Bartlett City Schools district has announced upcoming competitions, student successes, tenured teachers and retirees for this school year.
Theater competition
Bartlett City Schools is encouraging students, parents and other citizens to support Bartlett High School’s Panther Playhouse in competition for the Orpheum TN High School Musical Theatre People’s Choice Award.
Voting ends May 20. To vote, visit surveymonkey.com/r/FXFQ62K.
Running of the Rams
The fifth annual Running of the Rams 5K will kick off on May 11. To find out costs and other details or to register online, visit runningoftherams.racesonline.com/register. All funds raised will go to support Oak Elementary School.
Wrestling success
The Bartlett High wrestling team was recognized at the recent Bartlett City Board of Education meeting for another successful season.
They finished third in the Region Dual tournament and as runner-up in the Region Individual tournament with a season record of 15-5. Individually, they had eight wrestlers place at the regional tournament and advance to the state tournament, including six regional finalists and four regional champions.
At state, they finished 17th out of more than 100 teams represented and they had two individual state medalists – the most Bartlett has ever had in a single season.
Retirees and tenure recipients
BCS honored its soon-to-be retirees at the most recent school board meeting and also celebrated the newly approved tenured teachers.
Retirees for the 2017-2018 school year include:
- Principal Kasandra Berry of Bon Lin Elementary
- Melinda Bellanti of Bon Lin Elementary
- Susan Brady of Oak Elementary
- Sharon Clark of Appling Middle School
- Rebecca Cross of Bartlett Elementary
- George Griffin of Altruria Elementary
- Vicki Kinder of Oak Elementary
- Shelia McCabe of Oak Elementary
- Karen McCormic of Ellendale Elementary
- Emily McKee of Bon Lin Elementary
- Pattie McKinnie of Altruria Elementary
Elaine Moore of Altruria Elementary - Catherine Schwill of Bartlett High School
- Ray Schwill of Bartlett High School
- Lisa Siano of Central Office
- Victoria Stavrum of Bon Lin Elementary
- Shirley Taylor of Bartlett Elementary
- Debra Waggoner of Central Office
- Steven Waymire of Rivercrest Elementary
- Victoria Wingo of Bartlett Elementary
- Debra Youngquist of Bartlett Elementary/Elmore Park Middle School
Teachers who attained tenure include:
- Megan Barnes of Rivercrest Elementary
- Catherine Buck of Rivercrest Elementary
- Therese Davis of Bon Lin Middle
- Kristin Dent of Central Office
- Jennifer Doyle of Elmore Park Middle
- Steven Freeman of Elmore Park Middle
- Gregory Grammer of Appling Middle
- Kate Greer of Rivercrest Elementary
- Erica Larue of Ellendale Elementary
- Paul Lindsay of Bartlett Academy
- Blair Lynch of Elmore Park Middle
- Emily Mashour of Ellendale Elementary
- Shelia Morgan of 9th Grade Academy
- Jessica Moseley of Elmore Park Middle
- Deborah Murphy of Bon Lin Elementary
- Brynn Pellegra of Rivercrest Elementary
- Dimitri Pierce of Bon Lin Middle
- Sarah Shappley of Altruria Elementary
- Timothy Smith of Elmore Park Middle
- Laurie Wood of Rivercrest Elementary
Honored counselors
Bartlett City Schools was well represented at this year’s West Tennessee Counseling Association (WTCA) meeting. Bartlett counselors who received the WTCA School Counselor of the Year honors included:
- Sharon Rees of Ellendale Elementary, who was named the Elementary Counselor of the Year
- Amy Pintchuck of Appling Middle, who was named the Middle School Counselor of the Year
- Latisha Howard of Bartlett High, who was named the High School Counselor of the Year
The WTCA is a professional organization that represents counselors of all disciplines including school, mental health and rehabilitation in the West Tennessee region.
Committee appointment
The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office has announced the appointment of two Shelby County teachers to the Civic Education and Engagement Advisory Committee. They are Blair Lynch of Elmore Park Middle School in Bartlett and Brian Huber of Whitehaven High School in the Shelby County Schools district.
Since its inception as the Blue Book Curriculum Task Force, the committee was expanded to advise and assist Secretary of State Tre Hargett on the best ways to get students to become more civically engaged. The committee’s noteworthy achievements include the creation of lesson plans based on the Tennessee Blue Book, lesson plans used during the Student Mock Election, critical support of the annual civics essay contest and regional teacher workshops.
“I am grateful for the time and effort these teachers graciously offer to help increase civic engagement in Tennessee,” said Secretary of State Tre Hargett. “Each committee member has a passion for ensuring our youngest Tennesseans are engaged citizens, and I am certain they will be an asset to the planning and integration of our civic engagement initiatives into our schools.”
For more information on civic engagement initiatives, including the annual civics essay contest, Student Mock Election and lesson plans, visit sos.tn.gov/civics.
Excellence in Spanish
The Bartlett City Schools district has issued congratulations to its world language students who attained national recognition for their excellent performance on the 2018 National Spanish Exams (NSE).
Students from BCS earned a total of nine Gold (top 5 percent), 19 Silver (top 15 percent), and 25 Bronze (top 25 percent) medals along with 41 honorable mentions.
Gold medal winners for Level 1 are Kimberly By Goytia, Elmore Park Middle; Makayla Garrett, Bon Lin Middle; Kayla Merritt, Elmore Park Middle; Tailyn Tipler, Bartlett Ninth Grade Academy; and Bernadette Truong, Elmore Park Middle.
Gold medal winners for Level 2 are Alexander Fiodorov-Miller, Kevin Flanary, Vraj Patel and Karston Salsbury, all of Bartlett Ninth Grade Academy.
State-level winners are:
- Level Pre 01, Classroom: Lillian Brown, eighth place and Lindsey Wallace, 12th place
- Level Pre 01, Outside Experience: Abigayl Higginbotham, first place
- Level 1, Classroom: Tailyn Tipler, fourth place; Bernadette Truong, seventh place; and Kayla Merritt, 14th place
- Level 1, Bilingual: Kimberly By Goytia, first place; Arely Torres, seventh place; and Amely Sulia, ninth place
- Level 2, Classroom: Alexander Fiodorov-Miller, sixth place; and Kevin Flanary, 18th place
- Level 2, Outside Experience, Isabella Walker, seventh place
- Level 2, Bilingual: Jany Esquivel, fourth place
- Level 4, Bilingual: Camila Rodriguez, sixth place
The National Spanish Exams are the largest of their kind in the United States, with over 150,000 students participating in 2018. Several BCS students also excelled in the rankings for the NSE results at the state level in their respective categories.
