Bowling Green Elementary

BGE 3rd/5th Grade Reminder: Spring Concert on Thursday, May 11th @ 6pm. Doors open at 5:30. Please drop your children off at their classroom between 5:30 and 5:45 unless they are on the stage, then they need to report directly to the MS gym by 5:30. Students should wear white shirts and blue jeans or old time looking dresses if desired unless otherwise directed. Can't wait to see you all tomorrow night!

Important BGE Announcement: Track and Field day will now be held on WEDNESDAY, MAY 17th instead of Tuesday May 16th. Coach Schlender had two HS golf players qualify for state tournament which will be held on Tuesday. Congrats Coach and we wish good luck to your players. See you all at track and field day on Wednesday at the same times. ~Mr. Kessler

Prop S Voting Reminder As a reminder, Tomorrow, April 4, Bowling Green R-1 Schools will ask voters to consider a request to issue general obligation bonds in the amount of $8.75 million for the purpose of completing projects that will impact all schools in the district.  Don't Forget to VOTE!

BGR-1 Families and Staff, I am writing to let you know that after watching the weather briefing for our area this morning, I am making the decision to dismiss students at noon today, Friday, March 31, due to incoming severe weather. The severe weather threat has been elevated for our area and north to Severe and with the potential of tornado outbreaks. Schools North of us have followed suit, unless they have a large enough tornado safe room to accommodate all of their students. While we have a safe room like this in Frankford now, we do not for the BG area. Please watch for announcements from individual schools regarding after school or evening activities as this storm unfolds. Thank you for your understanding, and stay safe. Matt Frederickson, PhD Superintendent

I know that many in their lifetime used something like this picture for “Duck and Cover” exercises in their classroom (as I did as well.) Somehow, I always felt that this just would not be enough when I needed projection. Just in my lifetime, there have been tornado deaths in schools in Orrick, Missouri; Belvidere, Illinois; Clearwater, Florida; Newburgh, New York; Grand Isle, Louisiana; Enterprise, Alabama; and Moore Oklahoma, but going back further in history we know of school deaths in St. Louis, MO; Poplar Bluff, MO and a tri-state tornado that killed 69 students in nine schools including within Missouri. And, we all remember the destruction in Joplin, Mo (thankfully, students were not present at the time) where five schools were completely destroyed and four others were damaged by the F5/EF5 tornado. Very recently, the Goodman, Missouri elementary school was destroyed by an EF2 tornado. While we have done much with raising awareness, (with bringing the KMOV Storm Team to BGHS to share information and broadcast their weather program), and doing drills and training, and with writing grants to help fund a storm safe shelter and tornado siren in Frankford, we have much more to do. (We have applied for grants for the BG campus, but FEMA did not award those.) It is important to note that at our BGHS, it is very difficult to find places to shelter with all of the glass in the hallways. We have to make use of bathrooms and locker rooms. As your superintendent responsible for the safety of all of our students while at school, this has been a sense of urgency for me since day one. The Joplin School District has built 14 safe rooms since 2011, when 161 were killed in their community. And, all new buildings built as schools in Missouri are required by law to have a tornado safe room moving forward. Prop S (a NO TAXRATE INCREASE BOND ISSUE on the ballot on April 4) plans to build a large tornado safe room as an expansion to the MS and HS library and includes a tornado safe room within a newly constructed Early Childhood Center that would have enough capacity to shelter not only our early childhood students, but also those at the nearby Learning Center. Also, in my lifetime, there have been nearly 2,000 school shooting incidents with the greatest numbers in 2019 with 119, 2021 with 249 and 2022 with about 300. Again, we have done quite a bit with eliminating some exterior doors, adding buzz-in doors at every school entrance, adding updated fire rated classroom doors with locking mechanisms, adding transaction windows within the entrance vestibule at both elementary schools, adding bullet resistant film on exterior glass, updating our alarm system, and have started acquiring bullet-proof white boards (like the one we showed on TV when Alex Fees come to do a story that then aired on NBC found here: https://tinyurl.com/39z8w6h3 ). We have also added a School Resource Officer and have raised awareness through ALICE training and drills, where we are using a new accountability application on our devices ensuring all students are accounted for in a more efficient process. Prop S will add transaction style vestibule entrances at the Middle School and the High School (like we have at our elementary schools) and we will be able to more closely monitor those who wish to gain access to those schools and implement a visitor management system district-wide. We also plan to add fencing to totally enclose playgrounds at Frankford and Bowling Green Elementary Schools and behind the High School, where we will also add an electronic gate with buzz in access to the AG area. While we also plan to do upgrades for ADA compliance at Central Office and on our playgrounds, and increase service in our free tuition Pre-School from 2 classrooms to seven (adding capacity for potential tuition based daycare options) with more capacity and appropriate facility needs, and upgrading the roof and paving the emergency road at Frankford Elementary, but the school safety upgrades are first and foremost on our minds and central to this No Tax rate Increase Bond Issue.. Many might not know that in addition to the 29 years of fulltime service in education, I also served for 25 years in active duty and national guard settings in the military. In fact, someone has served in every generation of my family going back to the Revolutionary War, including the newest generation with my own two sons. Maybe that is where the sense of urgency comes from when planning for any potential uncertainty and ensuring our students are safe. It becomes a mindset…and one I do not take lightly. To Train and Prepare… But, it is really all of our responsibility. I do hope you will make time to vote this Tuesday, on April 4 where Prop S (Proposition: Students) is on the ballot and is a NO TAXRATE INCREASE Bond Issue. See video for more information: https://tinyurl.com/msszfx4y Thank you and stay safe with weather coming in tomorrow night! Stay vigilant!

Opaa! Kitchen Staff Career Opportunities. There are multiple Kitchen Ladies retiring this year, and I would like to hire and train new staff before the end of the year.

On April 4, Bowling Green R-1 Schools will ask voters to consider a request to issue general obligation bonds in the amount of $8.75 million for the purpose of completing projects that will impact all schools in the district. If voters approve the request, there will be no increase to the district’s debt service property tax levy, which is currently 50 cents per $100 of assessed valuation of real estate and personal property. Learn more at by viewing this video: https://youtu.be/1RRPmlewsQw or navigate to: https://www.facebook.com/saferbgchildren on Facebook or https://www.instagram.com/citizensforsaferbgr1children/ on Instagram

Because of forecasted weather, Toys for Tots and Salvation Army boxes will be distributed Wednesday Dec 21 NOT Thursday Dec 22 with the same appointment times as listed on your postcard.

Tomorrow, November 11, we celebrate Veterans Day, and honor the 25 million Americans, living Americans, who have served in our Armed Forces. Veterans Day is an opportunity to honor our veterans for their love of country and the sacrifices that our service members and their families have made in order to keep America safe. Their bravery, their resourcefulness, and their patriotism mark them as our nation’s finest citizens. We as a nation have honored the ideals and values veterans stood for and defended, and I am extremely proud of the way our middle school has continued this very important tradition. Please remember to accompany your veteran to our program at the BGMS gymnasium tomorrow for lunch. I you have not already registered, just call the BGMS office ASAP to let them know you will be coming. We will start serving our veterans and their guests at 11:15 a.m. with a wonderful program to follow! You will also enjoy the Patriot Pen essays written and presented by our students, along with other elements of this program that is all student led. Help us in making sure all of our local veterans are able to be honored during this very important program. All of our schools are doing some sort of showcase, including everything from a wall of honor at Frankford Elementary to lessons in our classrooms. Thank you to our Veterans in our community and our staff member Veterans as well! We will never be able to repay the sacrifices you have made for all of us.

BGE Update: There was a mistake in the last message. Obviously we are out on Monday, October 3rd. Have a great weekend. Mr. Kessler

BGE Reminder: No school- Monday, August 3rd for teacher professional development.

BGE: Final Notice for Background Check- If you have not registered online to start the background check process by Oct 1st (2 days from now) you will not be allowed to attend BGE field trips this spring. Please register if you want to attend. www.machs.mo.gov/MACHSFP/home.html and use code 8295

Today our students learned about the Book Blast Program, literacy, and the importance of having their own books at home. Tonight, we are asking you to take 7 minutes to help build your child’s home library. Click here to start helping your students and their classmates: http://bookblast.booksarefun.com/BowlingGreenES We’re hoping for 100% participation!

BGE Reminder: No School Monday for teacher Professional Development Day. See you all on Tuesday!

BGE Parents- Internet and phone lines are down again today. If you need anything please email Jill jrwatts@bgr1.org or Sasha srue@bgr1.org

BGE Reminder- Don’t forget to stop by the cafeteria to get a pick up number, check on bus routes, sign up for free or reduced lunch and visit our back to school photo booth!

BGE Reminder- Meet the Teacher is tomorrow by appointment only. PreK starts at 11:00 and K-5 will begin at 2:30 and will wrap up at 6:30. There are still time slots available for most teachers if you haven't signed up yet. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409044CAAAB29A1F85-2022 Can't wait to see you all tomorrow!

BGR-1 Family. School starts two weeks from Monday, and we are busy getting ready to welcome our Bobcats back to another year of learning.  Our summer school attendance hit record numbers this summer and we are excited to see so many students continuing their learning over the break.  We are having great movement on all of our summer construction projects in our district, all while our custodians and facility staff are working very hard to prepare our buildings for students to arrive on August 22nd and teachers to return on the 15th.   Workers are finishing the floors in all of the HS and MS gym entrance bathrooms this week, and will set appliances and partitions next week.  New BGHS bleachers were installed with improved safety and functionality and MS and HS gym floors have been sealed and ready to go for another year.  BGE HVAC work is complete replacing 25 year old units, and new roofing at the elementary and middle school is finished.  The BGHS auditorium and entry roofs are complete, and workers are continuing progress on the BGHS North and South wing roofing over the next few weeks. Staff are working on our alarm system and the installation of the new speakers to augment our coverage zones on the BG campus and the Frankford FEMA shelter is coming along with plumbing all roughed in and walls starting to be constructed.  The additional road at Frankford is complete, and we plan to pave that road in the coming year. (As a reminder, we are shooting for a winter break completion timeline on this new facility and will house art and music classes and is large enough to hold the entire student body in case of emergency.)  The BGHS road should be ready for paving next week and the area in front of the field house before our first football game.  The field house roof and the staff daycare roof and fencing are complete and the drain/concrete repair in the BGHS courtyard done.  The benefits for this road are that it improves traffic flow and improves safety by directing traffic away from where students are walking on the sidewalk as student drivers arrive and dismiss, fixing the erosion on the back on the baseball/softball stadiums and correcting storm drainage issues, all while responding to overwhelming feedback on our surveys and focus group meetings from 2017 asking us to create a better, more accessible entrance to the high school, and helps to facilitate a possible future phase of an early childhood center and storm shelter with road access to where it would be placed.  This idea along with the creation of an expanded MS/HS library and storm shelter and finalizing our roof needs at Frankford and the BGHS gym and kitchen and playground upgrades at BGE and Frankford are all items our board is considering in coming phases and will be looking for more input related to these ideas. Our board is working hard to continue to take care of our facilities and provide safe and secure learning environments all while creating opportunities for our students to meet their potential.  They will continue this work at the August 9 work session planning for our future and additional stakeholder feedback opportunities.  In the past four years, we have maintained a balanced budget each year, improved student performance, added additional programs for our students and lowered teacher attrition.  In the last three years alone, teacher attrition has gone from 11% to 8% to 3.5% and is far below state and national averages of 8% and 11% all while maintaining five days a week and consistent learning environments for our students and families.  Our state highway patrol bus inspections assessment rates have gone from 56.5% in 2016 to 65.2% in 2018 to 72% in 2020 to 84% in 2022 as we have been working to gradually modernize our fleet.  (We have four more new buses that have been on order for half of a year and are due to arrive this Fall.)  Our preschool and staff daycare have doubled in size in recent years, and 100% of our seniors that started last school year graduated on time last May as we have worked to increase our graduation rate over the past few years.  We are very thankful to our Bowling Green family and all of those who work to support our students and look forward to input along the way to more continuous improvement from our community this school year.   It is a GREAT day to be a Bobcat! We look forward to seeing our Bobcats on the 22nd!  See pictures of our construction projects progress here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ArcG...  Matthew L. Frederickson, PhD Superintendent Bowling Green R-1 School District 700 West Adams Street Bowling Green, MO 63334 Phone: 573-324-5441 Fax: 573-324-2439  http://www.bgschools.k12.mo.us/ Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/BGSUPT or @BGSUPT For our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bowlingreenbobcats/

2022-23 BGE Online Registration is open for currently enrolled students. Please log in to your parent portal to complete by August 12, 2022. If you can not access the online enrollment please come in on August 9-10 from 8-2 and we will have computers set up and will be here to help. We are doing all enrollment online. In order for your students to go on trips, be on the internet or computers and to be sure your students get to the correct destination for dismissal this needs to be filled out .

Please make plans to come visit your child's K-5th grade teachers on Thursday, August 18th between 2:30-6:30 (11:00-6:30 for PreK teachers). Click this link to sign up now: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409044CAAAB29A1F85-2022