Red Devil Ready:DCHS Weekly Message

Week 2: Back to School

Decatur County Community High School

605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749

August 25, 2024 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)

Follow us on Twitter at @DCHSREDDEVILS or

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Oberlin294/

Decatur community,

We are offiially back in school!

I couldn't have asked for a better start to the school year. For starters, a three day week is just about right to start the year. Last year, we started on a Monday, (the only time that has ever happened in my life) and though there was something to be said for getting straight down to business, a short week is perfect for several reasons. Teachers can adjust lessons and make arrangements due to class sizes and a variety of other circumstances. Students can quicky adjust to the end of the summer and get a successuf week under their belts.The lunch staff, the custodians, myself, every group quickly remembers how valuable a weekend is to regroup and rest, and none may be more important than that first of the school year.

Now, the initial "practice" week is over, and our first full week begins with homework and activities on the docket.

Here we go, Red Devils!

SHOUTOUTS

Shoutout to all of the parents and students that came in for the Open House. Last Monday night, several students and parents worked their way through their schedules to familiarize themselves with classes and locker locations. Other students talked with Mrs. Springer and myself about schedule adjustments. It made for an easy and organized transition on the first day of school.

Shoutout to my cafeteria staff, Vicki Versailles, Renee Harman, and Tabetha Carfield. Aside from running a great summer lunch program, the ladies came out strong this week with a powerhouse lineup of school lunches. Any week that includes bosco sticks, chicken nuggets, and pizza is a winner, and it happened in the first week of school. Nice, ladies.

Shoutout to STUCO sponsor and DCHS counselor Jillian Springer and STUCO for organizing a great and well thought out Back to School Bash at Sappa Park. The giant water slide, slip n slide kickball, and traditional corn hole tourament were all hits.

Shoutout to the Booster Club for providing food and time for the students. These things don't happen without a strong supporting cast, and there were several people that contributed to provide hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cookies, and more.

Shoutout to Athletic Director Brandon Gehring and his son, Brady (9). The Gehrings won the annual corn hole tournament. It was a dedicated and committed battle against Elsie Larson (10) and Brylee Minnick (11) that went all the way to the 10:00 hour. After splitting matches, the Gehrings won the final round. Larson and Minnick were the two-time Back to School Bash defending champions. It makes for a great story to kick off next year!

Shoutout to English teacher Libby Fort. Ms. Fort was the first teacher to use the new and updated court yard. I was waiting for it to happen, and she had the new 7th graders doing a teambuilding activity in the first week.

Shoutout to all of our new teachers Mr. Cepeda, Ms. Rice, and Mr. Wendelin. Any time you are starting a new position or even starting a new subject, it can be very stressful. I appreciate the excitement and enthusiasm that I saw with each of them when I discussed their plans for the future. I anticipate a lot of positive impact from each.

Things You Should Know

Online Pay Available Tomorrow

USD 294 is excited to announce that online pay will go live tomorrow, August 26th. An announcement will come out tomorrow letting parents and guardians know that we have officially gone live. Here are a few things that I want everyone to know before we go live.

Fees: With online pay you can pay for any fees that you may have dealing with the school. Here are some examples:

-Enrollment fees that you may still owe.

-New fees that are imposed due to schedule changes or projects that will have a fee added at a later date.

-Fees that may accumulate due to damage done to a Chromebook or other school property.

Lunch: You will now be able to add lunch money to your student's lunch account. Whether you owe money or just want to add more to it, lunch transactions can now be done online.

Other things that I think are important to know:

1. We will continue to accept payments the same way we always have. Just know that from now on, we will be updating all fees in PowerSchool as well for a better record.

2. When you come into the office, you can use your credit card. You will hand it over to Melissa, and she will make the transaction for you.

3. PowerSchool will not update immediately. When you make a payment, you will receive your own transaction record. Melissa will run a daily report either at the end of the day or first thing the next morning. Please allow up to 48 hours for your payment to reflect in PowerSchool, longer if over the weekend. We will make sure to get everything up to date as soon as we possibly can.

4. DCHS and OES are considered two separate schools. When you make payments or add lunch money, you will have to do so for separate schools. There are dropdown menus and a memo section for you to pay. If you have more than one student in a school, you can specify in the memo section the amounts for lunch if you would like, but if you have students in different schools, you will need to do two separate transactions.

5. There is a transaction fee for any online payment that is made. It is a percentage based rather than a transaction based fee . In other words, with $200 worth of fees between two buildings, the cost would be the same whether it was done with one $200 transaction or two $100 tranactions.

6. Ask for help. If there are any questions or items you would like to discuss, please don't hesitate to reach out. I don't mind walking through the whole process with you if need be. More than anything, we are happy to be able to provide this service to our community.

Attendance and Truancy Policy

We are beginning the year, and I want to make sure that I get this out to everyone right away.

1. Research shows that the single greatest factor contributing to student achievement is attendance at school. Although we realize there will be occasions when students legitimately need to be gone from school, it is the combined responsibility of the school officials and parents to see that these absences are kept to a minimum.

2. Approval for an absence by a parent does not necessarily mean that the absence will be excused. School administrators will make the final determination as to whether or not an absence will be considered excused.

3. A student is considered absent when he/she is not in regular school classes or in a school-sponsored activity. Upon an absence, a student must have a written or verbal excuse from a parent or guardian. If the parent fails to call the school, the school will make an attempt to reach the parent via an automated PowerSchool attendance message.

4. Each semester a student has 6 absences that can be excused by a parent. All other absences must be excused by a doctor. Absences that are accompanied with a doctor's note do not count toward the 6 absences that students can have excused by a parent. Parents should call the school on the morning that they know their student is not going to be in attendance, regardless of why their student is not going to be there. Only a doctor’s note or special administrative approval can excuse a student beyond 6 absences per semester.

5. Once a student has 6 full excused absences per semester, any additional absences that are not accompanied with a doctor's note will be considered unexcused and be treated according to school and state truancy policies. Administration has the discretion/flexibility to excuse an absence if deemed necessary due to extenuating circumstances. Examples could be accidents, extended illnesses, or surgeries that require the student to miss more than the days allowed.

TRUANCY POLICY

Students accumulating three consecutive unexcused absences, five unexcused absences in a semester, or seven unexcused absences in a year will be identified as truant. In accordance with the Kansas Compulsory Attendance Law (K.S.A. 72-1113), students under the age of 18 will be referred to the county attorney. Students 18 years of age or older can be dismissed from DCHS. Re-admission will be determined by a hearing with the student and parents/guardians.

Sports Kick Off

There is probably nothing that unifies a small-town community more than your athletic teams. We have a full week of practice under our belts, and now we get to have our first competition against an outside competitior. This week we have two jamborees and our girls' season officially gets into the record books, but we are a few weeks away from either team playing at home. Here's a quick glance at the schedule for this week:

Tuesday, August 27: Volleyball Jamboree @ Rexford

Friday, August 30: Football Jamboreee @ Wakeeney

Friday, August 30: Volleyball Season kicks off @ Wheatland w/Hoxie

Let's go, Red Devils!