Go Big Red: DCHS Weekly Message

Week 18: 'Twas the Week of Finals

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Decatur County Community High School

605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749

December 18, 2022 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)

Follow us on Twitter at @DCHSREDDEVILS or

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

Decatur community,

Twas the week of Finals

And all through the town,

The students were studying questions

Like “adverb or noun?”.

The excitement of a break

Only three sleeps away,

Dominates the minds

Of us each every day.

But there's one final moment,

An opportunity to show,

Everything that you’ve learned,

Everything that you know.

Parents and students,

I encourage, do your best,

Put all that you’ve got

Into one Final test.

I know the end

Is only three days away,

But finish it strong,

The Red Devil Way!

SHOUTOUTS

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Shoutout to Mr. Persinger and his Beginning Guitar students. On Friday, his students stopped by the office and played several holiday themed songs. I was definitely impressed by the improvement that the students have made throughout the semester. Thanks to (left to right) Josh Juenemann, Theo Butterfield, Kyle Strohm, Mr. Persinger, Olivia Williby, Sophia Davis, and Kylie Gruwell for their performances.

Shoutout once again to the girls' basketball team. This past week they improved to 4-1 with wins over Hill City and Trego. The game against Trego was a clean game that saw the Lady Devils win big against a good team. The girls will look to stay hot with a final game before the break on Tuesday when the basketball teams travel to Oakley.

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Mr. Persinger

Shoutout to Mr. Persinger and the band students for a great concert last Monday. The students were great, and I particularly enjoyed the sharing of the historical context of the songs that were played.

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Band Students Get a Well Deserved Applause

Shoutout to Mr. Persinger and the band students for a great concert last Monday. The students were great, and I particularly enjoyed the sharing of the historical context of the songs that were played.

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WIlliby Chosen as Member of KMEA Honor Choir

Shoutout to senior Olivia Williby on being selected to the KMEA Honor Choir. Whether it be as the Captain of the Cheer Squad, President of the STUCO, playing a big role in the musicals or a million other things, Olivia is always involved, including, and leading in a positive way. It's a well-deserved, tremendous honor.

Things You Should Know

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Finals Week

At DCHS, we have Finals. All students have Finals. High school students take classes for credits, are shooting for a diploma, and are getting ready for the potential of college and/or careers.

Below is the schedule:

MONDAY, December 19th Hours: 1, 3,5,7 (ODDS)

HOUR 1: 8:10- 9:40

HOUR 3: 9:50-11:20

HOMEROOM: 11:25-12:25

1ST LUNCH: 11:25-11:55 (7,8,9)

2ND LUNCH: 11:55-12:25 (10,11,12)

HOUR 5: 12:30-2:00

HOUR 7: 2:10-3:40

TUESDAY, December 20th Hours: 2,4,6,8 (EVENS)

HOUR 2: 8:10- 9:40

HOUR 4: 9:50-11:20

HOMEROOM: 11:25-12:25

1ST LUNCH: 11:25-11:55 (7,8,9)

2ND LUNCH: 11:55-12:25 (10,11,12)

HOUR 6: 12:30-2:00

HOUR 8: 2:10-3:40

If you know that you are going to be gone before Finals for any reason, here are your options:

At the teacher’s discretion, a student may stay after school in the afternoon on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of Finals’ week to take early finals or finals that they that they may have missed on Monday or Tuesday.
Any Final that you do not complete during Finals’ week will be a zero unless you make it up on Tuesday, January 3rd. The Finals will be taken with the teacher or in a supervised testing room.

Any Final that is not completed will result in a zero and will count toward the final semester grade for that class.

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Vocal Concert Monday Night

Last week was the band and this week is the choir's turn. Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Tally will lead HS choir tomorrow night as they have their Winter Vocal Concert. The concert will start at 7:30. After the Fall Concert, the Musical, and the various other singing activities that the Singers have been involved with, I am looking forward to hearing them once again.

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Community Open House

On Monday night, we will have our second meeting that is open to the community. I encourage all to come, and please bring anyone that you may think will benefit.

Patrons Encouraged to Tour USD 294 Facilities on Dec. 19

The USD 294 Board of Education invites community members to see firsthand the current conditions of Decatur County High School and Oberlin Elementary. The goal for the evening is to start a discussion on what facility improvements are needed, to help position the school district for success in years to come.

Tours will be held at 5:30 p.m. on both Wednesday, December 14 and Monday, December 19, beginning in the High School Auditorium, 605 E. Commercial St. Board members and school district staff will be on hand to guide the tours, answer questions, and give insight into the current challenges.

“Our community’s ability to thrive in the future depends on the quality of our schools, and facilities play a major role in the education of our children,” said Joel Applegate, USD 294 Superintendent. “Both of our facilities have served our community greatly over the years, and now is the time to look at plans that will allow us to continue to serve the community and our children for the next fifty years.”

For more information, contact Joel Applegate at 785-475-3805.

OBERLIN'S FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE (PICK ONE)

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KESA (Kansas Education Systems Accreditation) REPEAT INFO>.

I will pick up KESA to start the new year, but I am going to leave this information here for the time being.

This past Wednesday, we had our OVT (Outside Visitation Team) Visit, the final meeting in a 5-Year process known as KESA. Now, it's not completely over, but we have turned in our report, given our final presentation, and now wait for the State to evaluate our work.

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.

GO BIG RED

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Well, Oberlin,

The end we can see,

Goodbye, '22,

Hello ‘23.

One Final showing of what everyone knows,

Before Semester One can officially close,

Work hard, think hard, and then rest you can do,

Bringing an end to the year Two-Zero-Two-Two.

Then go, Oberlin,

Spend time with those dear

Enjoy these two weeks,

And we'll see ya next year!

Jeremy Holloway

Go Big Red!

SPORTS SECTION

WRESTLING

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Results: (See Facebook page for more info.)

Josh Juenemann took first place at 113 pounds at the Fran Jorgensen Wrestling Tournament in Cambridge, NE. Josh is still undefeated (13-0) and has won the Hoxie, Ellis, and now Cambridge tournaments.

Lukas Zodrow at 138 pounds and Kyra Sowers, 115 pounds in the girls' division, both took second. Garrett Emigh placed 3rd at 182 pounds.

Results of McCook JV Boys and Girls Varsity Tournament: Theo - 2nd, Conner - 2nd, Kyra - 3rd.