Due to icy road conditions, Bunker Hill CUSD #8 will be closed tomorrow (Friday, 2/25). The district will be utilizing an e-learning day tomorrow. Stay safe, and we will see everyone back on Monday! Students should check their school emails and Google Classroom for details. Meals will be available for pickup at Wolf Ridge at 11:30 am. Stay safe!
Due to the change in forecast, which now calls for freezing rain (instead of snow) beginning at noon, Bunker Hill CUSD #8 will dismiss school at 11:30 AM today (Thursday, 2/24/2022). Lunches will be provided for all students. No afternoon Pre-K. No after school PAC.
Happy Presidents' Day! See everyone on Tuesday!
Due to hazardous and slick road conditions, Bunker Hill CUSD#8 will be utilizing a remote learning day tomorrow, 2/18. Parents and students should check their email and Google Classroom in the morning for details from teachers. Meals will be available at Wolf Ridge for pick up at noon tomorrow.
Due to the predicted wintry mix entering our area, Bunker Hill CUSD #8 will be dismissing early today (Thursday, 2/17) at 12:30 PM. However, if roads begin to deteriorate quicker than anticipated, we may dismiss even earlier. We will continue to monitor these conditions, and any earlier dismissal will be communicated as soon as possible. Stay safe!
Regularly-Scheduled Board of Education meeting tonight (Tuesday, February 15, 2022) at Wolf Ridge at 7:00 PM. For agenda, click: https://bit.ly/362KyyK
Due to current and anticipated unsafe road conditions, school will again be cancelled tomorrow, Friday, 2/4. Stay safe & warm, and we will welcome everyone back on Monday!
Due to the additional forecasted snow fall, along with sporadic power outages and drifting in our rural outlying areas, Bunker Hill CUSD #8 will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, February 3, 2022. Stay safe, and we hope to welcome everyone back to school on Friday.
While we don’t normally cancel school based on the weather forecast, it appears that there is almost uniform agreement amongst local meteorologists that we are in for a severe winter storm in the coming hours that will last through the night and continue through at least Wednesday and possibly into Thursday. At this time, we are cancelling school for Wednesday only. This will be a snow day – not a remote learning day. A decision for Thursday will be communicated out either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Stay safe!
Dear Parents, Staff, Students and Families –
First, I would like to thank everyone for their continued support, understanding and patience during this time. As expected, a return from Christmas break has indeed resulted in higher numbers of Covid-19 both in our community and also among our school populations (students and staff). However, I hope tonight’s update provides some relief to those that are wondering why we are still open?
As we are all aware, Covid-19 cases are surging higher than at any point thus far in the pandemic. This is occurring locally, regionally, across the state, and indeed across most of the entire nation. Our district anticipated a larger uptick upon return from break, and yesterday’s numbers confirm this was a correct assumption. However, our screening test (Shield) is doing exactly what it is intended to do, which is to proactively catch positive students even up to 2 days before they are contagious. 13 of yesterday’s numbers were last week’s Shield results, but we expect a lower number this week. As the only district in Macoupin County that has screening tests in place, we are better positioned to use this additional layer to keep our schools safely below “outbreak” status. Many of the districts that have pivoted to remote learning have been due to an inability to staff employee absences, either out sick, quarantined or taking care of their own sick children. Others have delayed the break by a week or two in the hopes that this latest “surge” will subside. This may be delaying the inevitable, as any return from a lengthy hiatus will see more Covid-19 positives, unless every student and family member completely stayed home for this time period, which we know is not always the case. We are determined to provide as much in-person instruction as possible, as our students and families deserve nothing less. In fact, this past weekend, both principals, our school nurse and myself spent many hours sifting through test results, contact tracing, and notifying families of exposures, all in an attempt to ensure one thing: that schools will be open and safe this week.
Our district is not blindly remaining open, immune to the rising cases in our community. On the contrary, each positive case is plotted on a grid on a 4’x8’ markerboard broken out by grade levels and corresponding dates of exposure. We have 22 positives in the entire district which reflects a positivity of 3.7%, well below the current 15.2% rate within our county. In fact, we are closely monitoring 2 classrooms that could approach potential “outbreak” and are prepared to close a classroom, but not the entire district with 565 negative students still requiring daily in-person learning. Middle-school volleyball has been temporarily paused out of precaution, and we also have a “back up” plan which could include taking an emergency day (i.e., “snow day”) in the event of a lack of available staff and/or substitutes. Like all emergency days, they would be added to the end of the academic year in order to ensure that no days of in-person learning is lost. In fact, the CDC and IDPH recommend 4 key strategies to keeping schools open safely: 1) vaccines, 2) testing, 3) monitoring community spread, and 4) working with health officials. Bunker Hill CUSD #8 is doing all of these (and more) to keep our schools open daily. We are, like many of you, exhausted from this effort over the past 22 months. However, exhausted or not, we are here and will continue to be here for our students and families!
With this increase in numbers, large numbers of close contacts, and no clear end in sight, it can be tempting to feel discouraged by this. However, as a well-known expression states, “the sun always shines above the clouds.” Just a little over a year ago, we didn’t have any of these methods to remain open. Students and staff have the option to get a vaccine, they have the choice to test weekly, they have the choice to test if a close contact while remaining in school. Sports are continuing (with some periodic pauses, rescheduled games) but with no capacity limit, and isolation periods are now shortened to 5 days (down from 14 a year ago). Things are looking up slowly, and we have to be through these 22 months of clouds, right? And if there is a community around that is up to the task of weathering difficult times together as a community, it is Bunker Hill 8! So all hands on deck, and we look forward to welcoming our students back to school tomorrow! And the day after. And the next day.
Thank you for your continued partnership and grace, it is very much appreciated. As always, please reach out to me with any questions.
Have a great evening,
Todd
On behalf of the #BHill8 faculty, staff and administration, enjoy the holiday break! Classes will resume for students on Wednesday, January 5, 2022!
Bunker Hill CUSD #8 is experiencing a district wide power outage. We are working with Ameren to restore as soon as possible. As of 12:02 pm, classroom temperatures are warm and we plan to stay in session. However, if plans change, they will be communicated ASAP.
Tonight: Regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting at 7:00 PM at Wolf Ridge. For agenda: https://bit.ly/3DQdjKb
Tonight (Monday, 11/22) and tomorrow (Tuesday, 11/23) BHHS Girls' Basketball games are cancelled and will hopefully be rescheduled as soon as possible.
Tonight: Regularly-scheduled Board of Education meeting at 7:00 PM at Wolf Ridge Library. For agenda, click: https://bit.ly/3HyP6eq
Happy Veterans' Day, #BHill8 #thankyou
Students will be dismissed early at 12:30 tomorrow, November 3rd, for school improvement planning and professional development for staff. Next week, there will be no school on November 11th or 12th.
Tonight: Regularly-scheduled Board of Education meeting at Wolf Ridge Elementary -- 7:00 PM. For agenda, click:https://bit.ly/3G7yeuy
There will be an early dismissal at 2:00 PM tomorrow, October 15th. This Friday marks the end to the 1st Quarter of school. Report cards will be viewable on Teacher Ease next week.
Tonight: Regularly-scheduled Board of Education meeting at 7:00 PM at Wolf Ridge. For agenda, click here: https://bit.ly/3zwBpaG
