District Dialogue

Thanks to our wonderful clerical staff and principals, most buildings in the District will have t-shirts available right in their front offices. If you have NOT been in contact with your building clerical about being part of a bulk order for your building, you are welcome to come through the line at the Instructional Planning Center to pick up your SFSD shirt.

Pick up time will be from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Tuesday, August 20, 2024. Please see the attached guide for instructions on how to go through the pick up line. Please enter the Robert Frost drop-off lane from the north off of 38th St. and exit onto 40th St.

If you have put an order in with your building clerical or principal, there is no need to come through the line as your order will come directly to your building.

Each passing week of August brings us a little bit closer to the upcoming first day of school! As you begin to get things ready for the 2024-25 school year, please consult this Back To School Bulletin for a list of important dates and trainings to remember.

The safety of students and staff is our highest priority in the Sioux Falls School District. New this fall, Howard Wood Field (HWF) will use walk through security points upon entry. Fans will simply pass through the detector pylons and if an alert sounds, they will be asked to step aside for further screening. This system does NOT require guests to empty pockets. Large metal objects like stadium chairs be passed around the screening pylons. This technology demonstrates our continued commitment to keeping all guests safe.

You'll be hearing a lot about "The SFSD Experience" over the course of this year. The SFSD Experience means a lot of things, and Lonny is the embodiment of everything that it stands for. If you haven't yet had the opportunity to watch this amazing story of Lonny and Michael, please take some time to do so. You'll be glad you did.

Music, Art, Culinary, Wellness, Language, Business, Adventure, and a myriad of course themes are included in our offerings for your next adventure, new skillset, accomplishment, bucket list check, fitness goal, date night or fun quest! Community Education strives to meet the lifelong learning desires of families by uniting passionate instructors with community members; a collaboration of talents and services that creates a more progressive, healthy community.

This week's SFSD Savings Marketplace deal comes to us from Spot Pet Insurance. With this special deal you can secure extensive coverage for your faithful companion so you can worry less about what's around the corner.

SHINE stands for Scholarship, Honors, Innovation, Networking and Exceptionalism. We’re looking for stories we can tell about high school seniors, any-age students, staff (yes, you can and should absolutely fill out this form for yourself!), projects and programs. Have a new partnership that is benefitting the classroom? Win a grant you think the world should know about? Get nominated for or receive a state-wide, regional or national honor? Know a senior stand-out on a team, in the fine arts arena, or in the classroom? How about younger students who are leading by example, making giving to charity a priority, or are making the most of a bad situation? Should a program or portion of your school be highlighted? What about some current projects: experiments, field trips, new collaborative lessons?

Send your suggestions today, and keep this in mind for the days, weeks and months ahead!

Imagine Solutions Conference is a nationally known thought leader conference that brings world-class visionaries to share ideas on today's most relevant issues. The conference offers an impressive speaker lineup in topics, such as Science and Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Arts, Music and much more. We are excited to provide Sioux Falls School District teachers the opportunity to attend this year's conference virtually. Registered attendees will receive a link to the recorded videos.

During the past 14 years, the Imagine Solutions Conference (ISC) has brought together more than 550 world-class experts to learn, springboard, and leverage their capabilities to effectively address social issues. Their mantra, "a profound respect for learning" mirrors the heart and soul of teachers who "love to learn." The ISC Virtual Learning Program for the Sioux Falls School District was created out of these beliefs, allowing all teachers to participate for free.

All registered teachers qualify for 5 hours of professional development for registering and completing a brief survey after watching all of the videos.

Do you have a coworker or colleague who is constantly going above and beyond? Do you notice when somebody is going out of their way to make a student's day just a little bit brighter? Do you have a staff member who consistently brings their best, day in and day out? We want to hear about it! We know that amazing things happen every day in every building of the Sioux Falls School District, and we need your help to tell those stories. Follow the above info (or click the link below) to nominate a coworker to be recognized for their amazing dedication to the work of SFSD.

Do you have questions about your personal leave options, SEMS codes, and personal leave balances? If so, please see the “Personal and Wellness Day Leave Memo for the 2024-25 School Year” for the 2024-25 school year!

Do you have questions about which days in the 2024-25 school year are “restricted dates” for the use of personal leave? If so, please see the “No Meeting-No Personal Days Memo for the 2024-25 School Year” for the 2024-25 school year!

Do you have questions about the Comp Days you will earn by working the fall and spring conferences? If so, please see the “Comp Days Memo” for the 2024-25 school year!

MySDRS has been integrated with the MySD Citizen Portal. This affects how individuals log in to MySDRS to access their SDRS account. If you have not already created a MySD account, you will need to create one in order to link and access your MySDRS account.

Click HERE to learn more about this integration and to view steps on creating/linking your accounts.

The South Dakota Retirement System (SDRS) has created Retire Ready, a new virtual format for group presentations. The SDRS Retire Ready series will consist of four short presentations, all designed to increase your financial awareness and help you prepare for retirement. All SDRS members, at any stage of their career, will benefit from the information provided. These 45-60 minute presentations are held via ZOOM every Wednesday on a rotating-basis.

Q&A Session: August 28th, 2024 at 4:15 pm

Ask your questions and get answers from SDRS staff. Every session will have unique questions from our members, so feel free to tune in often.

Register via ZOOM

Your Assistance Program can help you reduce stress, improve mental health, and make life easier by connecting you to the right information, resources and referrals.

Mental Health Solutions

Manage stress, anxiety, and depression, resolve conflict, improve relationships, overcome substance abuse, and address any personal issues.

Life Coaching

Reach personal and professional goals, manage life transitions, overcome obstacles, strengthen relationships, and build balance.

Financial Consultation

Build financial wellness related to budgeting, buying a home, paying off debt, managing taxes, preventing identity theft, and saving for retirement or tuition.

Legal Consultation

Get help with personal legal matters including estate planning, wills, real estate, bankruptcy, divorce, custody, and more.

Personal Assistant

Save time with referrals for travel and entertainment, seeking professional services, cleaning services, home food delivery, and managing everyday tasks.

Medical Advocacy

Get help navigating insurance, obtaining doctor referrals, securing medical equipment or transportation, and planning for transitional care and discharge.

And More!

Get started today at www.SandCreekEAP.com and use the company code siouxfalls to register!

SandCreek, our Employee Assistance Program, is free, confidential, and available to ALL Sioux Falls School District employees and their family members. To register use the company code siouxfalls.

Practicing gratitude has been scientifically proven to be associated with an individual’s well-being, general feelings of happiness and overall mental health. Here are 7 scientifically proven benefits of gratitude from an article titled, “7 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Gratitude That Will Motivate You To Give Thanks Year-Round”, by psychotherapist, Amy Morin:

1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships
2. Gratitude improves physical health
3. Gratitude improves psychological health
4. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression
5. Grateful people sleep better
6. Gratitude improves self-esteem
7. Gratitude increases mental strength

It’s so easy to focus on the negatives during times like these, but even on our hardest days, a daily gratitude practice trains our mind to look for the good in every day and helps us become more resilient.

Gratitude Journaling

Journaling has many benefits for mental health. Each day try to write down a minimum of three things that you are grateful for. These things can be specific to that day or just things you are grateful for in general. After beginning this gratitude journal practice, you will hopefully notice more and more things throughout your day that you are grateful for.

How to Start a Gratitude Journal

If you are interested in starting a gratitude journal, it’s super simple!

Here’s how it works:

1. Find a journal or use your phone (there are many apps available, too!). There is also one on SandCreekin your personal profile that is confidential.
2. Keep your journal in a place that you won’t forget to utilize it -- like on your nightstand.
3. Reflect and write 3 things you are grateful for every day. If the thought of doing this everyday feels difficult at first, begin by doing this once per week. Some examples of what you can write down could include things such as: another day of being healthy, cooking a delicious meal or going on a long walk in nature.

After starting a daily gratitude practice, you will realize how many things in your life you have to be grateful for, even during challenging times.

Source: NAMI