GUADALUPE SCHOOL CELEBRATES NEW YEAR WITH HISTORIC BELL
When it was a more rural community nearly a century ago, a bell signaled when it was time for Guadalupe’s children to make the trek to school.
School bells have since gone digital. But on Monday morning, Guadalupe’s historic bell rang again at Frank Elementary School — a celebration of the school’s past and a nod to its future, as a brand-new building opened.
Guadalupe, a town of about 6,000 people, is a small swath of land bordered by Tempe and Phoenix. Its residents are primarily Latino and Native American, whose settlers originally founded the community.
“Traditions are very much rooted in the community,” Principal Martha Jacobo-Smith said. “And so things like the bell are things that they really treasure and hold dear.”
Monday marked the first day of school for several districts in the Valley. Frank is part of the Tempe Elementary School District.
At Frank Elementary, dozens of parents waved goodbye to their kindergartners and first-graders. A few kids cried. A few parents, too, looked to have tears in their eyes.
Guadalupe’s bell rings again
Nearly 100 years ago, class in Guadalupe was held in an adobe building that was formerly the Valdez Pool Hall, according to a news release from the Tempe Elementary School District.
As years passed, the school grew to include 10 more buildings that resembled barracks.
The school was renamed Frank Elementary School in 1967, according to its website. The name honors Veda B. Frank, a longtime Guadalupe teacher and principal.
What’s thought to be the old bell is now housed
in a new bell tower at the elementary’s entrance.
Another school year begins
On Monday morning at 7:50 a.m., Jacobo-Smith yanked a cord dangling from the tower to trigger the bell’s ring, welcoming her students for another year.
After she rang the bell, the principal gesticulated like the school’s mascot, a panther, and the little voices of the students standing before her roared. Then teachers rounded up the kids and led them into classrooms in the new building.
New kindergartners wore braids in their hair. One second-grade girl asked another, deep in conversation, “Have you seen a hummingbird?”
At 8:07 a.m., a voice came over the school intercom, asking parents to exit the building. The school’s hallways grew silent as another year began in earnest.