Episode 57 — March 9, 2020

We have a number of schools celebrating anniversary milestones this year and the latest was Roper Elementary. It’s been 25 years for the school in west Lincoln and to mark the occasion they held an open house event on March 1st. We were there and we’ll listen to some of the guest speakers.

• • Thank You Teacher
  • Humann Teacher wins History Nebraska Excellence in Teaching Award
  • Scholastic Arts Awards Ceremony

Coming Up This Week

• It’s Spring Break!!
• Boys state basketball will be in town, using LPS facilities at Southeast and East high schools along with the Devaney Center and Pinnacle Bank Arena.
• District Speech will be going on this Saturday
• Then we’ll be into the 4th quarter! Hold those 4 fingers up high in the air!

Episode Transcript

Brian Fitzgerald
This is stories from Lincoln Public Schools Episode 57 for the week of March 9 2020.

Hello from Lincoln Public Schools. I’m Brian Fitzgerald.

Jason Keese
And I’m Jason Keese. Welcome to Stories from Lincoln Public Schools – our podcast that gives you an inside look at the people, activities and programs that make LPS the amazing place that it is. We have a number of schools celebrating anniversary milestones this year, and the latest was Roper Elementary. It’s been 25 years for the school in West Lincoln and to mark the occasion they held an open house event on March 1. We were there and we’ll listen to some of the guest speakers in a few minutes. But first let’s see what’s making news on lps.org.

We announced the winners of the annual Thank You Teacher contest on Thursday during a ceremony at the governor’s mansion. You can read the winning nomination letters, check out photos from the event and even watch a video coverage from the big day. One warning if you do watch keep your Kleenex nearby. A fourth grade teacher from Humann elementary was honored for the creative ways she teaches Nebraska history to her students. Stacey Haney won the History Nebraska Excellence in Teaching Award. Congratulations, Stacey.

And on our website, you also can find that which LPS students placed first at the Scholastic Arts Awards ceremony held in Omaha. 39 students earned a gold key award with a chance to move on to the national competition. You’ll also find photos of many of the winning pieces. As always, you can find all of this and much more on any one of our social media platforms.

Brian Fitzgerald
There’s a lot of great stuff going on this week… actually, I think I just said that out of habit. There’s not a lot of great stuff. Although…

Jason Keese
… Depends how you define great. Students would define this as…

Brian Fitzgerald
students would define this as the greatest because it is spring break week. So of course our schools are closed but offices are open so if you still have business to do with LPS we’re here.

Boys State basketball is going to be going on the latter half of the week. They’ll be using some LPS facilities will be at Southeast And East. And then of course, they’ll also be at the Devaney Center and Pinnacle bank arena. And then the end the week ends with district speech going on Saturday, and then we’ll be into the fourth quarter. So kind of like the football game, you can hold your four fingers up in the air and finish strong. That’s right. That’s what’s going on this week, Spring Break week at Lincoln Public Schools. You can view our calendars up at lps.org/podcast.

Jason Keese
Now let’s listen in on Roper elementary is 25th anniversary celebration. You’ll hear from Don Mayhew from the Lincoln Board of Education. Lee, a Roper student, Joy Citta, a retired Lincoln police officer, Tim Muggy, a former principal at Roper, and Cindy Williams, who has taught at Roper for 16 years and before that was president of the school’s first PTO.

Don Mayhew
Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us on this beautiful day as we celebrate 25 years of excellence at Roper Elementary. Hulda Roper was such an incredible force for the children in our community, from her work as a police woman, which I think we’ll be hearing about in a couple of minutes. Her role in starting Cedars Home for Children. Her efforts, she started the juvenile court system. All of these things speak to her dedication to our community’s children, especially our kids who have had some big challenges in their life. I had the honor of representing the Roper community on the school board, and like the school’s namesake, Roper Elementary is dedicated to the growth and well-being of all of our children. That was true when the school first opened its doors in 1995 and it’s true today. Lincoln can be be very proud of the work that is happening in Roper’s classrooms. So on behalf of the Lincoln Board of Education, I’d like to thank the students, staff, parents and the community members who all play a role in making Roper Elementary a model of excellence. A school committed to meeting every child’s unique academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs. Go rockets! Thank you very much.

Lane
Good afternoon. My name is Lane and I hope you’re enjoying this time. You’re watching Roper. At this time I would have introduced Joy Citta, who was retired captain for the Lincoln Police Department. Captain Citta is an expert on history of the Lincoln Police Department and has gathered a lot of information on Hulda Roper for whom it is named.

Joy Citta
Good afternoon. My name is Joy Citta. I am a retired Lincoln Police captain. I was with the police department here in Lincoln for 40 years. And I was most recently also the historian, so I have some information on Hulda Roper form whom your school is named. In 1944, Hulda was a Lancaster County Welfare caseworker. She attended a speech given by then chief of police, who would have been Joe Carroll. And he talked about the need for more police women on the department. Hulda was hired that year in 1944 to serve as a police officer and later Hulda was promoted to detective. Your school Roper Elementary is named for Hulda Roper. So you might ask why is that? Why would an elementary school be named for a police officer? Well, it’s because of Hulda’s love for children and her unwavering help that she gave to children here in Lincoln over her entire career and life. Hulda Roper was the 14th police woman on the Lincoln Police Department. She also refused to carry a gun, even though repeatedly, chief Carroll tried to give her one. She would have none of it and continued to refuse to carry a gun, instead wanting to rely on her wits and her conversational ability to handle situations. Hulda Roper was a driving force for the betterment of children in Lincoln, and is certainly a fitting name for your school. Congratulations on 25 years of Roper Elementary, and congratulations on being named after an outstanding dedicated woman for children here in Lincoln area.

Tim Muggy
In my mind school are much more than the brick and mortar that we have built. Schools are the kids who come every day and who worked very hard. They are the parents who support their kids and their children’s teachers every every day and working in partnership with the school. And of course, they are the staff members who work very hard. Teachers who work very hard, not only teaching reading, writing math, but other skills.

Cindy Williams
There are so many stories that span 25 years, and anyone who knows me can attest the fact that I love to share them. Roper started out as a medium-sized building with 15 classrooms, small smaller gathering rooms, and not near enough bathrooms to a school today that has more than doubled in size thanks to additions. But Roper is way more than walls. It’s a community — both educators and parents — that stood up and is still standing up to support the children that live in the greatest small town within Lincoln city limits. If you are here as a former staff, or retired member of Roper staff, I say thank you. Thank you for being there for the past 25 years supporting my children and the ones that followed as they learned and grew into the people they are now. If you are here as a student, or a parent of a student who graced the halls and expanded ropers great traditions, I say thank you. Thank you for being a part of Roper’s story. You made it better for being here. If you’re a student, or a parent of a student, now I say thank you. Thank you for continuing the stories. I challenge you to walk proudly as a Roper Rocket from the beginning has grown a wealth of great stories. And I can’t wait to hear the new ones created in the next 25 years.

Jason Keese
Well, I was at the Roper event and that was a lot of fun. One of the things I really love about these school anniversary events is they bring together neighborhoods. You could just feel it when you were there. There was so much pride at Roper about it being their neighborhood school and a lot of people that are talking about the store, remember so well, 25 years ago what a big deal it was that they didn’t have to walk so far drive so far to a school and that they could just walk, stay in their neighborhood.

Brian Fitzgerald
I think a lot of times, it’s finally getting a school in an area of town is like a validation like, hey, yeah, we’re here and we’re part of town, right, got our own school. And it’s something that everybody kind of centers around. So…

Jason Keese
Yeah, definitely.

Brian Fitzgerald
If there’s anything that you’ve heard today that you’d like to learn more about, there’s links to everything along with full links to our calendars at lps.org/podcast. If you’d like to subscribe and get notified every week when we put up a new episode, you can find us on your favorite service. We’re on iTunes, Spotify and Google podcasts. And you can find links to all those also at lps.org/podcast. And that is all the time we have for today. Thank you for joining us here at stories from Lincoln Public Schools