Buhler USD 313

Due to many fires in the area and many roads closed, we are making adjustments to bussing this afternoon. The situation is fluid and we are doing this out of an abundance of caution. There will be no bussing district wide. BGS - Students can be picked up starting now. Please use the north lot. UV - Students may be picked up immediately. Please park and walk up to the school. BHS - Please call the office to pick students up. If your student drove to school, you may call the office to excuse them from school. PHMS - Normal parent pickup can begin immediately PC - Normal parent pickup can begin immediately Thank you and stay safe.

Good Afternoon, If you have been following the weather patterns and forecast this week, you already know there is a chance for extreme weather. I wanted to update you on a couple of items in regards to days. We are required to have 1,116 hours of student contact time by the state of Kansas. We are now down to about 0.48 days left before we will need to make up time. At our last Board of Education meeting, the designated day to make that time up (if needed) is Monday, April 18th. It is always a worry that if I know we have to make time up, that I will evaluate the conditions with a more critical eye. I want to assure you that the safety of our staff and students is the priority. If we have to come to school on April 18th to keep our staff and students safe, that is what we will do. IF we would happen to need an additional day, we would add that time to the end of the school year. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

Buhler Schools will partner with the Cosmosphere to host a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Family Night on Tuesday, March 8th from 6:30-8:00pm. The evening will be come and go and focused on students aged PreK-8th grade. High school students are also welcome! Parents and family members, bring your students to the Cosmosphere for a night of exploration and fun! Some of our Summer STEAM Camp teachers will be in attendance enjoying or leading the learning as well.

The Hutchinson Fire Department will be conducting controlled burns this afternoon which will close Buhler-Haven road from 30th street to 4th street AND close 30th street from Willison Road to Buhler-Haven Road. Busses will not be running tonight after school in those areas. If your student needed to be picked up yesterday due to the fires, they will need to picked up from school this afternoon again today. We ask parents with students at Buhler Grade and Union Valley to please call the the respective school offices to let the staff know who will be responsible for picking your student up this afternoon. This will help us streamline parent pick up at the two elementary buildings that run busses to that area. Thank you again to our local firefighters and first responders for their work on keeping our community safe and our property protected. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

Thank you to our bus drivers, staff, and parents for your patience and flexibility today with changes to bus routes that were affected by the grass fire. I have been told that ALL bus routes will be able to run as usual tomorrow morning. A special thank you to our local firefighters and first responders for working the fires today and staying up tonight to monitor the situation. You can get the latest updates on the fire by following either Reno County Sheriff's Office or Hutchinson Fire HFD Facebook pages. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

See below for information about an English class being offered by Grace Bible Church

Due to a fire from 30th street to 4th street and Buhler-Haven Road to Willison Road, some roads are closed. Therefore any students that would normally be dropped off by busses in that area, will need to be picked up from their school. If you are unsure about your child's status, contact your school. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent

We are ready to meet our littlest Crusaders! Preschool application clinics are coming up in March. There will be three Monday evenings available to attend and sign your child up to attend any of our three elementary schools. Feel free to attend a different school's night if the listed time does not work for your attendance center. That information will be shared with the correct school. PreK roundup dates are: Monday, March 7: Union Valley 5:00-7:00 Monday, March 21: Plum Creek 5:00-7:00 Monday, March 28: Buhler Grade 5:00-7:00 View the following link for frequently asked questions regarding our early childhood programs. https://5il.co/157wa

If you have not received a voice call, text alert, or email regarding our cancellations or tomorrow’s late start and believe you should have, please call the district office at 620-543-2258. Ask to speak to Charlene Cooper. You may also email Charlene at ccooper@usd313.org

Good Evening,  To allow the sun to come up, additional time for roads to be driven on, and our crews to clear any new, small drifts in our parking lots and sidewalks, Buhler USD 313 will start two hours late on Friday, February 4th. Please see below for specific building start times and information. With the 2 hour late start, the following will be implemented: *No morning PreK *No breakfasts will be served *Shining Stars will be open 2 hours late *All start times will shift back two hours (elementary 10:00, PHMS 10:20, BHS 10:10) *Bus pick up times will be 2 hours later *High school students will report directly to 1st hour *Middle school students will report directly to 1st hour Many roads are completely clear but with snow blowing over the roads in spots, there are some occasional snow-packed areas, so please drive slowly and allow space for the car in front of you. We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

Good Afternoon, After driving area roads, the wind causing snow drifts is already a concern for safe travel. With overnight winds, drifting of roads will continue to be an issue in the morning. Due to unsafe traveling conditions, Buhler Schools USD #313 will NOT be in session on Thursday, February 3rd. A decision on activities for Thursday afternoon will be made before 11:30 am tomorrow. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

Good Afternoon, Using the National Weather Service forecast of snow and wind chill for Wednesday combined with the very high confidence level of the event occurring, Buhler Schools USD #313 will NOT be in session on Wednesday, February 2nd. Additionally, there will be no activities including practices. It is unusual for us to make this determination this early; however, all weather models are showing significant weather and travel impact. We hope this allows time for families to make arrangements for children tomorrow. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

In honor of Kansas Day tomorrow, students in Mrs. Lohrentz's class at Buhler Grade School are coding robot ornate box turtles through a maze. We love combining math, problem solving, art, computer science, and Kansas history. #Bexceptional

This video lays out the options families have when presented with common Covid-19 scenarios. https://youtu.be/HsEfe0KmtSE More details can be seen on our website under Covid-19 Navigating Next and the longer post below dated January 19th.

Buhler Families and Staff, As our number of positive cases rise, our continued goal is to keep students in school safely. Effective today, January 19, 2022, we will be following KDHE’s guidelines to suspend COVID contact tracing for 30 days. Per the KDHE guidance, with cases at such a high level, anyone that has been in public spaces should consider themselves a close contact. We are shifting our focus to monitoring positive cases, household contacts, and symptomatic individuals. Families will take responsibility for monitoring symptoms at home and taking appropriate action. The school district will do the following: *Notify parents of positive cases in the building each day. *Parents of elementary students will still be notified of classroom exposure. *Track absences and positive cases. *Monitor and daily test household contacts and symptomatic staff and students. *Update the website with daily numbers and absences. Expectations of parents and staff: *Monitor daily for symptoms. *If symptomatic, stay home or test (see below for testing times). *Do not come to school if sick. *If positive, stay home for at least 5 days. If fever free for 24 hours and symptoms are markedly improved, return to school/work wearing a mask for an additional 5 days. *Household contacts now have the option of attending school with masking and testing options available to them. TESTING Buhler Schools will continue to provide free rapid and PCR tests to symptomatic or asymptomatic staff and students at any of our attendance centers from 7:45-8:15 AM or by calling the district office for an appointment. Locations of testing in each building will remain the same. Liz Schmidt, school nurse, and I have created a video with situational questions that may arise. To access it, click here: https://bit.ly/3rxdyGb Students and staff who present with symptoms will be asked to test or will be sent home until symptom free for 24 hours. For more detailed information on options, please see our Stay to Learn, Play, and Work Plan at: https://sites.google.com/usd313.org/buhlernavigatingnext/covid-surveillance-reports Thank you for your continued support as we navigate this challenging time for our schools and communities. Our goal is to keep students in school daily. To achieve this, we need our parents’ help in monitoring symptoms to mitigate the spread of the virus in our buildings. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD #313

January is School Board Appreciation Month. We are so thankful our board members have chosen to serve our staff and students. They take the time to celebrate our accomplishments and carefully consider each item before them. Our current board members are: Todd Carr, Greg Lackey, Laura Meyer Dick, Miranda Engelken, Matt McCabe, Tim Lackey, and Robin Swanson. (Robin Swanson is not pictured as she was newly seated earlier this month) Thank you to our board members for their time and dedication to our schools!

Dawn Sanford, Special Education Teacher at Union Valley, was honored with Ad Astra Radio's Classroom Hero Award last week. Twice a month a teacher is selected to receive a gift basket and gift card from area businesses. Thank you to Ad Astra Radio for honoring Mrs. Sanford with this award, and for lifting up our profession through it! You can nominate a teacher at the following link: https://www.adastraradio.com/classroom-hero

Buhler Family~ Thank you for your continued support of our students, staff, and school community. We wanted to take a moment to provide an update regarding some ongoing challenges and their impacts due to COVID-19 and its variants. Buhler is currently experiencing a high rate of positive COVID-19 cases in our schools. Our goal is to keep schools open safely. When our staff gets sick and is unable to continue working, the strain on the system can quickly reach a breaking point. Our current numbers can be found on our COVID Dashboard. We have included a new chart showing the daily numbers and absences by building this week. https://sites.google.com/usd313.org/buhlernavigatingnext/covid-surveillance-reports Our substitute teachers/staff do an incredible job of working with our students to ensure that learning continues and that our classrooms are positive, productive, and safe. Likewise, our entire staff works together to ensure that we provide classroom coverage when our demand for substitute teachers exceeds the available supply. Today alone we had 14 uncovered classrooms in our district. Please afford us grace as we work to problem-solve this challenge and know that student safety and student learning are at the forefront of our decision-making in these instances. Often, this results in cancelled bus routes, after school activities, and field trips. We continue to emphasize and practice transmission mitigation strategies throughout the day, which include, but are not limited to, continuous and frequent hand washing, making hand sanitizer available for students and staff, and social distancing as much as possible. Please encourage your student to wear a facemask to help slow the spread of the virus. We anticipate a peak of positive cases coming in the next couple of weeks and are hopeful that it will then begin to decline. There will be additional guidance coming soon for managing the pandemic in public schools. If the new guidance changes our Stay to Learn, Work and Play policy, I will share that information next Friday. We continue to need your help, partnership, and support as we work together during this challenging time: *If your child is not feeling well, is ill, or has symptoms of an illness, please keep him or her at home and let us know of his or her absence. *The symptoms of COVID-19 and its variants are similar to a cold and influenza and can include fever, coughing, and shortness of breath, among others. *Some have reported additional symptoms, such as a runny nose, sore throat, nausea, lethargy, lack of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of taste and smell. *Individuals who need medical care or who have questions about symptoms should call their medical provider. Cindy Couchman, Buhler Superintendent

Special thanks to the City of Buhler for working through the night to get the break fixed. School will be in session at Buhler High School starting at 10:10 am.

Two Buhler teachers have been recognized as Kansas Horizon Award recipients. This award is given to teachers in their second year in the profession and recognizes an outstanding first year of teaching. Ms. Katelyn Stoss, K-5 music teacher at Plum Creek Elementary, and Mrs. Nicole Menard, English/Language Arts teacher at Buhler High School both received the news on Monday afternoon. ​Both teachers completed their first year of teaching in 2021 and were nominated to apply for the award last fall. We are proud of Ms. Stoss and Mrs. Menard, their exceptional first years of teaching, and their continued excellence each day in their classrooms. Please join us in congratulating them if you see them around!