Good News Report
There was some BIG news to announce at Monday evening's Good News Report! The Sioux Falls School District is partnering with Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire to launch a new initiative that will see a new building addition to George McGovern Middle School. This addition will bring over 16,000 square feet dedicated to helping young people reach their full potential during out-of-school time. Some of the features of this new space will include:
- A STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathmatics) classroom
- An innovation lab
- A teaching kitchen
- A full-sized gymnasium
- Social spaces
Construction on the new Boys & Girls Club at George McGovern is expected to begin in spring of 2024 with an opening by fall of 2025.
Read the full press release below.
Reports of the Superintendent - Academic Report
Data collected through these various assessments reflects mostly positive results.
- On-time graduation rates outpaced the State for the third consecutive year and showed a .7% increase over 2021-22.
- The combined College Career and Readiness indicator increased by 4%. Achievement scores collected through the South Dakota Assessment for English Language Arts and Mathematics showed a 2% increase in science and a slight decrease in math.
- Student growth in ELA increased 2% over the prior year and Math increased 3%.
While much of the data shows positive results, there are areas the District is working on improving. Nearly 85% of K-8 SFSD attended school more than 90% of enrolled days. This number continues to decrease slightly year over year, and is also seen on a state-wide basis. SFSD is taking a number of steps to address this issue and will continue to monitor attendance and its impact on achievement closely.
View the full report below.
Reports of the Superintendent - Demographic Report
Increasing enrollment and a more diverse student and staff population are among the headlines of the 2023 District Demographic Report. Diversity continues its long-standing trend of moving 1-2% each year with 43.3% of students indicating they are something other than Caucasian.
Highlights from the report:
- 3,030 English Learners with 86 different languages represented in the District
- 3,569 total employees (1,927 teachers and 1,393 non-teachers)
- 4.99% all-staff diversity
- 3,975 special ed students in PreK-12
View the full report below!
When I complained about a BIG problem in 3rd grade, Mom said, “There’s a Silver Lining in every cloud.”
When I whined about a pair of white boots I wanted so badly (well, Goldie Hawn wore them dancing on Laugh In, so I thought I could be like her!) Mom looked at me sternly and said,
“Count your blessings.”
When I whined about having to dust carefully (it was farm dust, Mom was the knick-knack queen of the prairie!), she said
“If you’re going to bother to do something, do it well.”
Mom’s lessons, easily considered crazy and taken for granted until after her sudden death, taught me optimism, gratitude and quality...and I’ve used them ever since.
Real service is grounded in real values, the values that guide our attitudes, our communication, our ability to play nicely with others. The Service Compass of Values bring out the best in people: in us, our co-workers, our customers.
