Union Valley Elementary

Buhler Family, Please keep our first responders (and their families) in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to fight the fires to protect our lives and property. I understand we have some families that have lost their homes and have many that have property damage already. As we get confirmation of their needs and how we can help, there will be information on how to contribute posted. If your family has lost a home, please reach out to your school administrator or private message us on our page. We are here to help. We are a Buhler Family and as such, will rally to make sure needs are met. For those coming to support the Buhler boys tonight at 6:00, please avoid Buhler Haven Road and 30th. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler Schools

We are ready to meet our littlest Crusaders! Our first PreK roundup time is this coming Monday, March 7th at Union Valley 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 Please bring the following documents: A copy of your student’s state issued birth certificate, Immunization Records, Student Health Assessment and Proof of Residency (water, power or gas bill, rental agreement, etc.) View the following link for frequently asked questions regarding our early childhood programs. https://5il.co/157wa

Family STEAM Night is one week from today on March 8th, from 6:30-8:00. See flyer below for information. This is going to be so much fun! Bring the whole family and come learn and play with science and space!

Good afternoon! We're hoping to see plenty of Golden Tickets roll through the office this week as we attack our PTO Spring Fundraiser! Students have the fun goal of $30. We're aiming at $12,000 as a school. Upon making this goal, I will sport a Woody costume and ride a horse around the Union Valley playground. BTW: I've NEVER ridden a horse before and I am genuinely terrified of doing so. I'm hoping the Woody costume sparks some courage! Thanks for supporting our PTO and our spring fundraiser. All funds will support classroom budgets to the tune of $200 per teacher!!! See you tomorrow! ~Dr. Erickson

Good Morning,  After reviewing the newest National Weather Service packet released this morning and confirming with the radar, Buhler USD 313 will NOT have school Thursday, February 17th.  A decision regarding activities will be made by 11:30 am.   Please note that because we are out of extra days, Buhler will have a change in the calendar.  There WILL be school on Monday, April 18th, to make up the time.   Stay safe and enjoy the snow!!  Cindy Couchman, Superintendent Buhler USD 313

Wow! Mrs. Schafer has been recognized as the Brain Balance Teacher of the Month! This announcement was made by Big Al and the Kidd Kraddick crew on 105.3 Monday morning!!! We are proud of you, Mrs. Schafer!!! PS: If anyone can find a link to the sound bite for this announcement, please share with us!!!

Figuring AREA for two different shapes and then adding them together for TOTAL AREA??? No problem for these mathematicians in 3V! #UVlearn

You know what makes Buhler amazing? Our staff and community! Without any buses running and an hour notice, all students were safely picked up from our schools by 3:45. AND - an enormous thank you to our firefighters and first responders for once again keeping our community and property safe. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers along with the families and staff who have been evacuated. 30th Street will most likely be open to local traffic only from Obee Road to Buhler-Haven road tomorrow morning. The good news tonight is..."All busses will run as normal tomorrow morning." Thank you!! Cindy Couchman, Superintendent 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.

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

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

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

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

Good Morning, Due to dangerous traveling conditions, Buhler Schools USD #313 will NOT be in session on Thursday, January 6th. With the amount of snow we received combined with low wind chills, please be cautious if you do get out. Cindy Couchman, Superintendent

There will be a vaccine clinic on January 21st at PHMS. See image for details