Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone; although not everyone is as excited about this sugar infused holiday as some, please be mindful of all the young kids out tonight.

November brings with some changes for kids and school. Weather will become a bigger factor as we get into the traditional winter months. Please make sure your kids are dressed properly for winter weather; coats, hats, gloves and boots are highly recommended for students. Also make sure your older driving age students are properly equipped for anything that may happen as they travel back and forth to school. Also encourage them to keep plenty of gas in their vehicles; we would hate to have someone run out of gas on those cold winter days we have in SD. We will be testing the "One-Call" system in the near future to make sure everything is running properly; we need to finish updating our changes from conferences first, but anticipate a 'Test Message' some time in the near future.

Construction continues with much of the exterior work being completed in the next week or so. The parking lot has been paved and surrounding grading work completed. The road will be opening up soon for easier traffic flow; the parking lot will stay barricaded however. You are also noticing the exterior facade is getting finished; much of the galvanized metal is on the lobby, down spouts are dropped down, and the border stripe is getting installed. The exterior of the building will really come together over the next week and you will have a very good idea image of the finished profile for the gymnasium. We still have lots of various trades working on the interior; electrical, plumbing, and doors all working around each other.

Congratulations to the football team on Tuesday night's victory over Herreid/Selby Area; it was a fun and exciting game for everyone. A special item of note; the playoff victory was Coach Hoellein's 100th career victory as a varsity football coach. A tremendous milestone for any HS Football coach made even more special coming during a playoff game, Congrats Coach Hoellein!!!! We have a busy week next week for events as football playoffs continue Monday as we travel to Howard; volleyball districts start Tuesday (the band is playing, but the team has a bye), with the girls playing Thursday versus the winner of the Langford/Waubay match-up with District finals being held Friday, all matches are played at the Aberdeen Civic Arena.  Oral Interp travels to Aberdeen on Wednesday for district competition; Math Counts will also be in Aberdeen competing at Roncalli. Good luck to all our participants this coming week.

2nd Quarter Has Begun

It seems hardly possible that the second quarter of the school year has already begun; the school days seem to be flying by. With the end of the first quarter also allows us to send home report cards; parents of elementary students will be getting them in the per-conference folder; MS/HS parents can pick-up their students' report cards at Mrs. Lane's desk when you come to conferences.

Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, October 23 from 8:30-6:30 for Elementary students and staff with an hour break for lunch from 12:00-1:00. Middle School/High School conferences will run from 1:00-6:30. Elementary students will not have school on Thursday and Middle School/High School students will be dismissed at 12:30 after lunch. We do not have school for students and staff on Friday, October 24; I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy the 3 day weekend.

Good luck this week to all of our athletes; Competitive Cheer competes today in Lake Preston and will finish up their season on Friday at the State Competition in Watertown. Cross Country concludes their season on Saturday; we qualified 3 runners for the state meet in Huron. Congrats to the Volleyball and Football teams on their victories last week; it's always exciting to see the student/athletes have success on the playing fields. It's also good to see all the fan support for all our athletes; please continue to support them in a positive manner as much as possible.

Construction work continues to move forward on the gymnasium, the weather has been very favorable and hopefully we get more in the coming weeks as exterior projects continue and move closer to being finished. The parking lot will be the most significant change in the coming days; curb and gutter and sidewalks have been poured, lights roughed in and raising the grade for asphalt application will be finished up this week so black-top can go in next week. You will also notice some finishing touches with doors, windows and block work being completed. The next couple of weeks will really change the outside of the building, hopefully the weather cooperates.

Fall is Upon Us

Fall has certainly arrived, the leaves are changing, the wind is colder and thankfully most of the bugs have left us alone until Spring. With Fall comes the heavy traffic of trucks full of grain, combines and tractors all using the road and everyone working hard trying to finish up the fall harvest. We are also past the mid-point of the football, volleyball, cross-country, and competitive cheer seasons. We wish all of those teams the best of luck as they work towards ending their regular seasons on high notes.

Construction continues to push forward on the gymnasium and classrooms. We have moved the elementary computer lab to room 314 and it has seen regular, everyday use over the last couple of weeks. The additional classroom has been used for a play, group work and teachers are excited about the variety of options the large open space creates. Gymnasium work is moving along as expected; glass has been installed in the lobby, block work is continuing in the locker-rooms, bathrooms, etc, and exterior block work has begun on the east wall. Lights are being roughed, preliminary HVAC has been completed, and the whole building has been enclosed. So changes have been developing both inside and out. We know it will still take some time to get the entire project completed but we are excited about the changes we see occurring every week.

Don't forget we don't have school on Monday, October 13 in honor of Native Americans' Day.