Tri-Valley School District

Good morning, below is an update to rescheduled activities from last week as well as activities for this week. Tuesday, January 19th MSBBB vs. Canton will start at 4:30 - changed from 4:00. 7th & 8th grade games will both start at 4:30. HSWR @ West Central at 5:30. 4 vouchers per team member allowed, distributed to wrestlers today. Thursday, January 21st MSGBB vs. Sioux Valley will start at 4:00 in the Middle School Gym. 7th will play first and 8th grade will follow. Both games are in the Middle School Gym. HSBBB vs. Winner will start at 6:00. This was rescheduled from last Thursday. JV will play at 6:00 and Varsity will follow. 4 vouchers per team member allowed admittance. 9-12 students do not need a voucher. Friday, January 22nd GBB/BBB @ Dakota Valley starts at 4:00. 4 vouchers per team member allowed admittance. 9-12 students need to pick up a voucher (up to 88 HS students) from the HS Office on Thursday during school hours. Saturday, January 23rd HSWR @ West Central. Each team has been given an allotment of vouchers to distribute. Wrestlers will receive those vouchers this week. The middle school girls basketball game on Thursday, January 14th at Montrose has been rescheduled to Monday, February 1st at 4:00 in Montrose. The girls and boys basketball game versus Beresford on Friday, January 15th has been rescheduled to Friday, February 19th. Thank you, Eric Smart, AD

Greetings,  According to the National Weather Service, we are in a Blizzard Warning from this evening until tomorrow evening with 60+ winds and below freezing temperature (mixed with snow) this afternoon.  Due to the forecasted high winds and potential for icy roads, we are going to be dismissing today at 12:30 p.m.  High school will be dismissed at noon and high schoolers who wish to eat school lunch can do so at that time in the commons. There will be NO after school activities today (Thursday, January 14). This includes practices, games, and the 5:45 bus route. Tri-Valley will be closed on Friday, January 15th.  For tomorrow, this means there will be no online learning, no staff in the building, no extra-curricular activities, and no special education transportation services.   As of this time, we are still planning on activities for SATURDAY to go on as scheduled, which includes the wrestling tournament that we are hosting. Respectfully,  Dr. Mike Lodmel, Superintendent 

Tri-Valley will be having a special board meeting on Wednesday, January 13th at 2:30 p.m. via teleconference. The purpose of the meeting is to pay a bill for our capital outlay certificates in the amount of $236,906.53. The bill is expected, but the invoice had been sent to our FORMER business manager's FORMER e-mail address the past two months. We were just made aware of this invoice this afternoon, and it is due by January 15th. If we were to pay it late, it could potentially effect our credit rating for any future projects for the district. Thus, the reason for the urgency and the special school board meeting. Any patrons can come to listen to the meeting in the McAreavey Board Room or call in and listen on the number(s) provided on the agenda. I anticipate the meeting to only take a couple of minutes. Respectfully, Dr. Mike Lodmel, Superintendent

Good morning, below is a list of activities for this week and details for those events. Today - reminder the MSBBB game is CANCELLED as well as JVWR - CANCELLED Tuesday - HSGBB play at Tea - the 'C' game starts at 4:30 - not 5:00. Live stream at NFHS - nfhsnetwork and search Tea Area Titans. Two tickets per team member and masks required at all times. Students need their School ID to get in. HSBBB vs. Tea on Tuesday - 4 vouchers/team member. Subvarsity games start at 4:00. Thursday - HSBBB vs. Winner. There is no 'C' game. JV game will start at 6:00. Four vouchers/team member. Friday - Basketball Doubleheader vs. Beresford. Starting time is 4:00 and 4 vouchers/team member. Saturday - wrestling tournament at Tri-Valley. Two vouchers per team member. Wrestling starts at 10:00am. HSGBB travels to DSU to play Andes Central at 3:00. All home events are live streamed at https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd.

Below is the list of live stream links and passes allowed for activities this week. Thank you. Tuesday – Home WR (open attendance) Live Stream: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd GBB @ Baltic (6 passes/team personnel) Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFpMu48SyF-y3jSvtma08_g Thursday – DHBB @ Mt. Vernon (No restrictions – must take temp when coming in the door) Live Stream: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/mount-vernonplankinton-high-school-mt-vernon-sd Saturday – WR @ Garretson (2 per team personnel) Live Stream: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/garretson-high-school-garretson-sd

Good afternoon, Parents of archery participants, please check your email for a link to requesting practice times. Coach Ginter and Coach Glasford will make every effort possible to honor your requests. If you did not receive the link or have specific questions, please email Coach Ginter (ginter446@icloud.com) or Coach Glasford (bowhunter10038@gmail.com). Registration for archery is now closed. Thank you, Eric Smart

Good morning, below is some information on activities for this week. Today, JH boys basketball is leaving at 4:15 and traveling to Sioux Valley. The game will be played at the school with 7th grade starting at 6:00 and 8th grade following the 7th grade game. Masks are required in Sioux Valley facilities. The gym is located Sioux Valley High School. Also today, the middle school wrestlers travel to McCook Central for a meet that starts at 5:30pm. Masks are required during the event as well. Tomorrow, we host Vermillion boys and girls in HS basketball. We will NOT have a JV game for the girls. Below is the new schedule of events. 4:00 - 'C' Girls (MS Gym) & JV Boys (HS Gym) 5:30 - 'C' Boys (MS Gym) 5:45 - Varsity girls 7:15 - Varsity boys Please let me know if you have any questions: eric.smart@k12.sd.us Thank you, Eric Smart

Good morning, Here's an update for activities and spectator restrictions for this week. Tonight's choir concert for 7-12th grades is allowing 4 persons per student. Live stream link: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd Tomorrow the basketball game against Madison is allowing 4 persons per team personnel. Live stream link: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd Tomorrow's wrestling event at West Central is allowing 4 persons per team personnel - the time of the event was changed to start at 5:30pm. Thursday's 5-12th grade band concert is allowing 4 persons per student to attend. Live stream link: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd Friday's basketball game at Chester is allowing 6 persons per team personnel. Reminder there are no 'C' games for this event. Order of events (starting at 4:00pm) - JV Girls, JV Boys, Varsity Girls, Varsity Boys. Saturday's wrestling event is limited. Athletes will be receiving vouchers this week to distribute to spectators. At this time, I do not have any more links for live stream; but, will update if they become available. Thank you, Eric Smart

Fans, here is the link for the JV and Varsity basketball games tonight in Garretson. https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/garretson-high-school-garretson-sd Here is the link for tomorrow's wrestling event in Howard: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/howard-high-school-howard-sd Reminder for tomorrow the athletes were given two passes each for the basketball game tomorrow night. The wrestling event is unlimited for fan entrance on Saturday in Howard. This Saturday and Tuesday, we host Sisseton and Madison in double-header basketball events. The livestream link for both games is below - JV and Varsity games will be livestreamed. Team personnel were given 4 passes each for the events. https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd Thank you and Go Mustangs!

Please use this link to sign up for Tri-Valley Archery. Grades 4th-12th can participate in Archery; however, 4th-6th grade archers must pay a fee for practice facilities and any applicable tournament fees. For students in grades 7th-12th, all fees are paid by the district. https://forms.gle/fiw4r8onVUHSAJvWA

Tri-Valley is in need of a bus monitor. The pay is $25 per route ($50 per day). Interested individuals should contact Sherry at the bus garage at 605-446-3482.

Greetings, We have recently been placed into a Winter Storm Warning. With the timing of the warning, I don’t believe that a district wide early release would be of much benefit by the time we could get busses here, loaded, etc. and this would also put parents in a significant time crunch to make daycare arrangements. We are going to make some accommodations due to the weather though: 1). High school students will be released today at 2:50 p.m. This will allow the high school to begin 8th-period and get any materials that they may need before dismissal. This will also allow our high schoolers that drive to get on the road before our busses start to enter the premises and parents begin to show up for student pickups. If a high schooler rides a school bus home, they will be able to stay until loading time for the busses. Some of our high schoolers drive siblings home and in these events: parents if you wish for your jk-8 child to be released earlier so they can ride home with a sibling please contact the appropriate office (Joni Bunde 446-3538 ext. 100 for jk-4th-grade; or Dana Sundal for grades 5-8 at 446-3538 ext. 400). 2). There will be no after school activities today. 3). In order to get our busses home as soon as possible today, some routes will not have bus monitors so as to not have to take extra time to drop off the monitors at the conclusion of the route. Respectfully, Dr. Mike Lodmel, Superintendent

The board agenda for Monday's meeting can be found at: https://www.tri-valley.k12.sd.us/browse/156880 On Monday, the school board will decide whether or not to open up our facilities to outside groups and organizations. This includes youth sports practices.

Tri-Valley will travel to SF Christian tonight for a Region 3A Semifinal match starting at 7:00pm. SF Christian is allowing all fans to attend; the only stipulation is all spectators MUST wear masks. The game is also livestreamed on SF Christian's website. (www.siouxfallschristian.org). It is a YouTube link, so shouldn't have any issues with subscriptions this time. My deepest apologies for the error on Tuesday's stream. Go Mustangs!!

Good morning, Last night, the Region VB brackets were finalized. Tri-Valley will be hosting West Central on Tuesday, November 3rd at 7:00pm. This will only be one varsity game and the winner will advance to the second round of the region tournament to be played at SF Christian on Thursday, November 5th. With active cases increasing in our district, we will only be allowing two spectators per varsity volleyball player to attend the game on Tuesday at Tri-Valley. Varsity players will give their two names to the head coach and the compiled list will be at the Activities Entrance. For post-season play, all spectators must pay admittance per SDHSAA guidelines - Adults $6.00 and Students $4.00. The game will be live-streamed for free at: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/schools/trivalley-high-school-colton-sd If you have any questions, please email me at eric.smart@k12.sd.us Thank you.

Over the past month, we have received numerous questions regarding the "school lunch grant" (free meals) that has been published in many media stories. There's two different avenues for the free lunches that get somewhat intertwined. The first is if you believe your family would qualify for free and reduced lunches based upon household income that can be easily investigated. There is a form to fill out that pretty much lets you know if you qualify. You would need to contact our business manager, Brian Anderson (446-3538 ext. 408) and he can guide you through that process. Secondly, many districts are able to offer free lunches to all students under the grant from the state because their free and reduced lunch numbers (explained above) are higher than they were a year ago. The rationale being that Covid-19 probably caused a lot of people out of work and then their household income went down and thus they now qualify for free and/or reduced lunches and wouldn't have before. In Tri-Valley, we didn't receive an "uptick" in free and reduced lunch households in August and September so we hadn't been able to receive the grant, unlike some other area schools. Just recently, our free and reduced lunch numbers have increased so we completed the grant process and have waited to hear back on its approval. I am pleased to announce that today we were informed that we have been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide free breakfast and lunch meals to all our students under the Seamless Summer program. Our approval runs from October 1st until December 31 or until the USDA funding runs out (whichever comes first). We will begin the process of crediting back any meals that have been purchased since October 1st. If your student wishes to purchase extra entrees, milk, or other food items, it will be charged to their account. Likewise, if your student purchased extra entrees, milk, or other food items, those items will not be credited back to the account. The regular cost of meals will resume in January. Respectfully, Dr. Mike Lodmel, Superintendent

Tri-Valley is in need of a bus monitor and substitute bus monitors. They pay is $25 per route. Interested individuals should contact Sherry Roth at 605-366-8777.

The board agenda for Monday's meeting has been posted to the Tri-Valley website: https://www.tri-valley.k12.sd.us/browse/156880

Good Evening,                 At the school board meeting this evening, the administrative recommendation did not pass.  The school board passed a motion that stated “Close contacts can remain in school for the 14-day quarantine period as long as extra mitigation efforts are made (wear a mask).” What this means essentially, is if your child is a close contact, they can remain in school as long as they exhibit no symptoms and wear a mask.  Unlike the administrative recommendation, mask usage is not a requirement at the time of exposure; just for the 14-day “quarantine” period.                 The board also made a clarifying motion that will continue to require students to wear a mask on school busses. Respectfully, Dr. Mike Lodmel, Superintendent

Tri-Valley will be having a special board meeting on Tuesday, October 6th for the purpose of potentially changing close contact definitions and quarantining procedures. The agenda can be found at: https://www.tri-valley.k12.sd.us/browse/156880