Our Vision To foster a culture where every student succeeds.

Our Mission Statement To prepare every student for success through superior educational programs delivered by highly effective educators, who use innovative, research-based strategies in a safe and supportive environment in collaboration with family and community members.

Our Core Values Student-Centered, Excellence, Collaborative Culture, Continuous Improvement, Transparency, Integrity, Respect

Every Student. Every Day.

Our district encompasses 117 square miles in northwest Leavenworth County.  The district has one high school, one middle school, and one elementary school with a total of 642 students. Pleasant Ridge Elementary School serves students in Pre-K through 5th grade, Pleasant Ridge Middle School includes students in grades 6-8 and Pleasant Ridge High School serves students in grades nine through twelve. We are a bedroom community with few local businesses.  Most of our residents commute for employment in surrounding areas.

The three attendance centers are located in a rural area between Easton, Leavenworth and Atchison, Kansas.  We are located eight miles from Leavenworth, the home of a major United States military base at Ft. Leavenworth.  One can live in the school district and drive to major shopping areas in the metropolitan Kansas City area in less than 30 minutes.  

Our district employs 52 certified staff along with 42 support staff members. We have a student to teacher ratio of 14 to 1.  We offer a comprehensive K-12 educational program including special education services, special education preschool, at-risk services, college preparatory as well as nine career and technical education pathways.  

We are in the 5th year of an ongoing technology integration project. Students at Pleasant Ridge High School are all provided a laptop for use during their high school career.  Pleasant Ridge Middle School students have the use of both laptops and iPads. Pleasant Ridge Elementary School has two computer labs along with grade level iPad carts.

Pleasant Ridge High School students may enroll in classes for dual credit (high school and college credit) through Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) and the University of St. Mary (located in Leavenworth).  Students also may attend Highland Community College Technical Center (HCCTC), located in Atchison, Kansas. Students who choose to participate in programs offered by HCCTC earn high school credit, as well as begin working on an Associate of Arts Degree or a certification through Highland Community College.  

We have nine approved Career/Technical Education Pathways, through which students may earn a certification.    Some pathway completers may earn college credit or scholarship money, or tuition waiver through articulation agreements in place with universities and technical/community colleges.  Those pathways include Animal Science, A/V Communications, Biomedical Science, Business Entrepreneurship/ Management, Construction/Design, Finance, Government/Public Administration, Power Structural/ Technical Systems and Visual Arts.  

Our schools host, and our teachers sponsor, a wide variety of extra-curricular activities for all students. Fifth grade girls are invited to participate in Girls On The Run, a confidence-building program paired with physical training and a 5K race for the participants.  USD 449 is also very proud of its national successes in both the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). These organizations represent our schools in state and national, skill-based, competitions each year. Not only do students gain employability skills and practical applications for their learning, they also represent our school and community very well.

USD 449 partners tightly with Easton Youth Activities, EYA, to sponsor baseball/softball, basketball, wrestling, football, and cheerleading for students K-6. Our organizations are intertwined as USD 449 Board members and teachers serve on the EYA Board and as coaches for EYA.  In our tight knit community, we live out the expression, “children first.”

Our teachers have many professional learning opportunities through Rams University, an individualized professional development program offered through our Professional Development Council. Some courses offered during the 2017-2018 school year include: “What’s NEW with the Science Standards”, “KEEPin It Simple”, “Seesaw: A Digital Portfolio”, “Google Classroom”, and “Adobe Spark”.  The current Rams University course offering is a book study of “The Growth Mindset Coach” with 28 staff members participating.

During the 2015-2016 school year, the Pleasant Ridge High School Advanced Chemistry/Physics class entered and won the Burns & McDonnell Battle of the Brains STEM competition.  Their entry, “Cultivating the City,” featured multiple interactive exhibits, including a gardening section, informational displays, an aquaponics system, a tunnel into the actual soil, large insect models and more. This win resulted in the team earning a $50,000 cash prize which ultimately funded the implementation of Project Lead the Way, a STEM-based curriculum, across our district.

During the 2017-2018 school year, Pleasant Ridge Elementary was one of two schools in the state, one of 63 schools in the nation, to be selected as a National Title 1 Distinguished School. The National Title I Distinguished Schools Program, which is a project of the National Title I Association, publicly recognizes qualifying Title I schools for the outstanding academic achievements of their students. The program has been in place since 1996 and showcases the success of schools in one of three categories:

•    Category 1: Exceptional student performance for two consecutive years.

•    Category 2: Closing the achievement gap between student groups.

•    Category 3: Excellence in serving special populations of students.

Pleasant Ridge Elementary School was recognized for exceptional student performance for two consecutive years.