Decatur County Community High School
605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749
August 28, 2022 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)
Follow us on Twitter at @DCHSREDDEVILS
Decatur County,
The first full week of school is down, and most of the beginning of the year kinks have been ironed out.
School felt like school, and the students and teachers were back into their routines. I was able to meet individually with each class, and let me tell you, they were just as great a week into school as they were on day one. To any parent, guardian, or community member reading today, you should be proud of the students. It's going to be a great year.
Shoutout to the whole staff for their willingness to cover classes. Whenever there is not a sub or when a teacher has to leave for coaching or other reasons, someone has to step up and sub for a teacher on their plan time. I have been impressed by the willingness of this staff to jump in and volunteer at a moment's notice. They are all willing to help each other out in a moment's notice.
Shoutout to science teacher Gannon Reichert. This goes along with the above shoutout to all, but I wanted to particularly give an example. Before I could even ask for coverage, Mr. Reichert had said that he would take the class during his plan time. He even offered to take a class while he had a class of his own. Team mentality from a former Oberlin graduate that is now leading by example for our own students in the classroom and as a coach.
Shoutout to Mr. Tim Breth. I have been able to meet Mr. Breth several times, and the majority of you reading this are probably far more familiar with Mr. Breth than I. Mr. Breth retired as a math teacher after last year. Though I wish I would have gotten to know him as a teacher for at least one year, I am always extremely excited for a teacher when they get to retirement. Plus, he is now getting to spend a ton of time with his young grandson. Mr. Breth was up at the school several times this summer just doing things. He helped with planting and cleaning in the courtyard, and you can just tell there is immense love for the school and the community. On Thursday, I recognized his voice at the Jamboree, and I'm looking forward to listening to him on Friday night as the "Voice of Oberlin."
Shoutout to librarian Lisa Fortin. Aside from the fact that she has great taste in music, she has gone out of her way to do whatever is asked of her this year. This year she has taken on Elevate course training to be the facilitator for one of our Elevate classes. Coming back this year, she probably had no idea what she was getting into, but she handled it in stride and like a pro.
Shoutout to all that came to the "Sports Drink Scrimmages." Whether it be the JR or SR high volleyball, football, or cross country exhibitions, there was a great turn out and several full trash barrels worth of donated sports drinks that will go to great use for our athletes.
Example Teacher #2
1. Fish food
2. The book The Hobbit
3. A turtle necklace
4. Tape?
5. Stylus?
FastBridge Testing This Week
What is FastBridge? As a universal screener, FastBridge is a test that is taken 3 times a year, fall, winter, and spring. It is a combination of reading and math tests taken by students throughout the country. Whereas state assessments compare students in Kansas and only include how well a student performs on content taught at grade level, a universal screener compares students to others throughout the country and measures their level across a grades.
Upon completing the test this week and the closing of the testing window throughout the country, student results will be available, and each student will be identified as either advanced, on-track, slight risk, or high risk.
Parents and students, it is important to discuss doing your best on these tests. Without top effort, it is very difficult to use the information to help our students and teachers improve in the appropriate ways. It's also possible that students would be identified as needing assistance when they don't.
I will speak more on FastBridge as the year goes on.
Yearbook Hits the Streets of McCook and Oberlin Selling Ads
These four girls have been hitting the payment selling ads for the 2023 yearbook. Yesterday we were in McCook, and today they will be back at it in Oberlin. We know businesses can do much more with their advertising dollars, but your donation helps keep yearbook prices down for students. The yearbook is for ALL students - not just athletes, musicians, or scholars, but for everyone!
THANK YOU to all of the Oberlin businesses who support our DCHS students. We appreciate you.
If Kamryn, Breyana, Addie, and Gabbie haven't been to see you yet, they will be by soon!
Twitter (I will leave this Info. throughout September)
I urge you to sign up for our Twitter page. You can look up Decatur County Community Red Devils or follow @DCHSREDDEVILS .Twitter is generally the fastest way to get information. Even my Weekly Messages will typically go out on Twitter before they are sent to you through PowerSchool. I would share this with loved ones as well. Twitter is the easiest way to catch a quick glimpse into the school and also get updates on changes. Our hope would be to grow our Twitter following and continue to share what we are doing at the school.
Can you believe that Labor Day Weekend is just a week away? If anyone has any connections with Mother Nature, could you remind her that there are supposed to be a few occasional cool days intermingled with the scorchers this time of year? It's 103 right now, so maybe the 93 forecast for Friday's football opener is a blessing after all.
And so it begins, Decatur. Homework is back on the nightly menu for students, the lights are back on come Fridays, and I am ready to be a part of it all!
Go Red!
Jeremy Holloway
Learning
Living
Leading
The Big Red Way
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