March 2026

Today as I sit down to share some of the happenings at Declo High School, I am reminded how fortunate I am to live and work in such an incredible area. The sun is shining and signs of spring are all around us. Since I last wrote almost two thirds of our school year has come and gone. I am going to highlight just a few of the great things our students and faculty have done.Let’s first start with some academic success and facts.

Our boys varsity basketball team will be recognized as the 3A Academic Champions. They have a cumulative GPA of 3.747. This no small feat and these young men deserve to be applauded for their efforts in the classroom. It should come as no surprise that they were also extremely competitive on the basketball floor as well.

Did you know that the state publishes a report card on every school in Idaho? Terms to know, chronic absenteeism: Any student that is in violation of the states 90% rule is titled chronically absent. Declo High school sits at 3.1%. Thank you, students, and thank you parents. This is a remarkable percentage. As a point of reference, we are 11% better than the state average. Why does this matter? This is the metric the state uses to fund our school. Currently our average is hovering around 95% this semester. Each day a student is absent the district losses approximately $50 in state funding. In a district of over 5600 students that adds up very quickly. (Just using our 3.1% that equates to $1,249,920 of lost funding in a school year) The winter flu and cold season has been tough. Hopefully we are moving out of that difficult time of the year.

Did you know that on average 98.5% of our students graduate from high school? This is 16% above the state average. I’ll bet you are asking yourself why this is good. Why isn’t it 100%? I assure you that 100% is always our goal with every incoming freshman class. Did you realize that this percentage is also cumulative? This isn’t just the 91 students enrolled as seniors at DHS this year. We must account for every student that has ever been part of this class since their freshman year. We must prove to the state that every student that has left this class has re-enrolled in another school. If we can’t, they are counted as a none graduate. DHS does a remarkable job of helping our students reach graduation. Our teammates from the junior high and Declo Elementary are a vital piece to the success of each of our graduates. They are as much theirs as they are ours.

There are so many different ways that we measure academic success. However, the greatest indicator of the success at our Declo Schools lies in what comes after graduation. Our students are doing amazing things all over the world. Success after high school perpetuates school and community pride. Perhaps one of the most visual representations of this has been the outpouring of support our boys felt in Wendell, at Soda Springs, and at home Saturday night. If that did not stir your inner Hornet we may need to check your pulse.

That is a great transition to recent athletic success. State Bowling: Our girls bowling team won the 4A state title. Dance Team: Our Dance team is now back-to-back state champions. Oh and prior to that, multiple years as runner up. Years of success, way to go ladies. Cheer Team: Our Cheer team took second at state last week. They also have been first or second for several years in a row. Happening this week: Several of our students are participating in state Business Professionals of America and many of our TEC students will be competing in Skills USA. I will return to where I began. I am grateful to live and work in the community of Declo and in Cassia County. Are we perfect, nope, but I would suggest that it would be very hard to find better people to associate with! We are truly building the future of our world every day, one student at time. Thank you for supporting us in this effort.