Central Elementary School

Central is excited to welcome Mrs. Elizabeth Hellmann to our staff for the 2024-25 school year! Mrs. Hellmann will join our team as a Reading Specialist. She has 22 years of experience as an educator. She has taught first grade for 16 years, second grade for 4 years, and was a Reading Recovery teacher for 2 years. She attended college at Missouri State University in Springfield. She is married to her husband Scott, and has two children. Her son Will is a junior at Mizzou, and her daughter Claire will be a junior at New Haven High School. In her spare time she enjoys boating, lap swimming, spending time with my family vacationing and hanging out with my two dogs Daisy and Coco. When asked what makes her excited to join Team Central, she replied, “I am excited to return to Union where I began my teaching career teaching First Grade in 2002. I can't wait to be a part of the Central Wildcats Team!”

Central is excited to introduce Heather Kriete as our office clerk for the 2024-25 school year! While Mrs. Kriete is not new to Central, she will be transitioning to a new role for the 24-25 school year. We are excited for Mrs. Kriete to serve as our clerk. She previously was a paraprofessional at Central for the past 2 years and was a substitute teacher for 6 years prior. She attended college at Central Missouri State University. Heather has been married for 23 years and has 5 children (Addison, Cameron, Walker, Will, Landry) and 4 dogs (Maverick, Goose, Rooster & Penny). In her spare time she enjoys hanging out with her family! When asked what makes her excited to join Team Central, she replied, “I love my Central family and I am excited for my new role in the office!”

Central is excited to welcome Mrs. Dawn Rice to our staff for the 2024-25 school year! Mrs. Rice will join the second grade team. She has over 18 years of experience as an educator. She has taught 2nd grade for 16 years, 3rd grade for 1 year, and served as a permanent substitute teacher for a year. She attended college at Missouri Baptist University. She has been married to her husband Rick for 29 years and they have two daughters- Taylor (22) attends Lindenwood University and Natalie (19) attends Mizzou. She also has a tweenie dachshund named Nova. In her spare time Dawn enjoys kayaking, beekeeping, car cruises, and karaoke. When asked what makes her excited to join Team Central, she replied, “I am excited to teach students in my own community!”

Central is excited to welcome Ms. Nicole Brinker to our staff for the 2024-25 school year! Ms. Brinker will join our 3rd grade team. Nicole is excited for her first year of teaching! She recently graduated from the University of Missouri- Columbia (Go Tigers!). She has a great support team that includes her wonderful parents (Debbie and Matt), brother (Ryan), sister (Madison), future sister-in-law (Kelsey), niece (Mavery), and her boyfriend (Cody). In her spare team she enjoys spending time with family and friends, exercising, and traveling. Fun facts about Nicole: She wrote a book her senior year of high school in Spanish and English, and she was Miss Congeniality of the 2023 Washington Town and Country Fair! When asked what makes her excited to join Team Central, she replied, “I am most excited to join Central Elementary/ Union R-XI School District because it is impressive to see the district's involvement in the community and the opportunities it provides for people to help those in need. My excitement about joining Central is further boosted by the welcoming and family-like atmosphere. Most importantly I am beyond excited to start my first year teaching at Central Elementary!”

The 2024-2025 school lists are ready! Let us know if you have any questions.

Central is excited to welcome Mrs. Evie Dean to our staff for the 2024-25 school year! Mrs. Dean will join our 4th grade team. Evie attended college at Missouri S & T. This will be her second year as an educator. She previously taught 5th grade math and social studies in her hometown of Cuba. She is married to her husband Zach, and they have one dog named Nala. In her spare time she enjoys reading, trying new restaurants, spending time with friends and family, as well as watching movies and television. She also loves to travel. She recently went on vacation to Italy, which was on her bucket list and a dream come true! When asked what makes her excited to join Team Central, she replied, “I've heard great things about the Union R-XI district and it was all confirmed during my interview process, as well as training. This school community is so knowledgeable and welcoming! I am excited to see fresh faces, meet my students, learn more as an educator, and be a part of this wonderful community at Central Elementary! Go Wildcats!”

*Summer school families* Friendly reminder, there is NO summer school next week on Wednesday, 6/19. #Uproud

We had such a great time with author and newscaster Paige Hulsey today! She shared her new book, A Bad Day Fishing with K-2 and then 3-5 students.

Author and newscaster Paige Hulsey will be at Central this Wednesday, June 12th to share her new story- A Bad Day Fishing. If your student would like a book orders must be placed before noon on Tuesday, June 11th. A cash order may still be placed by sending in $15 to Mrs. Wood in the library (please put your child's name and grade on the envelope). You can place your order here: https://www.paigehulsey.com/books (If you place your order online, put your students name and teacher in the note section. It will ask for a delivery address. You can put your own address or school's- 2 E Springfield- but the next page will have a button for pick up deliver and the book will be brought to school on Wednesday. Let us know if you have further questions!)

Summer school families- we are so excited to host an author visit next Wednesday, June 12. Paige Hulsey will be sharing her new book, A Bad Day Fishing with us. Please see below to order a copy to keep! Your student should already have received a physical order form but let us know if you need another.

Summer school is in full swing and our kids are loving their "journeys". This is 3rd grade working through some science mysteries!

We still have several positions open for the 24/25 school year. If you're looking to be part of a student-centered and team-oriented work environment, check out our current openings. Be sure to spread the word too! https://unionrxi.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx #Uproud

Before you head out for summer please make sure to complete your annual update in our information system!

Good morning, Happy last day of school! Thank you for a great school year and thank you for sharing your children with us! We will dismiss at 11:45 today. Yearbook update: We received a call from our yearbook company and they regretted to inform us that due to a production issue, the yearbooks will not be delivered by today. Therefore, they are going to be mailing them home to every student that ordered them. They hope to ship them by the end of next week. Have a great summer!

We are so proud of these kiddos! They read all 12 of the Mark Twain nominated books and earned a trip and $20 to spend at Neighborhood Reads. Keep reading crew! The list of next year's books is ready and 4th and 5th graders can start reading NOW!

Last week ATA Martial Arts came to do a presentation for every group, emphasizing leadership and respect.

We had the honor of celebrating these amazing ladies on Friday! Gina Merritt and Beth Peters are retiring this year and will be very missed.

Congratulations to our kindergarten graduating class of 2024! We are so proud of you!

Let's give our SLP's a hand! We have some of the very best, thank you Mrs. Kopmann and Ms. Allen.

Today is National Speech-Language Pathologist Day! Thank you to all our SLPs for everything you do for our students. We appreciate you! #Uproud