Cliffside Elementary School

08/31/2026

All of the schools in the CHASE district are invited to participate in Neon Day this Friday, September 4th! CES encourages all students and staff to participate and show their school spirit! We are excited to have CHASE High School - Forest City, NC students join us on Friday morning to greet our students as they arrive to school!

08/31/2026

MYTH BUSTING MONDAY |

MYTH: School accountability, student achievement, and academic growth are interchangeable terms.

FACT: They describe related, but distinctly different, parts of North Carolina’s school accountability system.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT tells us how students performed against the state’s academic standards. It is based on state assessments and reflects the extent to which students demonstrated grade-level or course-level proficiency.

ACADEMIC GROWTH tells us how much progress students made based on their prior academic performance. A school can have high achievement and not meet expected growth, or lower achievement while exceeding expected growth. Those results aren’t contradictory. They answer different questions.

SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY brings these and other measures together to evaluate and report school performance across content areas and assessments.

The State Board of Education is expected to release 2025–2026 school accountability results soon. As those results arrive, remember:

Achievement tells us how students performed. Growth tells us how much progress they made. Accountability brings those measures together to describe school performance.

Understanding the results means knowing which question each measure answers.

08/29/2026

Stay connected using your Infinite Campus Parent Portal! Activation letters and emails will be coming soon! Look for yours!

08/28/2026

08/27/2026

TESTIMONIAL THURSDAY

A passion for Career and Technical Education is a passion for preparing students for what comes next.

This week, we’re highlighting how CTE provides RCS students with hands-on experiences, valuable credentials, career-ready skills, and clear pathways to the workforce, college, and beyond.

It’s about helping students discover their strengths, explore their possibilities, and prepare for their future.

08/25/2026

TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY | RCS EDUCATION MATTERS

RCS uses Child Care Weather Watch to guide decisions about recess, PE, field trips, and other outdoor student activities. Using National Weather Service heat-index and wind-chill information, the guidance classifies weather conditions as green, yellow, or red.

🟢 GREEN. Proceed normally. Monitor students and use normal precautions such as water, appropriate clothing, sunscreen, and shade.

🟡 YELLOW. Use caution. Closely monitor students, take appropriate precautions, and shorten outdoor activities.

🔴 RED. Move most activities indoors. Most students should not participate outdoors because of increased health risk. Any outdoor time for older students should be brief and carefully supervised.

Age matters, too. Younger children may not recognize or communicate that they are becoming too hot or cold, so additional precautions are appropriate. And there isn’t one thermometer reading that determines every decision. Weather conditions, age, exposure time, hydration, clothing, shade, and other precautions all matter.

Our goal is simple: to make consistent, practical decisions about outdoor student activities with student health and safety at the center.

08/24/2026

Myth Buster Monday | RCS Education Matters

Extreme weather guidelines aren’t just for student-athletes.

At RCS, weather safety applies anytime students are outdoors — including recess, PE, field trips, school activities, and athletics.

Schools consider the heat index during hot weather and wind chill during cold weather, along with students’ ages and the type of activity, to determine when outdoor activities should be limited or moved indoors.

From the playground to the athletic field, student safety always comes first.

08/21/2026

We are so proud of our students and staff for coming together to kick off a new school year! At Cliffside Elementary School, every student matters and every student is a part of our bright future! 💙🦅

FUTURE FOCUSED FRIDAY | Cliffside Elementary School

Every student is part of the picture at Cliffside Elementary!

To celebrate the start of a new school year, the entire CES family came together to form CES in front of their school. It’s a pretty great picture of what being future focused is all about, working together, knowing that everyone has a part to play, and looking ahead with excitement for what’s possible.

One school. One team. One bright future. 🌟

08/20/2026

💬 Testimonial Thursday | Principal of the Year

“Students are not simply part of the work we do—they are the reason for it.”

For this week’s Testimonial Thursday, we’re proud to feature Tony Wall, Principal of CHASE High School and the 2026–2027 RCS Principal of the Year!

Mr. Wall shares what makes Rutherford County Schools special: a commitment to putting students at the center of everything we do. Whether students discover their strengths through academics, CTE, athletics, the arts, leadership, service, or simply by overcoming a challenge and realizing what they’re capable of, RCS provides opportunities for every student to find a place to belong and succeed.

And for Mr. Wall, that commitment is personal. The same district that supported and encouraged him as a student is now the district he is proud to serve as a school leader.

Students first. Opportunities to grow. A place to belong. That’s why education matters.

Congratulations again to Mr. Wall on being named the 2026–2027 RCS Principal of the Year, and thank you for your dedication to the students of CHASE High School and Rutherford County Schools!