Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Operations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cascade SD 5 adopts 2026–27 calendar; IT staff outline phone replacement and supervised AI use
Summary
The board approved the 2026–27 school calendar (favoring a start before Labor Day) and heard IT staff describe a planned phone-system replacement ahead of vendor end-of-support and limited, supervised use of AI tools for staff lesson planning and productivity.
The Cascade School District board approved the 2026–27 school calendar after a presentation from Superintendent Mr. Drill and discussion of teacher preferences; the calendar favors starting before Labor Day so the school year can end earlier in June.
In the district's technology update, a staff member explained the district's Mitel ShoreTel phone system will reach end-of-support in 2028 and that the district has budgeted to replace IP phones, switches and servers this year. The staff member said the district has about 350 phones and that replacement includes hardware and switch upgrades to maintain classroom 911 capability and security. "We have to replace the switches because those are 10 years old," the staff member said, adding that the district will maintain physical desk phones in classrooms for safety and emergency calling.
On artificial intelligence, the staff member said the district has provisioned Gemini and Notebook within Google Workspace for staff use and has run professional development sessions. Several principals and teachers described limited classroom and planning uses—for example, generating slide decks, drafting goals and creating lesson-plan starting points—while cautioning that outputs must be reviewed and that privacy protections within the Google Workspace domain were a factor in platform choice.
The board approved the calendar by voice vote (Resolution 8b). The board also approved an out-of-state trip request for the high school choir (Resolution 8a).
