Westchester Elementary School

News & Upcoming Events

Kirkwood School District Teacher of the Year Robert Becker is Named Missouri Teacher of the Year

September 01, 2010

Students at Kirkwood High School made a special video announcement to the school this morning: Robert Becker, Kirkwood High School chemistry teacher and Kirkwood School District Teacher of the Year for 2010-11, has been named Missouri Teacher of the Year by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

Local television stations KSDK Channel 5, and Fox 2 News 2 were at the school to film the big announcement.

Becker, who teaches traditional, honors and Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry, has taught in the Kirkwood district for 20 of his 26 years in education. He holds a master’s degree in education from Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Yale University.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education conducts the Missouri Teacher of the Year program with financial support provided by The Boeing Company, St Louis. More news about Becker and his selection is available on the DESE website.

August 04, 2010

The Kirkwood School District will host a reception and induction ceremony for its first Alumni Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. in the Keating Theatre of Kirkwood High School, 801 W. Essex Ave. The district will induct 23 honorees into the Hall of Fame, which recognizes men and women who have achieved success and who serve as appropriate role models for Kirkwood School District students. The inductees include entrepreneurs, musicians, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, an opera singer, an Academy Award winner, a Golden Globe Award winner, educators, aeronautical engineers, magistrates, and civic leaders.

The honorees to be inducted into the KHS Alumni Hall of Fame include:

Theodore Almstedt, Class of 1953
Scott Bakula, Class of 1973
John F. Briggs, Class of 1939^
Marion Brooks, Class of 1932^
Robert E. (Bob) Frederick, Class of 1958
Michael R. Gibbons, Class of 1977
Herbert (Herb) S. Jones, Class of 1951
Maria Kanyova (Mary Jane Posegate), Class of 1984
Thomas Kenyon, Class of 1973
John Korty, Class of 1954
Doug Landis, Class of 1975
John McDaniel, Class of 1979
David Pratt, Class of 1962
Rodger O. Riney, Class of 1963
David Sanborn, Class of 1963
Gary Schmidt, Class of 1965
Courtney Shands, Class of 1923
Jim Talent, Class of 1973
Myrtle Agnew Walker, Class of 1938, and Earl Walker, Class of 1939
Harold Whitfield, Class of 1956
Jennifer Quinn Williams, Class of 1984
John F. Yardley, Class of 1943

Honorees who are being recognized posthumously.

^ Until the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education decision, public schools throughout the country were segregated by race. In the Kirkwood School District, African American students attended the Booker T. Washington School (1869-1950) or the J. Milton Turner Elementary School (1929-1975). African American students were required to attend high school outside district boundaries until 1955, when Kirkwood High School opened its new campus on West Essex Ave.

Two Pioneer Awards will be presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the Kirkwood School District. These honorees are:

H.L. Hall, a nationally recognized journalism teacher and publications adviser who taught in the Kirkwood School District for 34 years—26 years at Kirkwood High School and eight years at then North Kirkwood Junior High School—before his retirement in 1999.

Dory Poholsky, Class of 1951, who has devoted countless hours as a volunteer and is a champion for the children of the Kirkwood School District and the greater community.

For a complete biography on each inductee, please visit the Kirkwood High School Alumni website. For more information about the Alumni Hall of Fame, please call the district’s Community Relations and Development office at 314-213-6123 beginoftheskypehighlighting 314-213-6123 endoftheskypehighlighting.

Westchester Students Donate Funds to Room to Read Organization

May 26, 2010

Fourth-grade students in Cindy Voller’s class at Westchester Elementary School presented a check for $3,761.59 to Room to Read on behalf of their school. Room to Read, an international nonprofit organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education throughout the world, will use the donation to help establish new libraries and publish new children's books for young students in developing countries.

According to Voller, the fourth-graders wanted to become part of the Students Helping Students program through Room to Read so they could help children around the world have access to a good education and to library books just as they do at Westchester. The students thought of several ways to raise funds for Room to Read including the making and selling of nearly 500 bookmarks, hosting a pancake dinner for more than 400 friends and family members, and organizing a Read-a-Thon fundraiser with six classes participating. The students also collected 16 book donations from the school’s book fair to send to Room to Read.

Voller describes the project as an important learning experience for her students. “Not only did my students learn about the people and countries where Room to Room works, they also learned a lot about giving to others and how lucky they are to have access to a good education and thousands of books in our library,” she said. “Our participation in this service-learning project was a great way to end the school year.”