Buena High School

Greetings, Buena families! We cannot wait to see our Colts back in the classroom. But first, a few important notes.

Buena student schedule issues

We want to apologize for any difficulties you might have faced in preparing to go back to school and explain why certain issues occurred.

Due to unfortunate technical issues with Synergy, the program behind our StudentVUE and ParentVUE portals, many of you were unable to access student schedules as expected on Friday, July 19. This caused delays at our early registration for band and JROTC students and senior registration day, and also frustrated many parents and students who wanted to view their schedules and pay class fees early.

The same program also caused schedule errors for some students, particularly in their 2nd and 7th periods. Our counselors are on hand at registration to help fix this problem. If it is a minor problem, our counselors encourage you to send them an email about the issue. They will work to correct the problem outside of registration time.

Our early registration day is often a “dress rehearsal;” it serves as an opportunity for us to work through our processes and fine-tune them for registration week. That being said, we apologize for the extended delays that were experienced. We now have printed schedules ready for students to pick up as they enter for their day of registration.

Our Information Management department is hard at work resolving all aspects of the problem with Synergy and making sure these issues don’t happen again. We want to thank IM, our Welcome Center team, our Buena counselors and administrators, and the rest of our staff for assisting parents and students during this time.

Most of all, though, we would like to thank you: the parents who showed understanding and made helpful suggestions despite waiting in line longer than planned. The families that reached out to us when they had questions or needed to make alternate registration arrangements. The students who helped guide their younger classmates through the potentially intimidating registration process. You didn’t have to do these things, but you did and our district is all the better for it.

We also would like to take some time to address some misinformation that was shared with Buena parents and students:

Minimum Number of Classes

During the last school year, we approved a change to the student handbook that increased the minimum number of classes to be taken while enrolled at Buena from four to five. This increase will NOT be enforced during this school year. We planned to start distributing information about the increase this year to give ample time for students and parents to plan for the 2020–2021 school year. We are adding a statement to the digital handbook to ensure there is no more confusion on this.

Early Graduation

There has been no change in policy or practice regarding how we handle early graduates. Students are in high school until they have fulfilled their graduation requirements.

Math Class Sizes

It’s obvious why parents and students would be concerned about the rumor that Buena math classes will have 40 or more students each. A class with this many students is unimaginable. Luckily, this isn’t happening at Buena.

Earlier this summer, our enrollment system filled two or three classes with close to 40 students. This was never intended to be the final class arrangement. Rest assured, our Buena team will have all class sizes adjusted to board policy before school starts. Board policy states the maximum size of Buena classes is 28; however, the policy does allow up to 30 students in circumstances where there are no alternatives.

Important dates

July 23 and 24: JROTC LET 1 Camp (8 a.m.–2 p.m.)

July 27: Buena Colt Walk About (9 a.m.–11 a.m.)

July 29: Class of 2023 Orientation (9 a.m.–11 a.m.) — Please register at http://bit.ly/2023Orientation

Aug. 1: First day of school

Aug. 7: Buena High School Open House

Registration

Registration is here! We wanted to provide you with information regarding the process.

Dates

(If you have multiple children in your home that attend Buena, you can choose to register on any of days they fall under). Reminder, you must have Educational Rights of the student in order to register them.

• Early registration for band and JROTC students: July 19, 8 a.m.–noon
• Class of 2020: July 22, 8 a.m.–noon
• Class of 2021: July 23, 8 a.m.–noon
• Class of 2022: July 24, 8 a.m.–noon
• Class of 2023: July 25, 8 a.m.–noon
• Make-ups: July 26, 8 a.m.–noon

Parking

Please park in Buena's east parking lot (the student parking lot near the football field) and enter through the east doors.

What to Bring

If your address or phone number has changed, please bring a current utility bill to registration and meet with Mrs. Obermeier in Records to update your demographics. Also remember to update your phone number(s) in ParentVUE, if needed.

How to Pay School Fees

You can pay registration fees — including class, athletic, and Chromebook fees — online using MySchoolBucks. Bring a printed copy or screenshot of your receipt, as this will be required for Top 30* designations on ID cards and parking passes.

Use the following link to access My School Bucks: http://bit.ly/BuenaFees. Please check to make sure that your payment method on file is up to date; if it isn't, the system will not let you pay any fees.

*What is Top 30? Top 30 costs $33 and allows students free admission to all athletic home games (with the exception of state playoff games) and discounts for dances.

A note about yearbooks: Yearbooks cannot be paid for through MySchoolBucks. More info will be provided at a later date.

Registration Stations

All stations required unless otherwise noted. Please proceed through the stations in this order:

1. Schedules: Printed copies will be available if you were unable to access your student's schedule through ParentVUE or StudentVUE.
2. Student Services or MySchoolBucks computers: Required if you were unable to pay fees in advance.
3. Complete Chromebook forms
4. Optional stops: Yearbook, parking, lockers, free and reduced lunch
5. Identification cards
6. Pictures for yearbooks and demographics

Counselor Assistance

Counselors will be available to help with schedule changes in the following circumstances:

• The student had a scheduled teacher previously and failed that teacher's class;
• The student needs a class for graduation or university entrance and is not scheduled for it;
• The student does not have a necessary prerequisite for a scheduled class;
• The student did not have the class on his or her course request form; or
• The student is a senior on track for graduation and wants a shortened schedule.

NOTE: Only seniors may have an open hour, unless enrolled at Cochise College (must provide receipt and schedule)

School Supplies

Supplies for Buena High School students depend on the classes each student takes. Because of this, our high school staff ask that students bring the general supplies of a pencils/pens, paper, and folders, and then each teacher will provide their own class-specific supply list once the new school year begins.