Kutz Cougar Courier Times

• Monday, October 5- Friday, October 23- Raise Craze Fundraiser (see information below)
• Monday, October 19- Lockdown Drill (information sent via email on 10/12)
• Thursday, October 22- Raise Craze Celebration (see information below)
• Friday, October 23- 5th Grade Halloween Dance- 7-9 PM
• Friday, October 23- Yearbook Cover Entries Due (see information below)
• Monday, October 26- Kutz 90th Birthday Celebration (see information below)
• Tuesday, October 27- 4th Grade Pennsbury Manor Field Trip
• Wednesday, October 28- 5th Grade Ropes Course Field Trip- Day 1 of 2
• Thursday, October 29- 5th Grade Ropes Course Field Trip- Day 2 of 2
• Friday, October 30- Halloween Parade @ 9:30 AM and Classroom Parties
• Friday, October 30- Early Dismissal at 12:10 PM
• Monday, November 2- Wall of Honor Forms Due (see information below)
• Tuesday, November 3- No School- Election Day
• Thursday, November 5- Picture Retakes
• Friday, November 6- Kutz Spirit Day- Wear Kutz gear or Kutz colors (blue, gray, or white)
• Monday, November 9- Friday, November 13- Gift Card Drive to Help Families in Need (more information to follow)
• Wednesday, November 11- Wear red, white, and blue to honor our veterans
• Friday, November 13- H&S General Membership Meeting at 2 PM
• Monday, November 23- Early Dismissal at 12:10 PM (Parent Conferences)
• Tuesday, November 24- Early Dismissal at 12:10 PM (Parent Conferences)
• Wednesday, November 25- Sunday, November 29- No School (Thanksgiving Break)

On Monday, October 19, we will conduct our first lockdown drill of the school year to practice our safety and security protocols. During this drill, students will be asked to move to a secure location within the building with their teachers.

To support this effort, district security personnel and officers from Doylestown Township Police Department may be on site.

In preparation, teachers reviewed safety procedures with students to ensure understanding in an age-appropriate and reassuring way.

Thank you for your continued support in keeping our school community safe.

We have 5 days left of our first annual Cougars Choose Kindness Raise Craze Fundraiser, and WOW, our Kutz Cougars have been CRUSHING IT! 🎉

From traveling trophies to hundreds of kindness flags to teachers getting taped to walls, we've had a pretty incredible week and a half! Check out some of the fun we've been having in the photos below! 📸

🐾 NOT REGISTERED YET? THERE'S STILL TIME!

We still have some families who haven't registered, and we'd love to get EVERYONE in on the fun! It's super easy to sign up, and there's still plenty of time to log Acts of Kindness, raise donations, and earn chances for your kids to win some amazing prizes!

Register here: https://raisecraze.com/join

Join Code: 491-902

🎁 MORE KINDNESS = MORE CHANCES TO WIN!

Did you know that registering, logging Acts of Kindness, and raising donations all help your child earn raffle tickets for some AWESOME prizes? 🎟️

We have over 20 prize baskets filled with goodies and experiences donated by local businesses, PLUS three incredible grand prizes:

⚽ Philadelphia Union Tickets

🏒 Philadelphia Flyers Tickets

🏈 Philadelphia Eagles Tickets

Our grand prizes will be raffled off at the end of the fundraiser, so keep those Acts of Kindness and donations coming! Every little bit counts, and every act of kindness makes a difference! ✨

🗓️ SAVE THE DATE: END OF FUNDRAISER DANCE-A-THON CELEBRATION!

Parents and loved ones, please join us on Thursday, October 22nd for our big Raise Craze DANCE-A-THON End Celebration! 💃🕺

We'll be celebrating all the kindness, generosity, and hard work of our amazing Kutz community with music, dancing, and lots of fun on the Kutz field!

• Grades K–2: 10:00–10:45 AM
• Grades 3–5: 2:15–3:00 PM

Rain Date: Friday, October 23rd

If you plan to attend or want to help check people in, PLEASE SIGN UP HERE

🤝 SPREAD KINDNESS TO THE UNITED WAY HELP CENTER!

Our Cougars are spreading kindness beyond Kutz! We're collecting BRAND-NEW items for the United Way Help Center, including healthy non-perishable foods, hygiene products, baby and children's supplies, cleaning supplies, and home goods.

Drop Off: Plastic bins in the Kutz foyer

Deadline: Friday, October 23rd

Don't forget! Once you've donated, be sure to log your completed United Way Act of Kindness in your Raise Craze dashboard!

Let's make these final days our BEST yet and keep spreading kindness throughout Kutz and our community!

Questions? Reach out to us at kutzfundraising@gmail.com.

COUGARS CHOOSE KINDNESS! 💙🐾

Your Kutz Fundraising Team

Meghan Budden, Lindsay Callendar, Maureen Carroll & Jenna Ott

As part of our Cougars Choose Kindness Raise Craze Fundraiser, we're collecting BRAND-NEW items for the United Way HELP CENTER! Donations needed include non-perishable healthy foods, hygiene products, baby and children's supplies, cleaning supplies, and home goods.

Drop-off: Main Office
Dates: Monday, 10/12 – Friday, 10/23

Don't forget! Select the United Way Drive in your Raise Craze portal and mark it complete after donating to log your Act of Kindness!

We will have our annual Halloween parade Friday, October 30, weather permitting. This will take place at approximately 9:30 AM in the bus lane. Family members are welcome to attend this outdoor event. In the event of rain, the Outdoor Parade will be CANCELLED. We will have an indoor parade for students and staff only. Students should come to school dressed in their costumes. As a reminder, this is a half-day and students are dismissed at 12:10 PM.

We ask for your cooperation regarding the following:

COSTUMES (for school)

-Safe, nothing dragging excessively along the floor or restricting students’ vision

-Fun, without being offensive or overly gory

-No weapons of any kind are allowed

DISMISSAL

-Since our parade is first thing in the morning, we will dismiss as per our usual routine.

-10/30 is a half day, dismissal is at 12:10 PM.

PARTIES

Parties will take place after the parade. Your child's homeroom teacher/homeroom parent will communicate the party plan with the class. For grades K-3 only 5 volunteers (including homeroom parents and photographers are permitted). For grade 4 only 3 volunteers (including homeroom parents and photographers are permitted). Grade 5 does not have a Halloween party since they have the Halloween Dance the week before.

You MUST have your clearances to volunteer at a party, and you must have been notified by the teacher/homeroom parent that you were selected.

All volunteers MUST bring their driver’s license the day of the party (or prior) to be scanned into our visitor management system.

If students in your child’s classroom have allergies, please be mindful of this if you are signing up to bring in a snack or treat. Pre-packaged items with the nutrition facts included are a good idea because we can then refer back to that if there are questions.

Thank you for your cooperation and support with Halloween!

Kutz Elementary looks forward to honoring the veterans in our community with a Wall of Honor. Forms will be sent home on Monday, 10/19 using family count and are due back on Monday, 11/2. Additionally, students and staff are invited to dress in Red, White, and Blue on Wednesday, November 11th

Something big, green and very hungry is taking over the CB West stage. The school's Harlequin Club will present "Little Shop of Horrors" from Nov. 20-22, featuring a student cast and crew and Monkey Boys’ Audrey II puppets -- the only set of Audrey II puppets built by individuals directly involved with the 2003 Broadway show and the subsequent 2004 national tour. Tickets are on sale now at https://our.show/cbwestlittleshop

Thank you to the nearly 100 CBSD parents and guardians, teachers, community members, township officials, and business owners who joined Superintendent Dr. Joanna Wexler at her first two community forums on Oct. 5 and 12. All are invited to attend the final informal and conversational session on Monday, Oct. 26 at Jamison Elementary School from 6-7:30 p.m. Attendees can pre-register to submit questions or walk in anytime to meet Dr. Wexler and share topics of interest.

A new CBSD.org webpage is now available where families can access all information related to digital wellness and purposeful, balanced, and monitored technology use in CBSD in one place. Visit the webpage now. More information will be added as it becomes available, so check back regularly!

Next week, Oct. 19–23, is National School Bus Safety Week, a reminder that every driver plays a role in keeping students safe. Please slow down, put away distractions, and be especially alert near bus stops and during morning pickup and afternoon drop-off times. Watch for children approaching or leaving buses, allow extra travel time, and obey school bus signals and stop arms. Thank you for helping our students get to and from school safely every day!

Join the more than 520 alumni from the Class of 1964 through the Class of 2025 who are staying connected with CB by sharing what you're doing and joining our alumni mailing list! Complete the survey now.

Get ready for the October edition of The Feed, featuring Doyle Elementary star Jill Susco, a deep dive into everyday healthy options, and a breakdown of the newly revised Dietary Guidelines! Read the full newsletter

CBSD wishes to remind families and students of the importance of obeying e-bike laws for the safety of all CB residents. The Central Bucks Regional Police Department has provided the district with this flyer to stress what defines a street legal e-bike and when an e-bike is not street legal. To be street legal, an e-bike must have working pedals, be limited to a maximum assisted speed of 20 mph, and the rider must be at least 16-years-old. E-dirt bikes, electric or gas-powered "mini-rides" with seats, and off-road-only bikes and scooters are not street legal. We thank our families and students for following these laws.

CBSD is happy to share information about various community events happening around CB that families may wish to attend. Check out these events now! Recent additions include Chalfont's Spooky Dine & Donate for the New Britain Food Pantry on Oct. 23 and information on Doylestown Township's Explore Archery, LEGO Workshop, Junior Pickleball, and Learn to Crochet programs.

We have Kutz Spirit Wear available! Click the link below if you want to order Kutz spirit wear!

If your child is coming into school late, leaving early, has a dismissal change, or will be absent, please email your child's teacher(s) and our office staff. Please email all office staff members in case someone is absent- Michele Ernst at mernst@cbsd.org, Jenny Debuque at jdebuque@cbsd.org, and Hillary Ray at hray@cbsd.org You can also call the office at 267-893-3900.

Kutz is a "B" School

• Arrival begins at 8:30 AM
  
• Student day begins at 8:50 AM
• Student day ends at 3:30 PM
• Dismissal ends at 3:50 PM
• For early dismissal days- dismissal begins at 12:10 PM
• For 2 hour delay days- arrival begins at 10:30 and the student day begins at 10:50

The student directory for the 2025-2026 school year is on the Kutz website. Directions for how to find it on the website are included below. To access the website page that houses the directory, you need a "Page Passkey". The page passkey was sent via email on November 5. Click here to access it, too.

Directions for how to find the directory on the website:

1. Go to kutz.cbsd.org
2. On the menu on the right hand side, choose "Parents/Students".
3. Click "Parent Resources".
4. On the left-hand side, click "Student Directory".
5. Enter the page passkey listed above.
6. Then click the directory.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our office staff.

VOLUNTEER Clearances/Paperwork

Central Bucks School District volunteers play a vital role in supporting students, staff, sports programs and other school activities. Thank you for your interest in volunteering!

PA Act 15 of 2015 requires volunteers to have clearances/background checks prior to volunteering in a public school. Clearances (and the FBI Volunteer Affidavit if applicable) are valid for 60 months (5 years) from the date of the clearance.

The PA Department of Education (PDE) recognizes differences between volunteers and visitors - click HERE for examples, and contact Human Resources with any questions.

The information below is intended for VOLUNTEERS. If you are compensated by CBSD by paycheck, parent fund, or student fund, you are NOT a volunteer and must complete employee paperwork.

• Click Raptor Volunteer Safe to register and create an account. NOTE: Each volunteer must create an individual Raptor account and all required clearances must be submitted with your application. (The App Garden program has been discontinued by the provider, but you may retrieve your clearances from App Garden through May 31, 2025 - click HERE for instructions).
  
  
• If you have a Volunteer Card issued with your previous App Garden account, you may continue to volunteer with that card through June 30, 2025, regardless of the expiration date printed on the card.
  
  
• All volunteers must create a Raptor account if you wish to volunteer after 6/30/2025.
  
  
• All communication about your account status will be sent to the email address on file in Raptor.

Mandated Reporter Information: Under Pennsylvania law, any person having direct contact with school children is considered a mandatory reporter and is required to report reasonable suspicion of child abuse.

All Central Bucks School District volunteers are mandated reporters. We recommend volunteers complete an online training course through the University of Pittsburgh's Child Welfare Resource Center, “Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse: Mandated and Permissive Reporting in PA.” Click the link to take the course, then upload your certificate to your Raptor account: https://www.reportabusepa.pitt.edu/.

Click HERE for additional information and frequently asked questions.

Thank you for volunteering your time and service, and for understanding the importance of complying with these state regulations for the safety of our students.

HAVE QUESTIONS? Please email Human Resources.

Clearances expire five years after approval, so please check to make sure yours are still current.

Clearances are required for parents chaperoning field trips, volunteering for classroom parties, and supporting other classroom and school events.

Thank you for supporting our staff and students by volunteering your time!

Want to view our lunch menu? Need to add funds to your child's account? Looking for nutrition information? Need to apply for free and reduced breakfast/lunch? Click here to learn more about Food Services in Central Bucks.

Looking for more information on our Before and After School Programs? Click here to learn how to register your child.

All CBSD families and students are encouraged to carefully review the 2026-27 Family Handbook now available on the district's website. The handbook includes sections on important topics such as equal opportunity protections; report cards; health, special education, and other services for students; regulations and student disciplinary procedures, including policies on smoking/vaping, drugs and alcohol, and threats; technology and cell phone usage; parental rights; Title IX procedures; and more. Thank you for your support in following district guidelines to maintain safe and caring schools.

Kutz School Wide Expectations: Practice Kindness, Act Respectfully, Work Responsibly, Stay Safe

Email: cadelberger@cbsd.org
Website: www.cbsd.org/kutz
Location: Kutz Elementary School, Turk Road, Doylestown, PA, USA
Phone: 267-893-3900
Twitter: @CBKutzElem