Sioux Falls School District - Educate and prepare each student to succeed in a changing world

The largest fundraiser of the year for all four high schools and all activities is underway! Presidents Bowl features football, cheer, dance, marching band and much more!

We have a special feature on our podcast today! The fine folks at South Dakota Public Broadcasting have graciously allowed us to air their new mini-series "Teacher Talk" on our podcast. "Teacher Talk" features a conversation with educators about the state of public education in a variety of contexts. The mainstay guests are Dr. Jackie Wilber with the University of South Dakota, and Gina Benz, a high school english teacher at Roosevelt, right here in the Sioux Falls School District. Talks are hosted by Lori Walsh with SDPB, and can be heard on "In The Moment" through SDPB. A big THANK YOU to SDPB for letting us air these conversations on our podcast. These conversations are very important and the more we can get them out to the public, the better. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sfschools/episodes/SDPB-Presents-Teacher-Talk-e293ct8

The United States Marine Band is coming to Sioux Falls! They're bringing a patriotic salute to the armed forces to the Lincoln High School Gymnasium on Oct. 5th, 2023, and tickets are FREE! Just register and get your ticket beforehand at this link: www.marineband.marines.mil/Tour

Students are back in the classroom after Labor Day break and ready to learn! Could your student benefit from some extra help outside of class? Dakota Dreams offers free online tutoring programs for all students. For more information and registration go to ourdakotadreams.com/online-tutoring

Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow or next Monday. We hope you have an enjoyable long Labor Day weekend! We hope you get to spend time with loved ones as we transition into fall!

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing two or more days of school per month. And it has doubled in South Dakota since 2019. In July, SFSD was awarded a grant from the SD Department of Education to help combat chronic absenteeism. Through this grant we have hired six Attendance Liaisons who will develop relationships with students and work to identify/eliminate barriers preventing school attendance. The first step towards a student's success is simply showing up!

It's time for the first SFSD All Star of the 2023-24 school year! Xavier Tatum! Xavier has gone above and beyond the call of duty as an O.S Mechanic. He worked with Ben Schumacher recently to create some much-needed, overdue, and very helpful training videos. When asked, Xavier never hesitated to put himself in a unknown and never-done-before situation. These videos have been a great reminder and a helpful tool for all the custodial staff. Much of our equipment is used seasonally and these videos are a great refresher for staff who use this equipment. Xavier is always on-time and has a great attitude about getting any task asked of him done... even if it is not a pleasant one! Congratulations Xavier - you are an All Star!

The theme for the 2023-24 school year is...Cultivate! We maximize growth by planting the seeds for success. Being in South Dakota, this is an especially relevant concept. SFSD is committed to fostering nurturing environments of growth from early childhood up through graduation. Fresh ideas, innovation, and creativity are just a few tools we use to prepare each student for success in a changing world.

The SFSD leadership team is just as happy today as they were as Kindergarten students! This group has been "in school" a total of 150 years! Show us your "First Day" photos! #SFSDFirstDay

It's the first day of school 2023-2024! Lincoln High School was buzzing this morning!

School attendance is crucial. Providing free busing helps ensure students get to school daily. Information about bus routes, the free Stop Finder app, rules & expectations on the bus, maps & more info here: https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/page/busing-boundary-information

Thursday is the BIG day! The first day of school is an adjustment for everybody, & we want to make mornings less painful for everyone. New posters like this will be in your schools to help with the sometimes painful drop-off process. More info here: https://youtu.be/4dC9rGyNkcY

Today, we say a big THANK YOU to our community partners at Architecture Incorporated! Along with Sayre Associates, Structural Engineering Associates, and Associated Consulting Engineering Incorporated, their generosity has allowed us to start off the school year with new shirts for all staff! Our friends at Architecture Incorporated even helped us hand out shirts! (On what might be the hottest day of the year!?!) Longstanding community partnerships like these (going on 17 years now) are a cornerstone to the success of our students and staff alike.

Hawthorne Elementary 3rd Grade Teacher Lizzie Hansen took her teaching skills around the world this summer, spending nearly 3 weeks in Kenyan classrooms helping teach English and reading. What she brought back might be just as important. https://youtu.be/zXw_n8Hsl88

SFSD supports its teachers! Special education teachers were invited to participate in a make-and-take where they could choose supplemental materials and lesson ideas to make learning engaging and fun. The District’s Instructional Coaches developed the ideas to share with new and veteran teachers. Teamwork makes the dream work!

It's an earlier, abbreviated version of this annual event due to record heat, but the Roosevelt Marching Band Clinic is still happening this morning featuring Lincoln, Lennox and Roosevelt High Schools!

All of our teachers started this morning at the Sanford Pentagon with Tim Kanold's keynote, "Living a High-Energy Well-Balanced Professional Life!" So great to see so many new and familiar faces ready for a great 2023-2024!

The first day of school is six days away (Thursday, August 24th)! A variety of open houses will be happening in the coming days, so please check with your student's school to find info on important dates. See you soon!

Our marching bands work hard all summer, preparing for a strenuous & demanding performance & competition season. Saturday, all four high school marching bands will join other area schools to participate in a clinic hosted by RHS to continue to improve their 2023 shows. Here's a brief look at the weeks of work already in the books. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxCH78IjHgk&feature=youtu.be

Some of the summer construction wrapping up in time for the start of a new school year included brand new turf fields at Roosevelt and Washington High Schools! Soccer and football teams are already enjoying them, and so are marching bands!