Dear Parents, Community & CCUSD Staff –
We’re a month into the New Year, at CCUSD, we are thankful for our employees, students, parents and community. We thought we’d highlight some of the amazing and unique things happening in our schools for the past few months of the 2023-2024 school year.
Black Mountain Elementary School
As a School of Arts, we are dedicated to providing our students with wonderful learning opportunities and genuine experiences that foster essential skills. Throughout January, our students have entertained audiences with multiple captivating drama productions, showcasing their talent and creativity. Additionally, our students embraced numerous club opportunities provided by our dedicated teachers, offering unique experiences typically unavailable to elementary-aged students. We are proud to be known as the school that prepares students for the global stage while cultivating strong community connections. As we strive to connect with both current and prospective parents, we recently hosted many new families at our annual Kindergarten Round Up. The success of this event and the ongoing student tours fill us with excitement as we know the word is out! We take pride in sharing the exceptional offerings that set us apart and eagerly welcome new parents to the Bobcat Family, knowing that we can make a meaningful difference in their children’s lives. Looking ahead, we are delighted to invite our families to the 13th Annual BMES Family Science Night on February 9th. This highly anticipated event will feature student presentations, engaging activities, and various organizations focused on scientific fields. From space exploration to animal conservation, families will delve into a night of learning and enjoyment, culminating in a spectacular fireworks display. At Black Mountain Elementary School, we are committed to providing an enriching and captivating educational experience focused on Arts and hearts.
Desert Sun Academy
Desert Sun Academy: Desert Sun Academy had an exciting first semester that included student leadership, community involvement, and teaching and learning. Our DSA student leaders helped lead our PBIS rotations (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) to communicate our building-wide expectations for student behavior. DSA’s video announcement club members learned multiple new skills to create and deliver our daily announcements for staff and students. The Student Council collected items to help community members during the holiday season. As a school, DSA celebrated and honored our Veterans at our November Flag Raising and concert to thank them for their service to their communities and country. As a staff, we have learned together through our leadership team and professional learning communities. This semester we have determined our core values, discussed vertical alignment, and provided professional development on effective teaching strategies such as Thinking Maps.
Desert Willow Elementary School
Discover the vibrant world-wide education at Desert Willow Elementary School, where learning knows no bounds! Immerse your child in a rich linguistic experience with our Spanish Immersion program, fostering bilingual education from Pre-K to 6th grade. Currently, we are the only public International Spanish Academy in Arizona following strict guidelines from the Embassy of Spain. We ignite curiosity, creativity, and teamwork through our dynamic Music, Art, PE and STEAM classes. Beyond our regular school hours, the learning never stops with a plethora of before and after-school classes provided by ECS. From Spanish classes to Choir to Cross Country, we provide a nurturing environment where every child can thrive. Students have opportunities to be part of our leadership groups, such as the 6th Grade Roadrunner Patrol and the Kiwanis K-Kids Club.
Horseshoe Trails Elementary School
The first semester at Horseshoe Trails was a smashing success! Student literacy and math stations have been in full swing since September for all grade levels, students are loving our computer science curriculum that’s being offered as a special encore class, our Fine Arts program has expanded to include a Junior Choir and a winter musical for the first time ever and our Fall Cohort of Stallion Strides Horsemanship classes wrapped up in December. Teachers have been meeting with their grade level professional learning communities from around CCUSD on each half day to discuss, analyze, and strategize how to maximize student achievement for all our students. And our PTO has been AMAZING at organizing different team building events for our school that also support local businesses in downtown Cave Creek and Carefree.
Lone Mountain Elementary School
Lone Mountain Elementary School experienced a fantastic first semester! Our students actively participated in collaboration, problem-solving, engaged in creative projects, and found meaningful ways to contribute to both their community and school. Notably, they have dedicated over 85 hours to community service through our Junior Hero program. Our after-school programs and athletics, including cross-country, choir, volleyball, and Kiwanis K-kids, provided wonderful opportunities for community involvement and fun! Academically, our students showcased a remarkable focus on the engineering design process in our STEAM classes while also achieving commendable learning outcomes across all subjects. This dedication was acknowledged with an A letter grade from the Arizona Department of Education. Lone Mountain is an outstanding learning environment where our Eagles not only meet but exceed expectations. It’s truly a place where our students SOAR to success!
Sonoran Trails Middle School
It was another busy semester at Sonoran Trails- exactly how we like it! We currently are offering nine clubs that are student led with almost 250 students participating. Our sports are in full swing. 7th grade baseball won the district championship and our cheer squad once again has qualified for nationals in February. We continue to meet in our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) where our focus has been determining our essential standards, learning targets with success criteria, and then if needed, made changes to our CFA’s and CSA’s. We are collaborating and looking at data weekly with our departments to focus our efforts on helping students succeed. From those strategic meetings, we go back and reteach and/or enrich the learning in our classrooms. Students complete a short assessment (CFA) bi-weekly to show mastery of the Arizona State Standards. We continue to have our Math intervention class where we are targeting almost 75 students and beginning in semester two, have one ELA intervention class where we are targeting our most struggling 7th grade students in English (approximately 15 students). Every person on campus has a small list of their targeted students that in addition to their professional goals, they are working closely with both those students and their families to increase student achievement. We showed significant growth in our mimic data from September to December, especially in Math. Finally, with the rollout of our positive behavioral intervention and support (PBIS) in place, we are teaching all students how to be STAR students (Safe, Trustworthy, Accountable, and Respectful). There is a common language heard on campus with what students need to do to be successful both academically and behaviorally and it is both reinforced and celebrated with pride. We are happy to report that our discipline data has decreased significantly from last year to this year with this system in place. We are truly proud of the many great happenings on our campus.
Cactus Shadows High School
First semester at CSHS flew by. Our Fall sports worked hard in season. We are proud of the dedication and hard work that our coaches and athletes put in not only in their field of play but also in the classroom. The Student Council brought us the Big Blue Pep Rally, a homecoming from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, an awesome fall festival and holiday pep rally as well as spirit week. Our athletic director, Mr. Ammon, worked with the district to provide funding for a new gym floor; and our culinary classes now have an updated kitchen. Our falcon awesome teachers work diligently every day to support our students in the classroom. As we move into the second semester we have begun preparing our students for the ACT, ASPIRE, and AZSci. Currently our Winter sports are midseason and Spring sports are starting preseason activities. A shout out to our teachers and students for their performance on the state tests. Because of their focus and dedication to learning and success, CSHS was rated an A by the Arizona Department of Education for the 22-23 school year.
We look forward to seeing you in our schools.
Together,
Bill Dolezal
Superintendent
