Hennessey Public School recently announced Rachel Franks as its districtwide teacher of the year.

Franks was one of four site winners as she earned the honor at the elementary school.

Also pulling in school teacher of the year honors were Dawn Jones at the Early Childhood Center, Janell Riddle at the middle school and Stephanie Guinn at the high school.

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Following is more about each teacher:

Rachel Franks District and Elementary School Teacher of the Year Rachel (Murphey) Franks is in her seventh year as music teacher at the Hennessey Elementary School, and “I call her the heartbeat of our school.”

That’s what HES Principal Barry Crosswhite told school board members when he introduced Franks at their meeting earlier this week.

“She has high expectations for her students to learn, and behave, and pushes them to be their best and holds them accountable,” Crosswhite said. “Students who cause trouble in other classrooms don’t misbehave in music... You can’t teach people what she has. Either you have it, or you don’t.

“Through rhythm and patterning she helps teach the reading and math standards in her lessons for pre-K through fourth grade, and integrates technology in the classroom through Chromebooks.

“She is the heart and soul of our once-a-week Eagle rallies by leading our students in birthday and patriotic songs, and fun dances,” he said.

“Her programs are second to none,” he said, and parents comment on their quality “all the time.”

Franks also volunteers for many school functions, such as Field Day, Heritage Night and end-of-year celebrations when she plans music and dance activities for the kids and parents.

She is the daughter of Ken and Linda Murphey and still holds Kingfisher High School’s two-mile track record and was an All-Stater in cross country. She is a single mom and has two children: Mason, 6, and William, 3.

Education: Kingfisher High School graduate; bachelor’s in vocal performance and bachelor’s in education from Southern Nazarene University, 2012; master’s from SNU in educational leadership. Member of Kappa Delta Pi. Certified to teach music and elementary education. Attended A+ weeklong workshops for two summers.

Experience: Putnam City, three years; Hennessey, seven years.

Honors: Recently awarded A+ Fellow Award where she will receive more intense training to teach others how to incorporate arts into regular classrooms for more enriched learning.

Stephanie Guinn High School Teacher of the Year

Stephanie Guinn has been asked to do a lot, especially this school year, wrote HHS Principal Josh Faulkner to the school board last week because he was unable to attend that meeting.

“She had to abandon new math with an art class that she was thrilled to start teaching. She also had to give up teaching one of her favorite subjects in trigonometry to teach the students who needed Algebra II this year,” he wrote. “She did all of this without ever questioning it (at least not to me) and with a smile on her face.

“For a time of about a month before this complete shift, she was working with all of the Algebra II students on top of her already very full load to ensure they were able to get what they needed to be successful. Through it all, she never faltered, or allowed the kids to see how taxing it was for her to do all of this.

“She did not waver in the face of extreme adversity and still was able to come to school every day and be exactly what her students needed her to be: Not only a great math teacher, but a great mentor that cares tremendously for each student who walks through the halls, particularly those that walk through her door.

“Hennessey has been blessed to have her back for the last eight years and hopefully we will get to hold on to her for many years to come.”

Education: Bachelor’s in education, SWOSU, Weathrural erford, 1994; master’s degree in mathematics, OSU, 2012. Certified to teach math and computer science.

Experience: Hennessey High School 2015-present and 2005-06; Lomega High School 2006-15 taught seventh-grade math, eighth-grade math, Algebra I, geometry, computer applications, keyboarding, and yearbook advisor: Western Heights 2001-04 taught Algebra I, Algebra II and geometry; NorthFork Correctional Facility 199800, education department; Shamrock (Texas) Independent School District 199497, taught sixth-grade math, eighth-grade math, Algebra I and Algebra II.

Honors: Recent HESF grants.

Janell Riddle Middle School Teacher of the Year

Janell (Bregenzer) Riddle graduated from Hennessey High School in 1983.

She was a valedictorian, won several awards in school and did well on the basketball court, too.

Then she went off to the University of Central Oklahoma where she brought home a bachelor’s degree in education, with honors.

She has been teaching for 31 years, Middle School Principal Ricardo Tarango told school board members during their meeting earlier this week.

When Riddle says that she has taught “several different subjects over the years,” she isn’t kidding.

One of her first teaching jobs was as the music teacher at the Hennessey Elementary School, which she kept for several years. She later taught third grade, then fifth grade and fifth and sixth grade English, and for the last few years she’s been teaching fifth and sixth grade science.

“I’ve always felt a calling to be a teacher,” she told Tarango.

“I love the kids and I love teaching them,” she said. “That’s my favorite part of this job. I adopted the motto a long time ago to ‘bloom where you’re planted.’

“A person cannot always control his or her circumstances, but attitude can be. With God’s help, for that’s who I look to for strength and guidance every day, I hope I can continue to be a part of kids’ lives and learning experiences.

“It’s important to me to do my best to let each student know that they matter to me,” she said. “I try my best to support, and encourage them, to reach their fullest potential.”

Education: UCO, Edmond, bachelor’s, education.

Experience: Crescent Public Schools, two years, sixth grade English and science, and eighth grade physical science; then has been teaching at Hennessey since 1992 except for time off to bring one son, and two daughters, into the world. Her first job at Hennessey was music teacher at the elementary school “and I loved it and had it for many years,” she said. Over the years she has also taught seventh grade science, eighth grade history, eighth grade pre-algebra and seventh-eighth grade choir.

Honors: Many HESF grants over the years and a couple of Masonic Teacher of the Year awards.

Dawn Jones Early Childhood Teacher of the Year

“Mrs. Jones works on foundational skills with 3-year-olds, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students who have special needs,” said Stacey Mack, principal at Hennessey’s Early Childhood.

She also oversees three paraprofessional staffers who help with special needs children, and teaches 3-4-year-old “Early Bird” classes for parents and gets help from Marshall.

Marshall is a therapy dog for students who may be having problems, Mack said, and Mrs. Jones “went through intense dog training school with Marshall.

“He is great at helping students and teachers calm down,” Mack told school board members last week.

Mack also said Jones “goes above and beyond in helping others: she is a wonderful resource and is a pro at managing behaviors... She is very patient, even when a student is not being very nice she never loses her cool. Even when she’s having a bad day, she never lets it affect how she treats the kids.”

Jones takes a lot of pride in what she does and goes above and beyond in helping others and “we’re proud to have her as our ECC Teacher of the Year,” the principal said.

Education: NWOSU, Alva, bachelor’s in education, 1994. She also attended OK A+ Summer Summit to help ECC become an A+ School.

Experience: While an education major at NWOSU, Alva, Jones completed her 12-week practice teaching in the fifth grade at the Hennessey Middle School in March, 1994, with the cooperation of Alice Haskins.

She has been teaching at Hennessey for about 10 years and had taught at the Lomega Public Schools before that.

Honors: Recipient of HESF grant for classroom library at elementary school, and other elementary school classroom projects through the local foundation.