Shortly after the McCall-Donnelly School District hired a new superintendent, Cascade Schools has done the same.
The Cascade Schools Board of Trustees recently announced it is hiring Gooding High School Principal Leigh Patterson as its new superintendent.
Patterson, 46, will complete the current school year at Gooding and start with Cascade this summer, said Karen Thurston, who chairs the board of trustees.
“We are excited to have Mr. Patterson on board at Cascade School District,” Thurston told Valley Lookout. “He comes to us with experience we need and checks off a lot of boxes for us.”
Patterson, who could not be reached for comment by Valley Lookout, will earn a starting salary of $108,500.
He was among three applicants for the superintendent position, which opened in October when current Superintendent Joni Stevenson resigned, but agreed to finish out the school year.
Hybrid role
Patterson will also serve as principal for elementary students within Cascade Schools, marking a shift to a hybrid approach used by other rural school districts, including the Meadows Valley School District in New Meadows.
“Most of the school districts our size are going to this model,” Thurston said.
Current Principal Chuck Silzly submitted his resignation in January, but like Stevenson, agreed to finish out the current school year.
Thurston expects to interview candidates for the secondary principal position next month.
Package deal
Patterson’s wife, Megan, was also hired by Cascade for the next school year. Megan Patterson currently teaches kindergarten in Gooding. It is likely she will teach third grade in Cascade, Thurston said.
Moving to Cascade will be a homecoming of sorts for the Patterson family, who regularly visit the area to stay in a family cabin built in the 1970s, The Star-News reported.
Without donors like you, this story would not exist.
Make a donation of any size here
Patterson has been the principal at Gooding High School since 2017. He also coaches football and basketball at the school.
The hybrid superintendent/principal position is not new to Patterson after he served as superintendent and principal of the Mackay Joint School District from 2013 to 2017.
Patterson, a Kuna native, started in 2006 as a social studies teacher at Kuna High School, where he taught through 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Cascade Schools enrolls just over 200 students and has 45 employees, including 18 teachers.
