BGR-1 Families,
As we approach the end of the final week of school in the year 2021, it is a great time to reflect and look forward to a few days off with family and friends with great anticipation. We have had a tremendous Fall Semester with the successes of our school athletic teams and activities as they ventured out to compete with rival schools while representing us so favorably. Our district report card came out two weeks ago, as I shared in my communication last week, and our school community is continuing to improve and perform at high levels. Just yesterday, we celebrated Frankford Elementary School being listed in the U.S. News and World Report rankings of the top 100 elementary schools in Missouri (ranking 89th out of over 1000 elementary schools.) This has taken a partnership of compassionate, student focused individuals working together. I couldn't be prouder of our school community.
In addition, we celebrated the ground breaking of our new FEMA Storm Shelter at Frankford Elementary yesterday. This space will serve as a place of refuge and protection from the likes of storms and tornados we have seen ravage through communities in recent days and months. The entire Frankford School and Community will benefit from the protection this building will provide. Demien Construction and Paragon Architecture have been tremendous partners getting this project up and running. We are also excited about having additional classroom space for art and music and other pull out work with students.
This project would not be possible without the partnership with our Pike County Commission and the Mark Twain Council of Governments who worked collaboratively with our district to develop a hazard mitigation plan and the partnership with Paragon Architecture who assisted me with the original notice of interest application we filed in 2018 to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I am also thankful for the work of Dr. Hunter since coming on board part time in 2019 with much of the logistical behind the scenes work and to our board of education, who have been a stable source of support, governance, and direction for this school community for the last several years.
As we have seen all to recently, violent weather patterns are on the rise, and communities without adequate shelter can be devastated by unfortunate loss of life. We have seen on the news, even this week where this has been the case across the region. We are also excited about a new road the board approved to build to give increased and additional access to the school at Frankford, and another at Bowling Green for our EMS and others needing accessible and safe entry and exit options. We are thankful for the support of MODOT and Horner and Shifrin, our engineering firm for their help and coordination to make that a reality as well. We expect to break ground on the road projects very soon. For more on the FEMA project, see this story by our local radio station: https://tinyurl.com/46tap39b. For more about the board presentations on the construction of our road projects, see: https://tinyurl.com/yckpd5au paid for with local funds.
Just yesterday, Scott Mullins, principal of BGHS, announced his intensions to retire at the end of this school year. Mr. Mullins has spent 22 of his 28 years of education in Bowling Green serving as teacher, coach and administrator. He has great enthusiasm for our students and our school community have been evident as he is always one to help us remember that this is “Our House.” We will truly miss Mr. Mullins’ dedication to our students, parents and staff and wish him well in planning for his next steps in retirement effective the end of June. We will look forward to begin the process of recruiting and selecting a new principal for BGHS very soon to ensure an effective transition.
On a fun note, the artwork of Bowling Green Elementary fifth-grade student Rowdy Cassidy was featured on the Bowling Green R-1 School District Holiday Greeting Card for 2021. Rowdy’s artwork was selected from about 30 entries within the grades 4-5 art class taught by Lisa Shimp, art teacher. Rowdy is a student in Mrs. Ince 5th grade class and was notified recently that his artwork was selected. To see the image of the card, see the attached image
As a reminder, this Friday, December 17th, is a FULL day just before a full two weeks of break. We look forward to welcoming our students back first thing January 4th! Happy New Year! And God Bless.
Matt Frederickson, PhD
Superintendent
Bowling Green R-1 Schools