PROSPERTIMES Friday August 18, 2017 | Prosper, Texas
VOL. 1 | NO. 16
Prosper Profiles Meet Janie Tucker Joyce Godwin Joyce@CedarbrookMedia.Com Janie has lived in Prosper since 1991 — more than 26 years. If that name sounds familiar it’s because she is married to the ever-popular Prosper Fire Chief Ronnie Tucker. Janie said they lived in Allen when they married and Ronnie was a volunteer fire fighter there. “We wanted to move out of the city,” Janie said. Ronnie cleaned pools as a side job and met Randy White by cleaning his pool. Randy talked Ronnie into looking at Prosper after Randy moved to Prosper. So, the Tucker’s gave it a look and liked what they saw. They found a really cute house they liked and moved to Prosper. Janie is an artist who likes to work in acrylics. She took up the paint brush before marrying and continued off and on throughout her adult life. She has been more serious about it at different periods. At one time, Ronnie would say Janie would paint anything that moved and he would hide his tools to keep them from getting painted. But Janie says she also loves painting her house and decorating her home. In fact, she said she helped with the interior design when Prosper’s Central Fire Station was new. “I did the leather looking walls,” she said. “I plan on picking up my crafts again.” Janie says the Tucker family has one cat named JC and that is the extent of their current pet population. “We used to have a black poodle and a Dalmatian but they both passed away. It got to us so much we just haven’t got another dog yet.” But plans are to move to Sadler to live out of town and on property they have owned there for a while and Janie thinks they might get another dog then. They hope to build a “barndominium” (yes, that’s a real thing) on their property and live there while building their dream home. Janie says the barndominium is a combination of a condo with a barn in one building and will allow them to have a place to live while building their home and also, she said, they will have a chance to experience life on their property to make sure they really like living there. Janie graduated from Princeton High School in 1978, although she was born and raised in McKinney until her parents moved their family to Princeton when she was in middle school. After graduation, she wanted to be with children so she went to work at Allen Meadows Day Care Center. She tells the story of meeting Ronnie but she warned it starts out with a tragedy. She said her cousin was killed in an accident on U.S. Highway 75 in 1979. Ronnie worked as a paramedic in Allen and he went on the run for her cousin. “I went with my aunt to the fire station to get the accident report and met Ronnie,” she said. “He asked me out and we have been together ever since.” See JANIE TUCKER, pg 3
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Prosper ISD Teachers Start Back to School with Convocation PROSPER ISD
Prosper ISD kicked off its 20172018 school year with a bang on Monday, August 7. Welcoming back more than 1,100 returning teachers and staff, along with more than 250 new employees, Prosper ISD Superintendent Dr. Drew Watkins wanted to show them how important and valued each person is, no matter their role. Each campus opened at 7:30 a.m. with a Blue Mesa-catered breakfast, sponsored by Pogue Construction. After enjoying time with one another, teachers and staff piled into district buses and rode together to Prestonwood North Baptist Church to meet with the rest of the district. Everyone was greeted by the lively music of the Mighty Eagle Band, and the air was electric! Reynolds student Samantha Wlodowski opened Convocation with a goosebump-inducing acapella version of the National Anthem, and Prosper’s Suzuki Strings orchestra performed for the staff. Dr. Watkins, along with Associate Superintendent Holly Ferguson and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Greg Bradley, spoke to the crowd, speaking about grit, challenging each person to be positive and dedicated to our district students. They honored the current district Teachers of the Year, celebrated employees with perfect attendance, and presented service pins for those completing 5, 10, and 15 years in Prosper. One highlight of the morning was when Dr. Watkins called up all employees who are expecting babies and presented them with Prosper onesies and diapers. Then came the door prizes! Valued community sponsors and donors made it possible for the district to give out a number of impressive door prizes to the staff, many of which drew oohs and aahs from the crowd. The moment that drew the whole crowd to its feet was when the YouTube sensation and Baker Elementary student Dane Miller video was shown, and Dane himself came out onstage to belt out his now-famous rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” Prosper ISD staff members are now ready to start the school year and thrilled to meet the nearly 12,000 students in the district. Dr. John Burdett, new principal at
Prosper High School, saw his first Prosper convocation. “It pulled back the curtain on how incredibly well the district supports our teachers and staff,” he said. “It also highlights the ingenuity of each campus as we compete for bragging rights during Roll Call.” Watkins said Prosper was excited to welcome more than 150 new staff members to join the PISD staff of over 1,200 for the annual convocation kick-off. “Sometimes we do not have complete control over the facility demands in our fast-growing school district, which is why we strive to recruit and hire the best possible people to serve our students and families to best insure a great experience,” he said. “We are looking forward to a wonderful school year! “We are thankful to all of the corporate and business sponsors supporting this great event to help our teachers and staff have a positive start to an exciting new school year.” Convocation could not have happened without the generous support of our sponsors. Major sponsors were Pogue Construction, the Prosper Education Foundation, Huckabee Architects, Credit Union of Texas, and RTS Enterprises. However, many more district and local partners contributed to the district’s biggest event. To see a complete list of Prosper ISD Convocation sponsors and donors, please visit the district website or Facebook page.
Students Meet Teachers at Prosper ISD schools Joyce Godwin Joyce@CedarbrookMedia.Com
Addison Solheid, a first grader, meets her new teacher Amber Rose at Folsom Elementary. With her is her mother Leslie Solheid who said Addison is looking forward to the school year.
It was difficult to find a parking place no matter which school was attended on August 10 for Meet the Teacher night in Prosper ISD. For many it was the first look at a new classroom and the teacher with whom each student would be spending the school year. On hand at each campus throughout the district were the Prosper Talonettes decked out in their green and white sequins, fringe and the traditional cowboy hat. They were passing out brochures and other handouts or holding the door for students and their parents to get in the school or they were simply there with beautiful smiles to say welcome and greet young students as they entered the front door. Ella Wingate, a second grader, shyly clung to her dad Tim Wingate, as the two discussed the school year with music teacher Alejandro Juarez at Light Farms Elementary.
Also on hand at several schools were representatives of the Prosper ISD Police Force. Chief Chad Vessels had his post at Light Farms to meet as many of the students as he could along with their parents. Vessels talked a little about the changes in his department ramping up for the 2017-2018 school year. Like most of the people, Vessels said the summer seems to have flown by. “We are gearing up to take on 1,800 new students in the district,” he said. Officers also have new mobile data terminals and body cameras this year and the department is adding two new officers — one on two legs and one on four. Yes, this year a police dog will be a common site roaming the halls of Prosper ISD schools. “The district is growing like crazy,” Vessels said. “When I started, we had four officers and 4,800 students. Now we have six full-time officers, four part-time officers and almost 12,000 students.” In addition to police officers, principals and other administrative staff were visible with welcoming smiles, shaking hands and welcoming as many folks as they could, making a strong effort to have information available for any who needed it.
Reticent Author Finishes Lengthy Journey Joyce Godwin Joyce@CedarbrookMedia.Com Anyone who pays attention to the business of the Prosper Independent School District should be familiar with Jim Bridges because he’s held a seat on the Board of Trustees for eight years. But recently, Bridges has completed a five-year project which, from its very nature, makes him an author. He has written and published
a book “Of Whom I am Chief” which may be purchased at Amazon. com or on bookbaby.com either in hard back or digital. The story is one about a true-life experience that happened to Bridges and it takes the reader through the underworld of financial scams. “I wanted to write something fun for my friends to read,” Bridges said. “It was my first and only, I think only, project.” Bridges says he’s not really
an author and doesn’t want to be perceived as tooting his own horn because he has written a book. He used an on-line publishing firm and published it himself so he doesn’t feel he should be called an author. Couple that with his sentiment concerning a follow-up project of this type, and he feels his writing days, at least for novels, are finished. See BRIDGES, page 3
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