NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Buhler USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman doesn't know why voters rejected the $8 million bond issue on Tuesday.
"It's discouraging," Couchman said. "It feels a little bit like when you've put your heart and soul into a really good lesson plan and you spend a lot of time thinking it's going to go well. You're excited about it. You think you've got the right plan and the right standards and the right outcomes. You go and you teach it and it turns out that the kids didn't get it and they are confused and they didn't learn like you thought they would and the lesson wasn't as good as you thought it was going to be. That's a little bit what it feels like."
The district previously passed bonds for Plum Creek Elementary in 2012 and for athletic improvements in 2015.
"We will reflect as a board and our admin team," Couchman said. "We'll talk about, what are next steps? The needs don't go away. Now we have to figure out and prioritize our needs. What is the priority? What needs to be handled first? Right off the bat, Ad Astra Academies has to have a space."
The program has shown explosive growth in the last couple of years.
"Ad Astra Academies is new," Couchman said. "We just started it last year. A lot of people don't know it. They don't understand what it is. That's our fault. We have to own some of that for not communicating it that first year. It grew so explosively and with growth comes challenges. The explosive growth does create challenges. It's an umbrella of learning, an alternative learning center, that means our 9-12 students have an alternative, just an alternative high school and it's not in the normal brick and mortar Buhler High School. It's hosted in our admin center, which is not student use approved. It's also a virtual school. They are coming in right now, taking state assessments. They are running in and out of our building and we're not equipped for that with our small bathrooms and we also have an adult learning center."
What started as a 40 student virtual program is now over 175 students throughout the umbrella.
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