They officially broke ground for a new elementary school in the Buhler School district, USD 313.
The new school to be located at 901 East 43rd, will be known as “Plum Creek” elementary and will replace two aging ones that will be closed once the new school is complete.
A good crowd was on hand to watch the groundbreaking which included a student by the name of “Benjamin” who was lucky enough to have the letter “B” in his yellow hard hat which they handed out to the kids who were in attendance. That allowed him to participate in the groundbreaking along side of school district officials.
Buhler School Superintendent, Dr. Dan Stiffler who worked hard to get the 44.9-million dollar bond issue passed making the ground breaking possible. He agreed that it is a great day for the district. He says a lot has gone in to getting projects going in the district after failed attempts to get a bond issue past voters in the past. Getting it passed this time not only allows for the building of the new grade school, but also upgrades and additions to other schools in the district.
They had signs at various points across the field so those in attendance would be able to get a sense where different classrooms and other elements of the school will be located.
There were storms to the north of the site while the ground breaking was taking place and that was a stark reminder of the tragedy surrounding schools in Moore, Oklahoma. Dr. Stiffler told us that once this new school is built, it will be safe with the addition of a safe room, but adds a crisis and emergency preparedness plan is in place for each school.
According to the district website, those plans have been developed in coordination with the Hutchinson Police Department, the Buhler Police Department, the Reno County Sheriffs Department and local fire departments.
Once “Plum Creek” Elementary is completed, the new school will replace Obee Grade School at 4th & Obee Rd., just east of Hutchinson, and Prosperity located north of 43rd on Plum.
They hope that construction will be complete by August of next year and that they can begin classes at the school at that time.
It should be noted that Dr. Stiffler will be leaving the district and Mike Berblinger who is the current principal at Buhler High School will take over as superintendent as the new school year begins.