Photo By Collen McGee | Students sing about their school during ribbon-cutting ceremony. Morris Hill...... read more read more
Subscribe
Though Morris Hill Elementary School opened in time for the start of the academic year, the official celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Sept. 22 at 1:30 p.m.
Students of the school made up the choir that performed during the ceremony. Once they completed their performance, they were asked if they liked their new school. The response was a loud and positive affirmative cheer.
That response from these students was several years in the making.
“Morris Hill has been in the planning for several years,” said Reginald Eggleston, the superintendent for Geary County Schools USD 475. “And so, we're just excited to be able to come to this point to where we have brought everything almost to an end.”
Eggleston was quick to add that there is more than what meets the eye with Morris Hill Elementary.
“There's a second part of construction that will continue because the goal is to eventually house up to 590 students and have eight pre-K classrooms in this facility,” Eggleston said. “So, we believe it's going to be a tremendous addition to the schools that we already have on post and really help us continue to support our Soldiers and their families.”
The new school consolidated previous facilities of the old Morris Hill and Jefferson Elementary schools. Not only did it combine the student body, but the new facility also gives the students more space dedicated to specific purposes.
“This facility allows for open collaboration space for our students and staff so we can have small groups, we can have tutoring, grade level celebration space that we didn't have prior,” said Melisa Burgess, principal of Morris Hill Elementary. “Our gym also served as our lunchroom and so now there are separate spaces and that allows for a lot more ease with scheduling and time for parents to be able to come in and eat with their with their kids.”
Col. Terry Tillis, Deputy Commanding Officer – Maneuver, 1st Infantry Division, recognized not only the care involved but also the modernization efforts born from the partnership with the school district.
“This opening of this school marks a very modern era for the First Infantry Division and Fort Riley,” Tillis said. “We are the most modern district in the United States Army inside of the DOD … in the last six years I've been in five school districts. My daughter is a student in this school district. The difference about this school district is the true investment, the love and genuine care that not only the faculty, but the family members and the overall district itself provides and our loved ones in our students. It is hugely, hugely important. And that is the difference that makes this district so special. That combined with award winning teachers that are routinely recognized by the state of Kansas, and then also a curriculum that allows our teachers with the modern equipment that we have in these classrooms to take our children to that very next level. I'm a beneficiary of that with my daughter. And I'm just proud that we are able to do this in conjunction as a partnership with the school district 475.”
That partnership was the result of a larger-scope effort that began here more than 15 years ago.
David Jones, operation manager, Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation explained the partnership between the Department of Defense and public schools serving military families started at Fort Riley when a parent asked a question about support to on-post schools to then Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, who visited the installation in 2008.
In answer to her question, Jones explained that Gates went back to Washington DC and within 2 years the partnership between the DOD and public schools was born.
Since then, five Fort Riley schools and the new Junction City High School have had projects completed or are in the works under the agreement between the installation and USD 475.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.28.2023 17:53 |
| Story ID: | 454629 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 121 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Morris Hill Elementary School formally opened with ribbon-cutting ceremony, by Collen McGee, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
