Flandreau board adopts state graduation requirements

Flandreau High School will start implementing the state’s new graduation requirements with some pre-planning this year and course offering changes next school year.
The new emphasis will mean students will choose a path that is either college or career bound and will have different course choices, especially in math and science. Students still will need three math credits to graduate but won’t be required to take geometry unless they plan to attend a college or university. The minimum science requirement in the career path is biology.
“We would have to offer consumer math, which we don’t offer this year,” said Principal Nicole Herzog. “We’re going to have to get creative with our schedule.”
In July, the state’s Board of Education Standards adopted revisions in the state requirements designed to give students more flexibility. The modifications, the first in nearly a decade, add three endorsements that include different requirements for math, science, technology, English and social studies.
Schools have until 2020 to implement the endorsement options and the state will review the standards by at least 2026.

Under the plan, the school anticipates needing more electives and offering some of those on an every-other-year basis, for example. It also could mean larger numbers of students in some math and science classes.
The school will start polling students who are in eighth, ninth and tenth grades yet this year about their future plans and likely will move up high school registration for this year’s eighth graders.
Overall, the changes will be positive for some students who will no longer need to take geometry, which can be a difficult class to pass for certain kids, Herzog said. Instead, those students can focus on more career-oriented classes which they may do well in. “I think it has potential. There are some kids, it’s what gets them through high school.”
In other board business at the Oct. 8 school board meeting,
•Parent-teacher conference attendance was reported at 98 percent at the elementary level, 65 percent in the middle school and 43 percent at the high school.
•Board members accepted the resignation of middle school teacher Allison Ross with a $3,000 penalty for breaking her contract. She taught Flier Time for fifth and sixth grades, and she and her family are moving.
•Middle school students raised $438 selling lemonade for the Children’s Miracle Network in September during Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
•Board members approved half-day kindergarten for students at Pleasant Valley Township. The class would include only a couple of students.
•Junior class parents will be allowed to use the school for this spring’s post prom party. The group will bring activities and food to the school for students to enjoy after prom.
•Counselor Kari Lena-Helling will be the adviser of the new Pride Club.