Ad Astra Academies

Plum Creek Elementary is in need of food service help. Come join us for the last few weeks before school is out! Share with anyone who might be interested! Apply online here: https://www.applitrack.com/buhlerschools/OnlineApp/JobPostings/View.asp?AppliTrackJobId=1200

Ad Astra Alternative Academy is enrolling now for fall 2023! AAAA serves USD 313 9th-12th grade students. Spaces are very limited, so contact us now to learn more about our program and reserve your student's space.

We are ready for our spring planting party with students tomorrow! Students will be planting their own wildflowers 🌼🌸 to help the bees 🐝 at home and lettuce 🥬 in our office tower garden. Thanks to the Cosmosphere, they will also be performing their own at-home experiments with basil seeds--some that have flown in space and some that have not--to determine whether space flight has an effect on plant growth. 🌱

Ad Astra Academies is HIRING! We are searching for two certified educators to join our growing team. If you are an innovative change-maker looking for an incredibly rewarding career, we want you! Apply here: https://www.applitrack.com/buhlerschools/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Ad+Astra+Academies

Special Olympics Fundraising Event Here's a fun, impactful way to spend this Saturday! This event has been organized by Buhler High School Senior, Paige Simmons! Talk about a positive world changer!!! Join in the fun at Wheatland Park and help support the Buhler Special Olympics squad!

IT IS TIME FOR A STANDING OVATION!! Congratulations to the staff pictured below for "going above and beyond for students, staff, and/or community members." In a random drawing from this group of recipients, Josh Freking(math teacher at BHS) and Allison Weber(1st grade teacher at BGS), won a $25 gift card to Dillons. Thank you to The Buhler Education Foundation for supporting this program! Also, if you need a reminder of how much this means to our staff, when one person received their certificate, they said, "I don't know why I am crying." It is because words matter. In a world so quick to judge, please remember that words matter and BE KIND to one another. #Bexceptional

Our students are so lucky to have Mrs. Kohls! She tracks attendance. She helps with special lessons. She facilitates Zoom meetings. She leads field trips. She even drives busses for our students. She literally does ALL THE THINGS for us, and we are grateful.

Ad Astra middle and high school families, are you taking advantage of the individual math support Mrs. Schroeder provides every morning from 8-11? She is a world class mathematician and a WoNdErFuL teacher! Contact her if you need help.

Ad Astra elementary families, are your kiddos joining Mrs. Starkweather for her daily morning meetings? If not, they are missing out! She is an AmAzInG story reader!

Hello Buhler Families! Polls close at 7:00pm tonight for our Raising the Standard bond issue. Visit our site here for detailed information about the project: https://www.usd313.org/page/raising-the-standard-bond-issue Visit the Reno County Clerk's page to find polling information here: https://www.renogov.org/138/Elections

April 4th is School Librarian Day!!! Special shoutout to our district Library Media Specialist team of Janea Gray, Melissa Newcome, Vicky Richardson and Trisha Burgey! You are the fuel to our fire when it comes to stoking a passion for reading among our students! You are innovative educators who keep us on the cutting edge with technology integration! We appreciate you! **Buhler Crusaders, please jump in and personally recognize these exceptional educators in the comments!**

It's a week of appreciation in schools across the nation! Let's start off by recognizing our paraprofessionals! While the official day was April 3rd, let's make a week of recognizing and celebrating all of them! Paraprofessionals are the GLUE that make learning STICK with so many students! Your patience, flexibility, kindness, and grit are invaluable! We could not provide an exceptional educational experience for all without you! We appreciate you a million times over! **Buhler Crusaders, if a special paraprofessional has made an impact on you, your family or student, give them a personal shoutout in the comments!**

Each month all USD 313 students and staff focus on a core essential skill. April's skill is humility. We practice being humility in many ways through the hard work of learning and growing together, both in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. Take some time to talk about humility with your students this month! #BetterTogether #Bexceptional

Ms. Shook is thrilled we have students who will come over and help Mrs. Starkweather feed Tonya so she doesn't have to. 🕷️

What a wonderful day honoring teachers at The Region 1 Kansas Teacher of the Year Celebration. Buhler is blessed with amazing teachers and were represented by Courtney Adkins and Brian Moler. Mrs. Adkins teaches 3rd grade at BGS and Mr. Moler teaches math at BHS. To learn more about the celebration, visit: https://www.ksde.org/Home/Quick-Links/News-Room/two-teachers-named-region-1-finalists-for-2024-kansas-teacher-of-the-year-1

Raising the Standard is a multifaceted bond with efforts in four key areas. Ad Astra Academies In this phase of the project, we will create classroom and office spaces for our Ad Astra Virtual Academy and Ad Astra Alternative Academy students and staff. We are proud of Ad Astra’s explosive growth (over 170 students, including 10 adult diploma seekers, and a growing team of staff members) and are excited about creating a safe, flexible learning and work space that will accommodate our Ad Astra students now and well into the future Burkholder Administration Center Expansion Better Together is a Core Expectation in Buhler Public Schools. Bringing all administrative and support staff together under one roof is an exceptional effort toward being “better together.” This phase of the project also includes a multipurpose area that would function as our Board of Education room and Professional Development space. This room will also be a community storm shelter. Indoor Activity Facility The indoor activity facility will be a large, open activity space for students, staff, and the community to utilize. PE classes, band, cheerleading, dance, in-season practice and off-season workouts can all be maximized through the use of this facility. This space will also be heavily used for youth program practices, sports clinics, and various community events. Enhanced Playgrounds Through Raising the Standard, elementary playgrounds will be enhanced by repairing and replacing equipment, expanding green space and increasing accessibility. Building principals, staff, and PTO’s would lead the charge with leveraging these resources to meet the unique playground needs of each school. Early voting is open now at the Reno County Annex at 125 W 1st Ave in Hutchinson and election day is April 4th! See here for more information, including polling locations for April 4th: https://www.renogov.org/138/Election. #GoCrusaders

Did you know that the Raising the Standard Bond project will NOT increase the bond and interest mill levy? How is this possible? We took advantage of historically low interest rates to refinance the two previous bonds from 4% down to 2.89%, and 3.37% down to 1.31%, respectively. State aid has also increased from 25% to 36% on each of those bonds. Finally, valuation has increased at a rate of 3.2% over the last 10 years. Financial analysis for this bond is based on a more conservative 2% growth in valuations. These savings, increased aid, and valuations will all assist in our ability to fund this project without increasing the bond and interest mill levy. Find more detailed financial analysis and more information about the project here. https://www.usd313.org/page/raising-the-standard-bond-issue Early voting has begun at the Reno County Annex at 125 W 1st Ave. Vote in person on April 4th! See here for more information, including polling locations for April 4th: https://www.renogov.org/138/Elections

Coaches and program directors in the district praise the exceptional potential that our proposed indoor activity facility has for USD 313 musicians, student-athletes and our youth feeder programs! “This would be a game changer for the future of our program because it will allow our youth and feeder programs to be able to have a space that more teams can utilize. It would also enhance my ability to be more involved with all our youth teams.” ~John Neill, Head Baseball Coach, Buhler High School “The facility provides additional shared space for our large program when rehearsing. It gives our color guard a field to practice on during their evening rehearsals that is more conducive to our performance process. It gives the band field space to work on visual (movement)/musical performance elements during inclement weather. It gives us more flexibility in our summer rehearsal/camp schedule to add/extend rehearsals into the mid-afternoon.” ~Nathan Biggs, Band Director, Buhler Public Schools “Finding space to practice is always an issue for cheerleading, so we end up having to "make do" with practicing in random, unaccommodating spaces. I think having another space for practicing will open up many possibilities and options for practice space as well as having space to host youth clinics, etc.” ~D’ana Heinlein, Cheerleading Coach, Buhler High School “By other sports using the facility, it gives volleyball the opportunity to grow our youth programs. We have multiple youth teams, 1st grade-6th grade rec teams and club volleyball teams, ages 11-17. Between the two, we have easily 100 volleyball players. Having gym space in the district to grow the skills and love of the game for all of these girls will directly impact the future success of the high school volleyball program.” ~Deanna Emel, Head Volleyball Coach, Buhler High School “The size of the facility is set up to be utilized by multiple programs at one time. Space is a premium because of the many diverse offerings USD 313 provides for our youth programs all the way up to our HS programs. The indoor facility will also help the gymnasium usage across the district. The indoor facility will allow more availability for our VB and BKB youth teams needs because we can allow our outdoor HS/MS and youth programs that indoor practice space in the colder weather months or when inclement weather pops up. Simply, this facility will have a positive impact on USD 313 students for years to come!” ~Justin Seuser, District Activities Director, Buhler Public Schools Our coaches and program directors see the exceptional benefits and potential in the indoor activity facility! Early voting is open now and election day is April 4th! Early voting is open now at the Reno County Annex at 125 W 1st Ave and Election Day is April 4th! See here for more information, including polling locations for April 4th: https://www.renogov.org/138/Elections #GoCrusaders

Coaches and program directors in the district praise the exceptional potential that our proposed indoor activity facility has for USD 313 musicians, student-athletes and our youth feeder programs! “This would be a game changer for the future of our program because it will allow our youth and feeder programs to be able to have a space that more teams can utilize. It would also enhance my ability to be more involved with all our youth teams.” ~John Neill, Head Baseball Coach, Buhler High School “The facility provides additional shared space for our large program when rehearsing. It gives our color guard a field to practice on during their evening rehearsals that is more conducive to our performance process. It gives the band field space to work on visual (movement)/musical performance elements during inclement weather. It gives us more flexibility in our summer rehearsal/camp schedule to add/extend rehearsals into the mid-afternoon.” ~Nathan Biggs, Band Director, Buhler Public Schools “Finding space to practice is always an issue for cheerleading, so we end up having to "make do" with practicing in random, unaccommodating spaces. I think having another space for practicing will open up many possibilities and options for practice space as well as having space to host youth clinics, etc.” ~D’ana Heinlein, Cheerleading Coach, Buhler High School “By other sports using the facility, it gives volleyball the opportunity to grow our youth programs. We have multiple youth teams, 1st grade-6th grade rec teams and club volleyball teams, ages 11-17. Between the two, we have easily 100 volleyball players. Having gym space in the district to grow the skills and love of the game for all of these girls will directly impact the future success of the high school volleyball program.” ~Deanna Emel, Head Volleyball Coach, Buhler High School “The size of the facility is set up to be utilized by multiple programs at one time. Space is a premium because of the many diverse offerings USD 313 provides for our youth programs all the way up to our HS programs. The indoor facility will also help the gymnasium usage across the district. The indoor facility will allow more availability for our VB and BKB youth teams needs because we can allow our outdoor HS/MS and youth programs that indoor practice space in the colder weather months or when inclement weather pops up. Simply, this facility will have a positive impact on USD 313 students for years to come!” ~Justin Seuser, District Activities Director, Buhler Public Schools Our coaches and program directors see the exceptional benefits and potential in the indoor activity facility! Early voting is open now at the Reno County Annex at 125 W 1st Ave and election day is April 4th! See here for more information, including polling locations for April 4th: https://www.renogov.org/138/Elections #GoCrusaders

Did you know? Our school district does not currently have a space conducive for professional development that comfortably accommodates our entire elementary or secondary teaching staff. Below you will see a photo of our elementary team learning in a music room at folding tables and student chairs. This was only half of the elementary team, while the other half was in the library learning from a second trainer we contracted for the day. You will also see a photo below of this year’s ACT testing at BHS. There are a number of testing days at the high school that require the use of either the gym or cafeteria due to the requirements to spread students out. On these days those spaces are often unavailable for other purposes. The Raising the Standard Bond project would provide a comfortable space for teachers to learn and collaborate as teammates and professionals. It would accommodate the entire elementary or secondary staff at tables and our full teaching staff arranged in rows of chairs. Students would also be able to utilize this space for testing, freeing up space at the high school for normal activities. The space would also serve as our new board of education room. In addition to uses for our staff and students it would be available for the community to use for events and it will be built as a storm shelter for all. Early voting has begun at the Reno County Annex at 125 W 1st Ave. Vote in person on April 4th! See here for more information, including polling locations for April 4th: https://www.renogov.org/138/Elections