April is the month to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary, yet often unsung, heroes—military kids. From frequent moves and changing schools to enduring long periods of separation from a parent, military children face unique challenges every day—and they do so with courage and heart. Today, HSSD recognizes this by wearing purple.
Why Purple?
Purple represents all service branches, Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard, and Veterans. It blends each branch’s colors: the Air Force, Navy, Space Force, and Coast Guard’s blues, the Army’s green, and the Marines’ red.
Wearing purple symbolizes unity for military children across all the services, and it is a reminder that they are supported and seen.
Why We Say Military Kids Serve Too®
More than 1.6 million military children support our nation simply by being part of a military family. On average, military children will attend as many as nine schools between kindergarten and high school graduation. The number of hellos and goodbyes, new zip codes, and phone numbers can bear so much weight.
Good luck to our High School Track team competing this Friday.
Thank you to these local businesses.
Let's "do this" middle schoolers and 11th graders. Do your best.
Parents... our Hot Springs Spring Spirit Wear Sale ends tomorrow! Save 20% off with code SPRING through April 8th! Shop at https://1stplace.sale/114508
***TESTING UPDATE***
Due to a middle school track meet being held Tuesday the 15th we will be shifting our testing from that day to Thursday the 17th. This affects middle school only. Junior testing dates will remain the same.
Pictures from FFA. Way to represent Hot Springs!!!!
State FFA Results from Brookings this past weekend.
Poultry Evaluation 2nd Place Team
Individually Lyzzie R. 1st, Hunter K 11th, Ray S. 13th
Agronomy 3rd Place Team.
Individually Jessica W. 6th Place, Alex B. 7th place
Horse Judging 7th Place Team/60 teams total
Individually Neva A. 20th, Brynley E. 25th
Milk Quality 10th place Team
Individually Sarah R. 10th, Sierra B. 19th
Meats Evaluation 22nd Place Team
Livestock Evaluation 34th Place Team/63 Teams Total
Individually Zetta K. 30th
Nursery Landscape 24th Place Team
Kadlin H. 30th Place
Range Plant ID 8th Place Team
Individually Jessica W 3rd place
Vet Science 30th Place/60 teams total
Floriculture 22nd/59 teams total
State Degree Recipients: Jayla E, Lyzzie R, Alex B
District 5 Star Greenhand Ray S
Just a reminder that the school district is wearing purple this Thursday to celebrate April as the Month of the Military Child.
The Defense Department celebrates military children during the month of April. There are more than 1.6 million military children who face many challenges and unique experiences as a result of their parents' service.
Middle schoolers and our 11th graders. State testing begins tomorrow so get lots of sleep and have a good breakfast. You have worked really hard this school year- now it's time to put that growth to the test. We believe in you.
Don't forget our talent show. Saturday at 7pm at the Mueller Center. High School and Middle School Kiwanis Key Club Talent Show.
A reminder for Family Movie Night tonight at 6 in the Elementary Cafeteria.
Information for any of our students interested in diesel tech or precision machinery.
A reminder of our informational meeting tonight for any of our Hot Springs families that have homeschooled for at least the length of school year 24-25. This meeting will include information about an online accredited program that the school district is interested in determining the interest from our homeschool families in using in school year 25-26. We will also connect with the current principal in Meade Co that both oversees the program at their school along with using it 1/2 time for his own daughter. Mr. Porterfield will be able to answer questions from a homeschool parent perspective.
Our paraprofessionals are the absolute best.
Seniors and parents of seniors: I have had two of our local organizations approach me in just the last week curious if information about our scholarships were being shared. Both organizations shared that they were increasing the amount of their scholarship(s) and that they were hoping for more students applying. This tells me that there is a great amount of support by our community and that possibly our seniors have not completed all of the scholarship applications that they are interested/eligible to apply for. Here is the link to our scholarship list that we add to when different agencies reach out to us or when we are told of an opportunity for our students.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-tDNXmEl2t96Zy8Luq-wekZeQvwOaYIvbJGbdhtZvzY/edit?usp=sharing
Parents... our Hot Springs Spring Spirit Wear Sale has been extended! Now save 20% off with code SPRING through April 8th! Shop at https://1stplace.sale/114508
Middle School State Testing
Dear Parent or Guardian:
From April 7 to May 2, students in grades 6-8 will take the state assessment in (a) English Language Arts and (b) Mathematics. Students in grade (tested grades) will take the state assessment in (c) Science. The purpose of this letter is to help in your understanding of the assessment, as well as providing a few ideas for improving your child’s preparedness.
The assessments measure student achievement of our state’s standards in the areas of English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. In addition, score reports will provide information on student performance in the following areas:
o English: Reading, writing, listening, & research
o Math: Concepts and procedures; problem-solving and modeling/data analysis; & communicating reasoning
o Science: physical science, life science, and earth & space science
The assessments are given through an online computer application and are unique in the way they adapt to a student’s question responses. This is important as it provides questions that are appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude towards testing. These assessments are not timed; however, we provide the following times as estimates of assessment duration: (a) English – 3.5 hours, (b) Math – 3 hours and (c) Science – 1.5 hours.
Student grades will not be impacted by their performance on this assessment, however the assessment does serve as a way for the school to analyze how well we are helping students meet the standards. Shortly after the testing period is complete, you will receive a report showing your child’s scores.
There is no need to study in preparation for the assessments. We do, however, ask that students try their best and get plenty of rest the night before testing. It is important for students to come to school on test days. Assessment are required, therefore making up a missed assessment leads to less instructional time and a loss of important learning opportunities. Please make sure your student has corded headphones and their computer charger.
This testing is very important for your child, Hot Springs Middle School and the Hot Springs School District Thank you for supporting your child and our school during this assessment period. Please contact us if you have any questions. We know that Hot Springs Middle School’s students will help us to understand the great strides our students have taken in meeting our school and state standards in learning!
Sincerely,
Eric Reynolds
Assistant Principal
11th Grade State testing
Dear Parent or Guardian:
From April 7 to May 2, students in grade 11 will take the state assessment in (a) English Language Arts, (b) Mathematics, and (c) Science. The purpose of this letter is to help in your understanding of the assessment, as well as providing a few ideas for improving your child’s preparedness.
The assessments measure student achievement in relation to our state standards in the areas of English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. In addition, score reports will provide information on student performance in the following areas:
o English: reading, writing, listening, & research
o Math: concepts and procedures; problem solving and modeling/data analysis; & communicating reasoning
o Science: physical science, life science, and earth & space science
The assessments are given through an online computer application and are unique in the way they adapt to a student’s question responses. This is important as it provides questions that are appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude towards testing. These assessments are not timed; however, we provide the following times as estimates of assessment duration: (a) English – 4 hours, (b) Math – 3.5 hours, (c) Science – 1 hour.
Student grades will not be impacted by their performance on this assessment, however the assessment does serve as a way for the school to analyze how well we are helping students meet the standards.
There is no need for students to study in preparation for the assessments. We do, however, ask that students try their best and get plenty of rest the night before testing. It is important for students to come to school on test days. Assessments are required, therefore making up a missed assessment leads to less instructional time and a loss of important learning opportunities. Please make sure students have corded headphones and their computer charger.
This testing is very important for your child, Hot Springs High School, and the Hot Springs School District. Thank you for supporting your child and our school during this assessment period. Please contact us if you have any questions. We know that Hot Springs High School students will help us to understand the great strides our students have taken in meeting our school and state standards in learning!
Sincerely,
Eric Reynolds
Assistant Principal
Congratulations to our 4.0 Honor Roll students.
