COVID-19 relief packages recently passed by the United States Congress contain numerous benefits for families financially impacted by the pandemic. Some of these benefits are available to students who are eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals. 

This week we will begin notifying parents/guardians of their child’s absence during the day through our automated phone system. 

Parents and guardians of students who attend the Senior High School, Intermediate High School, Middle School and Center Avenue Community School should have received an automated phone call/ message around 11 am today if their child is absent from school. Moving forward, this call will go out at approximately 11 am on the day a student is absent. 

Beginning on Friday, January 22, parents and guardians of students who attend Center Township Elementary, Connoquenessing Elementary, Emily Brittain Elementary, McQuistion Elementary, Northwest Elementary and Summit Elementary will receive a phone call/message from our automated system if their child is absent from school. This call will go out at approximately 11 am on the day a student is absent. 

Many of our families have seen first hand how disruptive quick school closures can be for our students, staff and the community we serve. Connoquenssing Elementary School, McQuistion Elementary School, Center Avenue Community School, the Middle School and the Intermediate High School all had to quickly shift to remote learning this week, per the state’s most recent mandates for schools. Several other schools are only 1-2 positive COVID-19 cases away from having to do the same.

We have been notified that 2 members of our school community have tested positive for COVID-19. Any close contacts are being notified.

According to the mandates issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Department of Education, we must temporarily close a school when the number of positive COVID-19 cases over a 14 day period reaches the thresholds the state outlined on their charts. 

At Center Avenue, 2 is the threshold. Therefore, we will move to remote instruction for all students at Center Avenue beginning on Thursday, January 14, 2021. 

We have made some changes to our school calendar for the 2020-2021 school year in an effort to both maximize in-person instruction for our students and still provide our teachers with the time they need to manage everything they need to do to accommodate multiple learning pathways. 

All BASD students are eligible to receive two meals a day, five days a week for free through the remainder of this school year. In addition, any child under the age of 18 who resides in the Butler Area School District may also receive free meals. Learn more.

Students who attend school in person will receive their meals at school. Students who are learning remotely may pick up their meals. Students who are in the secondary COHORT model will receive their meals at school on the days they are learning in person and may choose to pick up their meals for the days when they are learning remotely. 

Butler Area School District has partnered with Glade Run Lutheran Services to offer school based mental health services to our students. This partnership enables students to receive mental health services at school, which reduces barriers like transportation and parent work schedules.

Butler Are School District secondary and elementary schools have been designated a “Grief-Sensitive School” by the New York Life Foundation.  Each school will receive a $500 grant to help create a bereavement support plan and encourage ongoing staff development as part of the national Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative.

As we prepare to welcome our students back to school, we know we have shared quite a bit of information with families over the last few weeks. Here's a brief summary all in one place to help you prepare for Monday, January 4. 

Our students, staff and schools are so fortunate to have the dedicated support of The Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation, Inc. In the midst of a global pandemic, the Foundation was still able to show up in a big way for our school community. Thank you to everyone who got involved and supported the foundation through generous donations, volunteer work or both. We'd also like to extend a very sincere thank you to all of the Foundation Board Members for their hard work and commitment to Butler Area School District. 

Click to read the GTSF's New Year Newsletter. 

I hope everyone has had a nice winter break. We are preparing to reopen in the following manner on Monday, January 4, 2020.

The Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program was created with the goal of fighting hunger by supplying weekend food for children in need. Today there are 280 Butler Area School District elementary students who are enrolled in this program.

The Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program is an initiative of The Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation that is run by about 40 volunteers made up of community members and retired teachers.

Thank you to everyone who helps make this program possible for our students!