News from the Nest
Happenings at Decatur Central High School
August 28 Edition
Greetings,
This past week was a good week at Decatur Central High School. Students are starting to hit their groove and seem to be responding well to the Block Schedule. Below you will see many pics from classrooms where teachers have been able to craft lessons that allow for deeper dives into concepts since they have longer blocks of time to do so.
As well, this week marks the 1/2 way mark of the first quarter. Be on the lookout for grade reports from your student's CCR teacher in the next week. Please keep in mind to be eligible for extra-curricular activities a student needs to be passing 6 classes. Eligibility is determined at the end of the 9 week quarter so there is time for your student to get to this level if they are a little behind but it will take extra effort and encouragement. As a team we can lead all students to a successful high school career!
We are better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today...because we are Hawks and that is what we do!
Tom Wachnicki
Principal
This week's block schedule
Daily Bell Schedule
This Week's Home Events!
Monday, August 29
Boy’s Tennis v. Plainfield 5:00
Girl’s Soccer v. Southport 5:30
Tuesday, August 30
Boy’s Soccer v. Whiteland 5:30
Girl's Volleyball v. Whiteland 5:30
Wednesday, August 31
Mid-Term Grades
Girl's Soccer v. Tri-West 5:30
Girl's Volleyball v. Cardinal Ritter 5:30
Thursday, Sept 1
Boy’s Tennis
Girl's Volleyball v. Pike 5:30
Friday, Sept 2
Football v. Whiteland 7:00
Picture Day Information!
Picture Days will be on September 8th, 9th, and 12th.
Students will go starting at 9:30am in their Study hall classes.
Students wishing to order pictures can pick up their forms from their CCR teachers starting on August, 29th.
If a student can not find a form, or has lost their form before they get home, they may go to lifetouch.com and use the school code EVTV2WTNQ
Nurse's Corner
Addressing Vaping
Lunch Assignments
10:55 Zone A/Lunch A--Choice and Edge classrooms
11:25 Zone B/Lunch B--New Tech, Art and JAG classrooms
11:55 Zone C/Lunch C--Q&I and Innovation classrooms
12:25 Zone D/Lunch D--Study Halls, PE/Health, Performing Arts
Please keep in mind that we do not allow students to leave school for lunch nor do we accept food deliveries unless arranged ahead of time with the student's director.
Blue/Gold Day Calendar
Attendance Procedure
You may contact the SLC office as follows when calling the school at 317-856-5288:
First Option: To input an extension if you know the party's extension to whom you would like to speak.
Second Option: To choose the SLC of your student by selecting a number, with a 1 for Choice, 2 for Edge, 3 for Innovation, 4 for New Tech or 5 for Q&I.
We will send out automated attendance notifications throughout the school day if students are marked absent and a parent phone call hasn't been received. We do this to avoid students acquiring excessive unexcused absences that can bring disciplinary actions.
Thank you for your help in maximizing the opportunities we have to help your student be their best version of themself!
Keeping up with your student!
Skyward is where teachers take daily attendance, sync grades 1 time per week, and host other vital information for your student. To keep track of your student using this you simply use the parent login you used for registering your student this year. If you cannot remember your password please contact your student's SLC office.
School Saftey
School safety takes a team. The school staff, the SROs, the students and the parents all make up this team and it takes us all to make sure DCHS is as secure as possible.
Our safety emphasis this year will be making sure students are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there and that the school remains as secure as possible throughout the day.
Currently, we have 1 access point during the day at DCHS, Door 1. We recognize that this can be inconvenient for students arriving at school after the start of the day since it is quite a hike to door 1 from student parking and we are working on a procedure that would allow students to have a shorter distance to go for access. Once we have worked this out it will be communicated out. Parents, please encourage your students to abide by the door 1 entrance.
As well, please recognize that students leaving the building without authorization and/or propping doors open to be able to leave and come back are major safety violations and will have to be handled sternly. Again, please encourage your students to speak with their SLC office in order to leave the building for any reason during the day.
Thank you for being a supportive member of the safety team!
Employment Opportunities
Serving is our specialty!
Choice Academy Gleaners Food Pantry
This year the Choice Academy is working with Communities in School Staff at DCHS to combine the Choice Academy Food Pantry and the DCHS Gleaners Food Pantry. This is a great opportunity for the Choice students to help Decatur Community members in need. Starting in September, community members can pick up a donation box every Thursday. The following is the link for scheduling a donation box.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIS6hJ_CABoqqFUFatsozAhzkX2s5jI0vAkM0iGCTgj6-FOQ/viewform
DCHS is part of the Indiana Thriving School Program
The Choice Academy's School Wide Recycling program was awarded a grant as an Indiana Thriving School. The Choice Academy will use the grant funds to continue building the program with recycling awareness through collecting data and refining the process of collecting materials during recycling pick up.
Getting Settled and Down to Business!
The Innovation community is feeling strong and settled having completed the first four weeks of the school year! The first month of school included the adjustment to block scheduling (Blue/Gold days), new classes, new instructors and staff, new peers, and much more. Our scholars have been masterful in their flexibility to all the "new" they've experienced in the first four weeks! We are proud of our students, and we look forward to seeing all the good that their hard work yields in the coming weeks.
A major focus for our community this week has been relationship and community building. We believe as an SLC that students have greater chances of success and growth when they have a village to walk alongside them during the high school experience. To that end we have designated each Friday of CCR to building community and connection while integrating components of the SEL curriculum. It was inspiring and fun to walk through the Innovation hallway last Friday and see the valuable work being done within each CCR to connect scholars to one another and to an adult champion within our SLC. This Friday our SLC will participate in the first all-CCR "Innovation Jubilation" of the school year. During this time we will spotlight students who have exemplified the quality of "kindness" during the month of August. Each month of the school year we will select a different core value and spotlight students within Innovation who have demonstrated that quality.
Mr. Hiller"s Chem is collaborative!
Mr. Archer's Choir...
...is looking good!
The Heart of New Tech: Academics, School Spirit, and Family
This week our students were hard at work, getting into their “knows” and “need to know” in their group projects. The New Tech community produces real world projects for real people. Our students are not only good at solving real world problems and producing items our community needs, but we also have the help of our construction team creating and making the products alongside the Engineers.
Our construction teachers are truly amazing! Our construction classes have grown so much that we are buying skids of lumber versus buying in batches!
Although we are always hard at work academically, we do find time to show school spirit and participate in our Family Friday event. This week each CCR competed in a rock, paper, scissors competition. Congratulations to Ms. Ehmen’s CCR! Her CCR won the belt this week.
Mentors making a difference!
Links to Online Tickets for the Week's Events!
Mon 8/29
G Soc vs Southport: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14964&p=24038
Tue 8/30
VB vs Whiteland: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14987&p=24061
B Soc vs Whiteland: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14991&p=24065
Wed 8/31
VB vs Cardinal Ritter: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14975&p=24049
G Soc vs Whiteland: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14986&p=24060
Thu 9/1
VB vs Pike: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14985&p=24059
Fri 9/2
V FB vs Whiteland: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=14982&p=24056