fun activities just for the purpose of building friendships and our sense of community. We will continue to support Dad‘s Day on the Playground, Fine Arts & Teriyaki Dinner Night, Walkathon, and others and are working on some new events such as a Talent Show in the spring.

Of course, these great programs and events are only made possible through your participation in our fundraising efforts. Over recent years, we have received community feedback relating to the support of fewer fundraisers that provide 100% of donations to the school, as opposed to production-driven fundraisers where the PTSA receives just a percentage of the funds. Last year, the PTSA continued with our new plan to kick-off the year with a new Walkathon format that (1) brought the community together early in the school year with a fun and back-to-school atmosphere and (2) encouraged giving in a single main fundraiser that would collect enough money at the beginning of the year to support the entire year‘s budget. Thanks to an amazing Walkathon Committee and the overwhelming participation of our parents, staff, and students, our PTSA was very successful in exceeding our program and financial goals. In our survey, we continued to receive positive feedback for the format and results of the event. With active involvement from everyone in the community, we plan to build on that tradition this year to have another successful Walkathon & Fall Festival in October.

Without a doubt, Cascade Ridge has excelled in parent, teacher, and student involvement, and our success in providing quality educational and social experiences to our school is tied directly to continued enthusiastic participation from all of you. There are many ways to be a part of this shared endeavor, and I encourage you to support our students and school through active involvement: ¨

• Come to our General Membership Meetings to understand our budget, to understand how our PTSA funds are expected to meet our Mission, to become aware of legislative issue that effect our local and state community, and to make a difference in our children‘s educational and social experiences. Our first meeting will be on Tuesday, September 13th, immediately following K-2 Curriculum Night activities, ¨
• Proactively seek information regarding our PTSA through the various forms of communication we provide: our new reader board, our website, the monthly Howler Newsletter, and our weekly joint school-PTSA communication, the Coyote Connection, ¨
• Get to know our PTSA Board members and express your desires, priorities, and interests related to PTSA activities, ¨
• Participate on committees in areas that excite you. When you see "call-outs" for help, please find out more and get actively involved by volunteering at an event. Be sure to check our volunteer activities and needs listed in the Volunteer section included in the First Day Packet sign-up.

I am looking forward to the year ahead and getting to meet many more of you in our community. Please feel free to contact me with any comments, concerns, questions, or feedback.

Here‘s to a great year!

Deanne King, PTSA President
deannewking@live.com, 425-270-3336