3 Things - August 20, 2025

A community school is a collaborative hub that includes families, educators, and community partners working in sync to provide comprehensive supports that promote student success. Grounded in the Community School Strategy, this model emphasizes family and community engagement alongside integrated student supports, expanded learning opportunities, and shared leadership practices, creating a unified approach that meets the unique needs of every community.

Decatur High School is working diligently to introduce the school as a model Community School. Your response to this questionnaire will be used to identify the top priorities of Decatur High School families and community members. The Community School Model will then connect and align community resources to support those identified priorities.

Please complete this survey to provide us with valuable feedback.

This year, we are giving the PSAT to all 10th graders and some 11th graders on Friday, October 24, 2025. This will involve 22 classrooms, over 30 teachers, and over 550 students. We also want to minimize the loss of instruction for students not taking the PSAT to the extent possible, so we are creating a “Connected Classroom Day” on October 24, 2025.

Because of the complex logistics of the day, we will NOT be allowing self-checkouts on October 24th. We also encourage parents of 10th grade students to have their students stay in school all day, rather than checking their students out after testing. Should you choose to check your student out after testing, please prepare for a significant wait should many other parents make the same decision.

All non-test-takers will report to their third-period classes at the beginning of the day and will remain with that class for the entire day. Some classes will meet in a different classroom that day, and this will be communicated closer to the day. During “Connected Classroom Day,” students will complete digital work for all of their core classes and their third-period class. They will also be given some options for other important work they could complete during the day if they finish classwork early (e.g., Seniors will have some post-secondary options to work on). All assignments will be posted by teachers before the start of the day. Additionally, they will have lunchtime and a structured break time in the gym.

Test takers will begin in their testing classroom, which will be communicated to them closer to test day. After completing the PSAT, 10th graders will participate in the “Connected Classroom Day” to work on the Personal Project for the remainder of the school day. For 11th graders taking the PSAT, they will also transition to “Connected Classroom Day” for the rest of the day and can work on the assignments posted by their teachers in their core classes.

The school day’s hours will not change. It is particularly important that students taking the PSAT are seated in their assigned classroom at 8:35 am, as there is no makeup for the PSAT.