Dear Deuel Middle School Families,

It is my pleasure to welcome new and returning families to a new school year at Deuel. I am honored to be the new principal for the Deuel Middle School and High School for the 2022-2023 school year. This may be my first year as principal, but I have been a teacher and coach at Deuel for 15 years.

It is great to be a part of a community where students, teachers, and parents care for each other and strive to build meaningful relationships that support academic and social-emotional growth. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns 605-874-2161 Ext. 206 or email me at scott.mitchell@k12.sd.us.

I look forward to working with you and assisting each student to meet his or her personal goals. Visit our website at www.deuel.k12.sd.us or Facebook page at Deuel School District for current news and upcoming events.

Mr. Scott Mitchell
Middle and High School Principal

If your child is going to be gone or is home sick, please either e-mail or call the Middle School/ High School secretary, Mrs. Konold before 9 a.m. the day they are gone. If you know when they will be gone in advance, you are more than welcome to call in early.

Mrs. McKensey Konold can be reached at:
mckensey.konold@k12.sd.us
or (605) 874-2161 ext. 220

As a way for students to take responsibility for their learning and communicate with their parents, they email their parents during homeroom every Thursday.  The email should include what they have been learning about in each of their classes that week, what homework (if any) they need to complete, any late work they might have, and any other announcements relevant in the middle school.  If students have late work, they should really try to take advantage of coming in Friday to get some help from the necessary teacher(s). 

Please note the difference between homework and late work.  Homework is an assignment that has been assigned but is not yet due; while late work is an assignment that was due prior to the email and usually even at least a week before the email.  

Scheduler:
Students should use Scheduler every day and it serves two purposes.  First, it shows students what class to attend each Seminar for each day of the week.  There may be slight changes from day to day.  Second, it allows student to select which Learning Lab they need to attend each day so they can get the necessary help from that teacher.  Students may be “locked” into a specific Learning Lab if teachers feel they need some individual attention in their class.

Schoology:
Schoology is the middle school’s Learner Management System (LMS) and where teachers can share their class materials with students.  Each teacher may use the program slightly different depending on their class.

Campus:
Infinite Campus is a program where students overall grades will be posted. This is also the program you can use to check your student’s fees

All electronic communication device policies are handled by the classroom teacher, and individual classroom rules will apply. Students are allowed to use electronic communication devices in between and during lunch periods. Students who use the electronic communication devices improperly are subject to having them confiscated by teachers and/or administration.

Any students with late work or that are struggling in a class  are strongly encouraged to  attend Friday morning help sessions. These sessions take place when teachers are in the building on Fridays at 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. If you are unable to attend, you must correspond with the teacher who requested your presence. If you are unsure which Fridays teachers are in, please look at the academic school year calendar on the website.

It is important to remember to bring your computer and charger cord each day to school. If you forget one of these items and need to use a school rental the students must pay a rental fee.

The fees are as follows:   
$5 per computer per day
$1 per cord per day

The purpose of the Deuel School Facebook page is to provide an online forum to share information, update the community on events and programs, and showcase the achievements of students, teachers, and staff.

Do not reply to these posts about concerns, problems, or conflicts with teachers, administrators, students, or parents.  Raising concerns or complaints on social media (Facebook Page and/or Messenger) does not guarantee the school will be made aware of it and your questions may not be seen in a timely fashion. It is best to contact the school directly at (605) 874-2161 with questions and or concerns.

Let’s keep the school Facebook page positive. Before you post comments, ask yourself if the community or school really needs to know this. Is it relevant? Helpful? Positive? Be a good role model online.

Deuel School Facebook Administrator(s) reserve the right to delete comments and remove or block users, the determination of content is at the sole discretion of Deuel School Facebook Administrator(s).

Update: Pursuant to the release of state reimbursement rates, Deuel School District has updated meal prices as follows effective immediately.
Breakfast
Student: $1.76
Adult: $2.33

Lunch
PK-5: $3.45
6-12: $3.60
Adult: $4.40

For school year (SY) 2022-23, families who may qualify for free or reduced-price meals will need to submit a free and reduced-price meal application. As you know, our district had some flexibilities during COVID so we could serve free meals to all students. That option has now expired, so we can’t serve free meals to all anymore. Instead, families will do what they did before COVID. Schools will take applications and use family income to qualify students for free, reduced-price, or paid meals.

There are still many ways children can get free meals. Children are automatically eligible for free meals if anyone in their household gets SNAP, TANF, or FDPIR benefits. We will alert you if your child is automatically eligible.

Children experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, runaway youth, or children of migrant workers all qualify for free school meals when their household fills out an application. Children can also qualify for free or reduced-price meals through an application if their household’s income is under a certain limit. You can find the latest income guidelines online at https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/fr-021622 or contact us for more information. We will help you understand if your student qualifies based on the information you put on your school meal application.

Children who do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals may pay full price for a healthy breakfast or lunch at school. Even at full price, school breakfast and lunch are still an excellent bargain. You can’t find a similar quality meal for that low price at a restaurant or convenience store. Our school nutrition staff are dedicated to fueling our students’ minds and bodies for learning.

For other resources and food assistance programs, you can call the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (English) or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (Spanish).

The USDA has also released a list of frequently asked questions that may be helpful to you. You can access it online at https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/2022-23-parent-faqs.

Please reach out with any further questions you may have. We’re looking forward to a great school year.

— All middle school sports are for 7^th and 8^th graders

 
Volleyball:         Practice starts on the first day of school.
                          Coaches: Kea Kellen & Hannah Lunden.

Football:               Practice starts on August 16th.
Coaches: Lynn Gudmundson & Jon Peterreins.

Basketball:          Practice starts in November.
Coaches:
Boys—Kris Ulmer & Scott Mitchell.
Girls—Carter Gordon & Andrea Shea.

Track:                Practice starts in March.
Coaches: Kris Ulmer & Billie Jo Giesel.

Golf:                  Practice starts in March.
    Coach: Lynn Gudmundson.

Oral Interp:       Practice starts in the fall.
Coach: Karan Domina.

Theater:            Practice starts in the Spring.
Coach: Karan Domina.

Student 
Council:            Starts in August and goes throughout the year.
                         Coach: Dusty Hourigan.

Wrestling:         Practice starts in November.
Coaches: Jerry Salanoa and Nick Salanoa.

Gymnastics:      Practice starts in December.
                          Coaches: Caitlin Steffensen and Ashley Meyer.