Decatur County Community High School
605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749
March 3, 2025 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)
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Decatur community,
I hope everyone was able to enjoy what was a busy three day weekend following Conferences on Thursday night. I know it was a quick weekend that was filled with several events ranging from visiting with a State Board Member for several hours, getting my son a new car, and attending DCHS activities.
Of those things, I do want to take a moment to focus on the State wrestling competition this past weekend, particularly Saturday. Our boys had won their first matches before struggling in the second and third rounds. One wrestler was able to win a second time, our senior, Garrett Emigh. I mentioned before that there is a special place for wrestling moms at a wrestling tournament, the excitement, the fear, the elation all vocalized. I was fortunate enough on Saturday to be sitting a few seats away from Garrett's mom Abby. It was the first time that I had been sitting close to a wrestling mom watching her son's final match, and all of those emotions were on display, including that final sad emotion of the day which I can only speculate had nothing to do with dissappointment in a loss and everything to do with the sadness of knowing that their special journey had come to an end. I have seen her at every wrestling event, football game, conference, FAFSA Night, and more over the years, and it was a moment that was nostalgic from my own youth.
Thank you to all of the moms (and dads and guardians for that matter) that show up. I feel like I can even speak to my own mother here and speak for most kids:
In my life I can still remember the first purchases of athletic gear, the first teams, the first practices, the first games, the consistent cheers, the face I looked for in the crowd, the one who hugged me when I was disappointed, the one who had to deal with my mood when I was frustrated, the one that was with me for the whole journey, the one who always put me first, the one person who was even more dissappointed than I was when the journey was over.
Thank you for showing up!
Shoutout to State wrestlers Sage Bryan Garrett Emigh, Josiah Pattangall, and Kaden Sowers. The first big goal that every wrestler wants to accomplish in a season is to make it to State. Not only did each of these boys make it to State, but each won their first match. Though we had no one that placed at State this year, It is the most qualifiers we have had since I have been here, and we have a young team that has several up and coming wrestlers in both the girls and boys divisions. I greatly appreciate everything that is being done by both JH and HS coaches to help influence wrestling in our community.
Shoutout to each member of the Oberlin Community that made the trek to Ft. Hays State University this past Friday and/or Saturday for the State competition. It's obvioulsy common that family will be sitting in the seats to watch, but I was impressed by the number of Oberlin residents that were there to sit through day and enjoy the State Competition.
Shoutout to the DCHS Singers for consistently showing up and singing the National Anthem for our community before each basketball game. It's a steady and consistent tradition that frequently gets comments from those that visit DCHS. Last Tuesday was their last of the season.
Shoutout to each local agency and all community members that showed up for the wrestling send-off last Thursday. There's a lot of time and effort put into an individual season, and I know it's greatly appreciated by the wrestlers, the coaches, and the families. It was awesome to see OES students come out to greet our wrestlers before they left for Hays.
Shoutout to Coach Gehring and the girls basketball team. The team had an outstanding opening matchup against Lakeside on Monday night before losing a close ballgame against a tough Atwood team on Saturday. A special thanks to all of our senior girls that played their final games.
Shoutout to Coach Breth and the boys basketball team. The boys looked very solid in beating St. Francis last Tuesday for the third time on the season. It was their cleanest win of the three. Tomorrow, they travel to Quinter for the Sub-State Semis. It is a rematch of what was probably the best game I can remember watching this season. Let's go boys!
Shoutout to every parent that took the time to come to parent teacher conferences this past week. In today's world, conferences look a lot different than they did, and there is a lot less attendance at conferences than there used to be. Today, every parent has access to their student's grades online and an email can be sent in a brief moment with inquiries if there is a concern, but there is still something personal and special about sitting down with the person that spends at least 45 minutes a day with them during the school year. I am glad that I was able to speak with several parents myself. I always looked forward to conferences when I was a teacher to not only address concerns, but also to give both the student and parent a chance to hear why I thought their kid was so special.
Shoutout to Carrie Morford and the DCHS Booster Club for providing a variety of foods for our staff during conferences. The cookies, brownies, cheesecakes, meat trays, potatoes, salad, and more were greatly appreciated.
Shoutout to OES principal Krickit Ketterl for donating and cooking up beef for a taco bar on Thursday night. I also want to throw in a second shoutout to her and the rest of the OES staff for their solid committment to their One School One Book Event. It was great to see all of the various readers that participated in reading the chapters in A Boy Called Bat. This past Saturday, I understand that over 200 people attended the final event in the OES gym and were able to see a variety of animals including a large python and penguin. I wonder how many times there have been penguins in Oberlin.
Shoutout to our music department teachers consisting of Lisa Johnson, Brad Persinger, and Jenny Tally. This past week was a busy one for each of them. We had the JH Music Festival in Colby on Wednesday, and this past Thursday-Saturday saw them at KMEA in Wichita. There were a lot of great experiences and successes this past week. Here are a few photos.
JH Students Excel at Colby Music Festival
This past Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to head over to Colby Community College for the annual JH Music Festival. Although I was unable to see every performance, I was able to see quite a few, and I was very proud of how well our students performed. Here were the official results:
Band: II
Saxophone Ensemble: II
Flute Ensemble: I
Brass Ensemble: II
Clarinet Ensemble: I
Percussion Ensemble: I
Kiaya Waterman, Flute Solo: I
Serenity Ozaeta, Clarinet Solo: I
Choir: II
Gracie Lango, Vocal Solo: I
On top of the music festival.
Wyatt Scott, Vocal Solo: II
Wyatt Hughes, Vocal Solo: I
Serenity Ozaeta, Vocal Solo: I-
Kennedy Chambers, Vocal Solo: I
Job Kliewer, Vocal Solo: I
Jade Tuttle, Vocal Solo: I
Tessa Witt, Vocal Solo: I
Reagan Williby, Vocal Solo: I
Jenna Fuentes, Vocal Solo: I
Landry Mendenhall, Vocal Solo: I
Charity Adams, Vocal Solo: Comments Only
Level Up DCHS Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge Wednesday
This Wednesday, DCHS will have its very first YEC Competition, with over 20 students involved in showcasing business plans and products for people to see. A special thank you goes out to Sharee Dempewolf for directing the event and to teachers Jason Ketterl, Tamera Rice, Teresa Saul, and Gina Witt for working with their students on the competiton.
The products will be showcased in the JH gym and students will present their business plans to a panel of judges in separate classrooms at scheduled times.
Prizes will be awarded to the winners, and the event is open to the public. We will open doors for the public to view from 9:00-11:30 on Wednesday, March 5th. Guests should enter through the front of the building on the west side which is the old gym entrance.
We will have a more specific schedule posted tomorrow.
Attendance Letters
As we near the halfway point of the second semester, I want to reiterate the importance of attendance and the laws that are mandated by the State.
The state of Kansas requires each school district to have an Attendance Policy as part of a school's rating and accreditation.
Below is a an email that you will receive if your student's attendance becomes a concern. For some, it is simply a notification, and you are very aware, but these will be sent bi-weekly to all parents of students that are on pace to miss too many days, affecting the district's "Chronic Absenteeism" on the annual report.
Hello,
You are receiving this email due to the fact that your student has missed several days of school and has exceeded or is on pace to exceed their maximum allowable parent-excused absences this semester. If you have doctor’s notes that you can provide for prior absences, please have them sent over to the high school so that we can update your records.
Here is the current policy:
Doctor’s Excused Absences: These absences do not count against your attendance total. The school reserves the right to verify these absences if there become too many. These absences are strictly related to illness and or injury. For the most part, these do not factor into the equation.
Excused Absences: These are absences that a parent can call in. You may not need to see a doctor every time you don’t feel well. These can be used at any time. Students are allowed 6 absences per semester without a doctor’s note. When they hit the 7th call in, it is unexcused without a doctor’s note.
Unexcused absences: Absences that are unaccounted for or are over the 6 excused days and no doctor’s note is provided.
School policy states that unexcused absences result in the following:
1. Loss of free time for the remainder of the semester
2. Potential ISS for repeated offenses
3. Truancy letter turned into the Decatur County Attorney if meeting the criteria below:
State Law says that truancy kicks in when there are one of the following:
3 unexcused absences in a row
5 unexcused absences in a semester
7 unexcused absences in a school year
Your student's current attendance: ______
Excused Absences without a doctor’s note: _______ (6 max per semester)
Unexcused Absences: _____
If you have any questions or further information, please feel free to reach out to us at 785-475-2231.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Holloway
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions on how the attendance policy works.
BOYS BASKETBALL Record 10-10
1-0 W 67-33 home vs Atwood
2-0 W 62-43 vs Hitchcock County (McCook Invitational First Round)
2-1 L 33-59 vs Danbury (McCook Invitational Semifinals)
3-1 W 55-42 vs Southwest (McCook Invitational 3rd Place Game)
4-1 W 50-48 home vs Hill City
4-2 L 48-54 home vs WaKeeney
4-3 L 40-25 @ Logan/Palco
4-4 L 46-53 @ Oakley
5-4 W vs Northern Valley
5-5 L 46-73 @ Hoxie
5-6 L 57-60 vs Wallace County (NWKL League Tournament)
6-6 W 56-36 vs St. Francis (NWKL League Tournament)
7-6 W 60-53 vs Ness City (NWKL League Tournament)
8-6 W 55-29 vs St. Francis
9-6 W 53-47vs Wallace County
9-7 L 33-66 @ Dighton
9-8 L 34-@ Greeley County
9-9 L 47-62 vs Norton
9-10 L 46-50 OT @ Quinter
10-10 W 61-33 home vs St. Francis Sub-State Quarters
@ Quinter Sub-State Semifinals
Girls Basketball Record 11-10
0-1 L 45-54 home vs Atwood
1-1 W VS Hitchcock County (McCook Invitational First Round)
2-1 W 35-25 vs Maywood (McCook Invitational Semifinals)
2-2 L 44-51 vs Southwest (McCook Invitational Championship game)
3-2 W 59-15 home vs Hill City
4-2 W 50-20 home vs WaKeeney
5-2 W 68-20 @ Logan/Palco
5-3 L 41-48 @ Oakley
6-3 W home vs Northern Valley
6-4 L 38-45 @ Hoxie
6-5 L 38-48vs Tribune (NWKL League Tournament)
7-5 W 51-33 vs St. Francis (NWKL League Tournament)
8-5 W 47-25 vs Dighton (NWKL League Tournament)
9-5 W 53-42 vs St. Francis
9-6 L 25-50 vs Wallace County
9-7 L 30-44 @ Dighton
10-7 W 40-35 @ Greeley County
10-8 L 26--28 vs Norton
10-9 L 45-65 @ Quinter
11-9 W 76-27 home vs Lakeside Sub-State Quarterfinals
11-10 L 52-57 vs Atwood @ Colby Event Center Sub-State Semifinals
Decatur County Community Junior/Senior High School
Email: jholloway@usd294.org
Website: https://www.usd294.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/DCHS
Location: 605 East Commercial Street, Oberlin, KS, USA
Phone: 785-475-2231
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Decatur-Community-JrSr-High/372347636275932
Twitter: @DCHSREDDEVILS