Go Big Red: DCHS Weekly Message

Week 29: The Home Stretch

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Decatur County Community High School

605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749

March 19, 2023 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)

Follow us on Twitter at @DCHSREDDEVILS or

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

Decatur community,

Spring Break was a good one for me, a quiet one for the most part (the best kind), and it will be a relatively quiet and brief message as well..

It's that surreal time again, that time when you come off of spring break and realize that Graduation is less than two months away.

The fourth quarter is the home stretch, the most important quarter of them all, the one that ends the game and ends the school year. Undoubtedly, we always reflect back on those first three quarters, but what really counts is where you end up.

No one cares about the three touchdowns you threw in the first half if you lose the game in the fourth. No one cares how you got to third base if you don't make it home.

No one cares how good or bad you did on an assignment or test early on. Rather, it's how well you learn from your mistakes, recover, and propel yourself forward. Ultimately, it's where you end up that counts the most.

Spring Break is over, and it's time to bring it home.

SHOUTOUTS

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Shoutout to the DCHS Wrestling Team for being named, collectively, to the First Team All-State Academic Team as named by the KWCA. It's always a great thing to see the emphasis of the word student in the term student-athlete. Our boys showed that though wrestling may be a passion for them, school is still a top priority.

Shoutout to Kenny Black and the maintenance staff. Over the break, they did a great job of cleaning up the school and getting it ready for everyone to come back. Spring Break is a "break" from a busy building for the maintenance staff.

Shoutout to three DCHS students that were recently named Hansen Scholarship recipients. Bryant Addleman, Emma Holloway, and Teague Morford were all awarded $4000 renewable scholarships, Addleman and Holloway receiving Student Scholarships and Morford receiving a Career and Tech. Ed. Scholarship. See our Facebook page for more info.

Things You Should Know

Spring Play: Clue

It seems like everywhere you look, there is a new murder-mystery movie or series streaming, a new escape room popping up, or even similar, playable games that you can play online or at home with family.

What better time for DCHS students to perform the original: Clue?

Showtimes:

Friday: 7:00

Saturday: 7:00

Sunday: 2:00

Plot:

Based on a movie that was based on a classic board game from the 1940s, Clue is a murder-mystery-comedy that is full of hilarious moments.

Set in a secluded mansion during a mysterious dinner party, six guests race to discover WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT after the party host is found dead.

Was it Wadsworth the butler?

Was it Miss Scarlett?

Was it Professor Plum?

Was it Mrs. White?

Was it Mr. Green?

Was it Mrs. Peacock?

Was it Colonel Mustard?

It was one of them, but can they figure it out before the killer strikes again?

Come out this week for a night of laughter and excitement.

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KESA UPDATE: The ARC Recommends Accreditation for Oberlin Schools

If you follow national news, you may have recently learned that the public school system in Houston, Texas was taken over by the State of Texas. Why? They were not meeting the desired and required outcomes that the State had put in front of them.

In Kansas, KESA is the process by which each district is measured to determine whether they are an accredited school district or not. This is a process that I have talked about this year. In the next section, I am including the KESA writeup from earlier in the year if you would like to go back and look, but right now, I want to share good news. I am including language here from a recent email that we received. Ultimately, we have been recommended for accreditation, and it is now simply down to the State Board approving in April.

"The Accreditation Review Council (ARC) came together in January and February to review systems seeking KESA Accreditation this school year. The ARC has determined, upon its review of the documentation, to recommend an Accredited status for your system (USD 294)to the State Board of Education."

"The State Board of Education is expected to receive accreditation status recommendations at its Mar 14 2023 meeting. Action on your KESA Accreditation Status should be taken during the State Board of Education’s April meeting."

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KESA (Kansas Education Systems Accreditation)

Every school in Kansas must go through a process of evaluation to become accredited. This process has changed many times over the decades. KESA is the current process, a 5 year cycle that frequently adjusts its requirements and expectations. As an example, here is the state's current answer to the question, "What is KESA?"

"The KESA model is designed around system/district-level accreditation occurring at the end of a five-year cycle of improvement using an education framework called “The Five Rs” – Relationships, Relevance, Responsive Culture, Rigor and Results."

Those "Five Rs?" They will be gone after this year, a whole new process.

KESA is big and it is very hard to condense into a small section in a Weekly Message. I will address KESA a piece at a time over the next several weeks. For now, I am just going to leave with a brief list of steps in the process through the 5 years that got us where we are today. We will start talking about the guts of the whole process as the year goes on.

Step 1: School Buildings at the beginning of the cycle determine current strengths, weaknesses, and challenges, and complete a Needs Assessment.

Step 2: District Leadership Team reviews the Needs Assessment and sets goals for improvement.

Step 3: Site Councils are included in the process as outside stakeholders,. They are informed of the current state of the district and the goals put in place by the leadership team and are included in the process of improvement.

Step 4: An OVT Outside Visitation Team is created to help serve as guides through the process. After the final OVT visit in year 5, the OVT will submit a report to the state.

Step 5: Accreditation Review Council: This 15 member council makes the recommendation of accreditation to the state. This is really the final step. The members review the final reports from the district and the OVT. They then make their recommendation to the State Board of Education.

Step 6: The Kansas State Board of Education reviews the recommendation of the ARC and makes the final decision.

That's it for KESA this week.