BHS Bucks Principal's Update

I hope you had a memorable Thanksgiving. I know things certainly looked different for all of us this year, and I hope you made some wonderful memories and started some new traditions.

We are rapidly approaching winter break and quicker than lightening, the semester will be ending. I can't stress enough how important it is for all students to be completing their work at this time. Procrastination will only make the hole deeper. Start NOW! Do something! Make a plan! Get some help! Your BHS teachers and staff are here to help, but we can't make work appear without student effort, and credits toward graduation don't just automatically happen. Don't be left behind, work toward your high school diploma by turning in assignments, doing your best on assessments, and attend your Google Meets. Ask questions, seek clarrification, and do your best!

Our plan is to return to face to face on Wednesday, December 9th unless we are ordered to do otherwise. Remember all students must wear masks, come to school healthy, and be ready to learn. Please reread the Return To Learn plan to refresh yourself with our policies. You can find that document by clicking here. We've missed our students and we are ready to welcome them back into the building.

Together, we are #BUCKSTRONG!

Sincerely,

Mrs. DeMaio

As some of you know, we have a team of people calling the homes of our students who are not submitting work, failing classes, or not attending Google Meets. I know that some of you may have gotten numerous phone calls, and I apologize for the redundancy. Please understand that our team is only trying to reach your students because we care about them and their grades. We are doing our best to engage our students on every level while in remote learning. We need your help in encouraging your students to submit work, attend Google Meets, and get the help they need to be successful. We understand that your home dynamics have changed, just as our school dynamics have, but we feel confidant that by working together we can make this experience the best we can for our BHS students.

The good news is that you have control over how you are communicated with. Please use caution when deleting your information, as we need to keep our lines of communication open. To change your preferences, please visit the district website and click the Parents tab. You will find the link to SchoolMessenger right there. At the bottom of the page, you will also see how to OPT IN to text messeges. https://www.buchananschools.com/schoolmessenger/

The College Board has released our fall scores. Knowing that schools were not mandated to test all students at all levels, Buchanan made the decision to test our students to continue the baseline data collection. Although our students took this test after a normal summer slide, we compounded this regularly occurring gap with COVID closures in the spring. We are not impressed by the scores and know that our students are capable of much better, but we are at the very least happy that our students did show growth. Our goal is always to have our students show growth AND meet the College and Career Readiness Benchmarks. The attached tables show you College Readiness Benchmarks as well as the growth from last fall to this fall. We track cohort growth from year to year to see how our students have improved. The numbers in red are decreased score results from the previous year, the green are increased scores from the prior year. The asteriks (*) signifies a college and career readiness benchmark was met. We will be addressing the question analysis reports at upcoming Professional Development and PLC meetings.

As our first semester winds down, we must take a look at the students who need to complete courses from last year who did not earn credits during our remote learning. Some students will have a change in their schedule to accommodate the increased load of core classes, and in many cases, this means that elective classes will be dropped. Students had an entire semester to complete the minimum requirements from the spring to earn credits. Those who did not complete those requirements will be sent a change in schedule notification.

Anna is the newest face at BHS. She is the voice behind the phone calls and the doorbell. Anna is the administrative assistant for attendance, discipline, and athletics. We are excited to have join our BHS family!

BCS relies on our Free and Reduced applications to receive grant money that fund many programs that benefit our students. Please complete this application as soon as possible, even if you feel you won't qualify or are automatically qualified. If our application numbers don't increase, we are in jeopardy of losing those grant funds. Only one application needs to be completed per household. Please help us continue to support our students by completing the form that was either mailed to your home address or by logging into the student lunch portal found here: Food Service Account Login. You will need your username and password. If you do not know it, call Becky at 695-8415, or email her here at rkaltenbach@buchananschools.com

Senior pictures for the yearbook need to be submitted to rphilip@buchananschools.com by Friday January 8th, 2021.

If there is anyone that needs a professional yearbook photo, that can't afford it, Tucker Creative Photo & Teaching will do it free of charge, no strings.. just go to this link and send it in:

http://tuckpix.com/FreeYearbook/

Click this link to view the entire article on Austin and our Automotive CTE program! Be sure to check out the video linked in the picture above. Congrats to Austin, and Mr. Brown our CTE Automotive Tech teacher!

The holidays are stressful enough in normal times, let alone in pandemic times. BHS is here to support you in all of your needs. If you need food, clothing, or shelter (or know someone who does), please reach out to us. We have an amazing community of people who consistently provides for those in need. At the very least, we can put you in contact with resources who can help.

Riverwood’s Children’s Mobile Crisis Team is up and running. It is 24/7/365 service for any child/youth/family in Berrien County.

Due to COVID, they will not be going places on site, but each therapist has ZOOM capabilities and will be offering that service to all parties that need a F2F consultation, including hospitals, detention centers, and shelters.

They can also be a point of contact for a team to proactively reach out to children, youth and families you are concerned about and feel they need a wellness check. They are doing that internally at Riverwood as well.

Please forward this information to any and all folks in the community who might benefit from the information. The contact number is: 269-934-0747

Class of 2021 Parents & Students:

While the school year is off to a quite different start, there are still many important details that cannot be overlooked as we work through this challenging time. One of those major details is planning for commencement and making sure our seniors have everything they need to celebrate and be honored. Traditionally, our partner Mark Flueckiger with Jostens would have a class assembly with our Seniors to explain the graduation order process and distribute order materials at that time. Due to the restrictions on visitors in our buildings, Jostens had made the adjustment to send communications digitally and through the mail.

IMPORTANT – Please look for our senior packet arriving to you in the mail next week. The packet contains a catalog, order forms and an announcement. The announcement was designed by representatives of the senior class and is an important part of the graduation order to send to family and friends regarding your commencement details. Jostens will be sending out an informational email containing video explanations of the graduation product offering, most importantly being your Cap & Gown for commencement. That email will be sent on Tuesday, December 8th. Please keep an eye out in your inbox and open it for complete details on the graduation products and the deadline to have orders placed.

ALL graduation orders need to be placed online, by phone, or by mail no later than FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18th. It is extremely important to have your order submitted by this date. COVID outbreaks and shut downs are unpredictable and we want to make sure our partners have plenty of time to produce and prepare our senior orders.

If you have any questions, please call the Jostens office at 260-758-9673 or email at
flueckigeroffice@jostens.com.

Remote Academic Intervention

Ms. Southwell and Mr. Pearson will be available to any student who needs some help in their studies Monday - Thursday from 11:30 - 1:30. A Google Meet link is available on every teacher's Google Classroom as a resource.

After School Academics (ASA)

Ms. Southwell and Mr. Pearson will be available Monday - Thursday from 2:45 until 3:45 to help students with their academic needs, with class work, credit recovery, a friendly chat or with any issues students may be having. ASA is available virtually and the link can be found on every teacher's Google Classroom as a resource.

December 9 - High School Returns to Face to Face Learning

December 21 - January 3 - Winter Break!

January 18 - No School - District PD

January 21 - 1/2 day for students (Exams: hours 1,2,3)

January 22 - 1/2 day for students (Exams: hours 4,5,6)

January 25 - Second Semester Begins

At Buchanan High School, we strive to prepare students for life outside of the academic setting. We are always looking for partnerships within our community to bring real world life experiences to our students. Please reach out to us if you have an idea you'd like to discuss to help our students become successful.

If you call our office, our phone menu has changed, please listen carefully to the new option. Please check out our new Facebook page and like us!

Email: sdemaio@buchananschools.com
Website: www.buchananschools.com
Location: 401 West Chicago Street, Buchanan, MI, USA
Phone: (269) 695-8403
Facebook: facebook.com/BuchananHSBucks
Twitter: @BHS_Bucks