Administrative Comments
Greetings, Warrior Families.
We are grateful to enter into November with a solid start to the 2022-23 school year. We are celebrating a strong fall season of activities. We celebrated with the Publications staff in October as they were selected by the South Dakota High School Activities Association as the Best Yearbook in the State of South Dakota during the Journalism Awards Conference. Congratulations to the Yearbook staff and Ms. Heckenlaible, their advisor, on producing a high quality book for the 2021-22 school year. Macy Gaspar also won best photo of a school activity, and there were nine other students who won photo and/or writing awards. Congratulations to our Competitive Dance Team who finished 2nd at the State Cheer and Dance Competition. Our theater department held their Fall Play last weekend as well. We have had students compete and place in oral interp and debate competitions and our choral programs had their first concert a few weeks ago. Our marching band had a fantastic competition season earning many awards. The Indoor Marching Show and Pancake Dinner for the Band is November 3rd. We also look forward to cheering on our volleyball team as they enter playoffs in November. We are grateful for all of the students who get involved in activities as well as the number of students who get out to the various activities to support one another. We truly have the best student body in the state! Thank you to the staff and parents who support and encourage their involvement. Research tells us that students who are involved in activities are more connected to school. Go, Warriors!
Midterm of the first semester was on October 27. If you have not yet, please log into Infinite Campus and check on your student’s academic progress as well as their attendance. We are very grateful to all of the parents and students who attended parent/student/teacher conferences last week. We were very thankful to host both in-person and phone conference options. On their path to mastery, a reminder that all students have the option to work with teachers during Warrior Halftime to get help with content. Please encourage your student to take advantage of this opportunity. The newsletter contains the Warrior Halftime study halls that are offered so that your student can find his/her teacher or someone who can assist with content.
As we move into the holiday season, we encourage you to make time to find moments of gratitude. If you would like to focus on gratitude and thankfulness in the month of November, please see the “30 Days of Gratitude Challenge” graphic included here. We are grateful for all the hard work of our students, teachers, and staff to help us have a great start to the school year. As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email teachers or reach out to your student’s counselor.
Superintendent Message
by Dr. Jane Stavem, Superintendent
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “Don’t ask the question if you don’t want to know the answer.” Here in the Sioux Falls School District, we believe meaningful and two-way communication is invaluable to achieving our mission ‘to educate and prepare each student to succeed in a changing world.’ That’s why we are, once again, launching our SFSD Views & Voice surveys where students, parents, business partners, and community leaders can provide ideas to improve education in your public schools. We are committed to continuous improvement and feedback is truly important to us.
Recently, we surveyed parents and teachers for feedback on what went well and what could be improved specifically at the start of the school year. You responded in a BIG way! More than 1,200 parents gave us suggestions about how to improve traffic flow for pick-ups and drop-offs and provided ideas about teacher meet-and-greets, school pictures, and a host of other topics. Nearly 500 staff members took the opportunity to share details about their favorite in-service sessions and ideas that help them prepare their classrooms before students arrive on the first day.
While in-person communication is always favored, it is not always possible in a district of our size. Short surveys through SFSD Views & Voice provide a quick opportunity for you to share your thoughts on a specific topic each month. We value that feedback and rely on it to shape plans for the coming year. If you haven’t participated yet, there will be more opportunities this year as we are posing questions each month. We are asking the questions, and we want to know the answers!
Community engagement is a priority for us. We are committed to making improvements to the experiences you and your children have in our public schools. We are aiming to be the best school district in the nation, and with your input, we will continue working toward that goal.
Congratulations to Cindy Heckenliable and the WHS yearbook contributors for the following 2022 SDHSAA Journalism Awards:
Best Yearbook 2022
Best Photo: School Activity taken by Macy Gaspar
Superior Photo Awards: McKenna Nelson, Sydney Sieler, Emma Shea, Rylan Nichols
Excellent Photo Awards: Haley DeWitt (2) and Michelle Seon
Excellent Writing Awards: Emma Shea, Haley SeWitt, Jack Hinrichs, Joe Jacobson (2), and Brooklyn Molyneux
Congratulations WHS Marching Warriors on an amazing season!
Winter Formal
Winter Formal will be held on Saturday, December 3, 2022 from 8-11 p.m. At Winter Formal we will allow WHS students to bring one non WHS student as their guest. In order to allow guests to the dance, we require that all students bringing an outside guest fill out the Washington High School Dance Guest form. This form requires a parent signature and information from the guest's school that they attend. It is available to pick up in Student Services and will be due on Tuesday, November 22 before the Thanksgiving Break. This is a hard deadline and no forms will be accepted after that day. Any questions, please email me at kristy.van-meeteren@k12.sd.us
New Counselor Alpha Assignment for 2022-2023 School Year
New Counselor Alpha Assignment for 2022-23 School Year
Nicole Thompson = A through COL
Jennifer Witt = COM through G
Shelli Wiese = H through LA
Tammy Nold = LE through OL
DeAndra McCarthy = OM through SO
Travis Sieber = SP through Z
Follow Us!
Facebook = facebook.com/washingtoncounseling
Instagram = whs_counseling
Yearbook Information
* The 2022 WHS yearbooks have arrived!!! Distribution will begin the week of August 29th. WHS graduates may stop in after school at 3:10pm to pick your yearbook or if you have a sibling that is still a student at WHS they may pick it up for you.
* There will be a portal on Infinite Campus to purchase the 2023 WHS yearbook through October 1st. After that, online purchases will be done through Jostens.
* Senior portraits for the yearbook are due by Christmas break. Look for specific requirements at a later date.
The Warrior Zone's November "Deal of the Month"
The Champion Orange Crew Sweatshirt is the November “Deal of the Month” in The Warrior Zone. This comfortable and stylish sweatshirt is marked down to the low price of $19.99 for the entire month. You can view this item and all the rest of the merchandise that is available in The Warrior Zone at www.whswarriorzone.weebly.com
WHS Booster Club
HS Tripper Bus Pass Changes
*The city SAM office will no longer charge middle or high school students to ride the city SAM bus. Students will only need to show their District photo ID to ride.
*The SFSD has also decided to no longer charge students to ride the HS Tripper buses. Students will only need to show their District photo ID to ride the yellow HS Tripper bus assigned to their HS.
*We will continue the HS Tripper routes with "set stops" for each HS.
Contact us
Website: http://www.sf.k12.sd.us/washington/home
Location: 501 N. Sycamore Sioux Falls SD, 57110
Phone: (605) 367-7970