By Lucky Kidd
BUHLER, Kan. — Largely because of Hutchinson Clinic no longer being in-network for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, The Buhler USD Board of Education voted Monday to withdraw from the health insurance pool sponsored by ESSDACK, which is through BCBS.
The ESSDACK pool involves multiple districts and some 3,300 contracts, and while the vast majority of them are not impacted by Hutchinson Clinic leaving the network, USD 313 is, and a survey of district staff indicated a majority wanted to have a provider that will be in-network with it.
USD 313 has to notify ESSDACK if they want to leave the pool by February 1st, and the board decided to seek proposals from other providers.
During the meeting Superintendent Cindy Couchman said USD 313 is out of snow days after weather related closures last week, and for Buhler High School they are in the negative of meeting attendance requirements for the 2024-25 school year. After reviewing options, the board agreed to have BHS students attend a half day of classes on February 7th, which will get them back even.
The district’s calendar does have one snow day built in should it be needed, that being the Monday after Easter, and if another snow day is needed school could be in session. Extending the length of the school day is also an option to meet the state-requirement of at least 1,116 hours of instruction, slightly less for high school seniors.
The Board accepted a 2024-25 strategic plan for the district. The Plan was developed through a series of meetings held in September that involved community stakeholders, Board members and administrators, facilitated by Dr, Britton Hart from the Kansas Association of School Boards.
From the first meeting 13 theme areas emerged, which at a second meeting were condensed into four focus areas including student success, culture, operations and resources, and community engagement. At a second meeting community and board teams looked at each of the four focus areas and discussed strategies to help address each area.
With acceptance of the report, the Board and superintendent can now work on the identified focus areas and develop a plan on how to achieve the goals it has approved, which should be reviewed throughout the year to ensure short terms goals are meeting the outcomes of each focus area.
The board dealt with a number of personnel items, among them a revision of the Buhler Beginnings daycare director job position, which will now also include oversight of the Shining Stars program at Buhler Grade School. The current Shining Stars director will assume the newly revised position.
The board approved hiring of a 4th grade teacher at Plum Creek Elementary School. The person hired has been a long term substitute in that classroom during the first semester, and after graduation in December has applied for her teaching license. The board also approved a resolution to non-renew a contract for the 2025-26 school year.
Monte Cross was re-elected president of the Board of Education for 2025, with Tim Lackey to serve as vice president, and it set meeting dates for the board for the rest of 2025.
