Frontier Regional School

Frontier Regional School
Location
113 North Main Street
South Deerfield,
MA 01373
Coordinates 42°29′00.35″N 72°36′14.94″W / 42.4834306°N 72.6041500°W
Information
Type Public High School
Established Renovated in 1998
School district Union 38 School District
Superintendent Martha H. Barrett
Principal Darius Modestow
Asst. Principal Scott Dredge
Faculty 74 (69 Full Time)[1]
Grades 7 - 12
Enrollment 600[1]
Student to teacher ratio 9.2 : 1 (9.8 : 1)
Color(s) Red & Blue
         
Nickname Redhawks
Rival Mohawk
Average SAT scores 545 verbal
536 math
525 writing
1606 total (2014)[2]
Publication Red Hawk Report
Yearbook The Arrow
Budget $14,561 per pupil (2010)[3]
Information 413-665-2118
Website http://www.frsu38.org

Frontier Regional School (FRS) is a regional combined public high school and middle school in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, serving students in grades 7 - 12, as part of the Union 38 School District. The district serves the four towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately and Conway.

Academics

Frontier Regional runs on a semester system. Students can take 4-10 courses per semester; either 4 semester courses that meet everyday, or 3 semester courses that meet everyday and 5 quarter courses that meet every-other day. Quarter courses are usually non-academics ones, such as gym class or wood shop.

Athletics

Fall Sports

Football - The Frontier Red Hawks are a part of the Intercounty League. The team has a rich a storied history, most noticeably with its rivalry with opposing team Mohawk. The rivalry dates back to when the teams faced on Veterans Day, starting back in 1934, when Frontier was known as Deerfield High School, and Mohawk as Arms Academy. Currently, the Red Hawks are ahead in the series 40-28-7.[4] The team is coached by Don Gordon, who is in his 17th season as head coach. Gordon took over the team from long-time coach Dick Howe, after 1 year of assistant coaching. The team is a four-time MIAA Western Massachusetts Champion, with its most recent coming in the 2006 season, the second year under Dredge.[5]

Soccer - The boys' soccer team is part of the Schmid Division and compete in MIAA Division II Soccer. Red Hawks have steadily been on the rise since 2001. Before 2001, they had not had a winning season since their inception in the early 1990s. Since 2001, the boys' soccer team has built a program that has consistently been at the top of the McGrath South table and has been a #1 seed in the Division III tournament for the past three seasons (2007–2009). Unfortunately the #1 seed has not proven lucky for the Redhawks who have yet to advance to a Western Massachusetts final. After the 2009 season, the Red Hawks moved up to MIAA Division II soccer where they have yet to achieve a winning record. This season (2014), the Red Hawks are 10-3-4 and 5-1-1 in league games. With this season they have won league champs and are looking forward to successful D3 western mass tournament. The team is now coached by Dale Totman, a former Frontier star with over 100 points during his high school career. Dale took over for longtime coach Bill Sweidel who created a bench jumping, broom swinging legacy. [6]

Cross Country - Both the boys and girls cross country teams are coached by Robert Smith and Walter Flynn. The 2013 boys cross country team went undefeated and won their league title for the first time in school history. The team, nicknamed the "Frontier Firsthawks" was led by captains Colin Lacey and Gabe Chapley as well as outstanding runners, Orlando Wildman-Hanlon, Aidan Waldron, Tre Roy, Brandyn Robinson, Carsten Carey and Alex Sharp. The team only had one senior, Tre Roy, and hopes to continue its success for years to come. In the 2014 regular season the team lost to Mohawk Trail Regional High School in the first meet of the season but went undefeated afterwards and came runners up in the league only to Mohawk who went undefeated. Right now the teams star runner Aidan Waldron and others hope to catch up and qualify for the state championship [7]

Field Hockey

Volleyball - The girls' volleyball team is known as one of the top programs in Massachusetts, having won seven MIAA DIII State Championships, with those titles coming in the 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons. The program has won 15 Western Mass championships including the last 10 in a row, from 2005-2014. Frontier has had 16 MGVCA Division III All-State players — Francene Cicia (2007-08), Cassidy Ciesluk (2014), Samantha Clairemont (2008), Katy Daniels (2010), Tori Daniels (2010), Ali Durant (2012), Abby Majewski (2005), Kendra Ouimette (2009-10), Courtney Parent (2011), Remi Quesnelle (2014), Alyssa Stankowski (2006-08), Cassidy Stankowski (2009-12), Julia Wan (2012), Marie Wheeler (2011), Emily Woodward (2013-14) and Sarah Woodward (2013). Cassidy Stankowski was also selected as the MA Gatorade Player of the Year in 2011 & 2012 and an AVCA All American. The team is coached by Sean MacDonald, who has been with the team since 2003. His record with the Red Hawks is 264-20, posting a .930 win percentage. The team plays its home games inside Goodnow Gymnasium.

Winter Sports

Basketball - The boy's basketball team has had a long history of success. It captured its first state championship in 1987 and has continued to dominate Division III basketball, especially in Western Massachusetts, since then. The Redhawks won their most recent state title in 2008 defeating Scituate High School. Before the 2008 run, the Frontier boys' basketball team had made numerous trips throughout the early and mid 2000's to the Western Massachusetts Division III Finals often battling its rival, Sabis International.

Cheerleading - The 2009-2010 coach of the cheerleading squad was Crystal Thompson, a former member of the Patriots Cheerleading team.

Ice Hockey - Frontier is on the co-operative team led by Turners Falls High School, and plays in the Wright League. Other schools that participate on the team are Mohawk Trail Regional High School, Franklin County Technical School, and Pioneer Valley Regional High School. Frontier has generally made up the majority of the players on the team. Coached by Tom Sena, he led the team to an 8-9-2 record in his 2nd season. The team shares a rink with rival Greenfield High School, and each year they play in the 'Upton Cup' game. Greenfield is undefeated in the annual game.[8]

Ski Team -

Spring Sports

Baseball - The Redhawks, who are led by coach Aaron Campbell, play in the Hampshire League. In the 2008 season after a rough start of 7-8, the Redhawks finished as MIAA DIII Western Mass champions, advancing as far as the state finals. They finished with a record of 17-9.[9]

Softball

Track and Field - The Track and Field program at Frontier has a long history behind it. The girls team, which is led by Bob Smith and Jim Recore, has a no loss record dating back to 1998. The boys track team is coached by Walter Flynn and Kevin Seetal and won their first league title on May 9, 2011.

Tennis

Extracurricular activities

Frontier offers a variety of extracurricular activities such as: drama club, textile club, equestrian club, art club, gateway club, community service club, photography club, National Honors Society,

Name change

In 1997, a group of local residents led by Glen Douglas approached Superintendent Jack Welch, and asked that Frontier as well as other area schools to do away with their mascots, which they deemed "offensive" to residents of Native American descent. The local schools of Mohawk (Warriors), Turners Falls (Indians), and Ware (Indians) all ignored the plea for a name change. However, Frontier (Redskins) did not, and the Frontier School Committee voted to remove the Redskin mascot and delete any reference to the term. There was much opposition, as the term ‘Redskin’ was a symbol of 44 years of honor and tradition.[10] Thus started an over two year struggle as to what the name should be. The debate outlasted numerous votes, student polls, and lawsuits, and a name could still not be decided on. In 1997 and 1998 students were polled as to what they wanted their new mascot to be, and in both years the majority of students ignored the choices and wrote in their current mascot.[11] Eventually in 2000,[12] the name was removed, and the school was labeled with the mascot ‘Redhawk’, with the 2001-2002 school year the first year the name was used.

Administration and School Committee

Administration[13]

School Committee[13]

Elementary schools

Four elementary schools send their students to Frontier Regional upon completion of 6th grade. Those schools are:

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 , District 38 FAQ. Accessed November 30, 2013.
  2. ↑ http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/sat_perf.aspx
  3. ↑ http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/ppx.aspx
  4. ↑ , Recorder.com. Accessed April 17, 2009.
  5. ↑ , Football Frontier Red Hawks. Accessed April 17, 2009.
  6. ↑ http://highschoolsports.masslive.com/school/south-deerfield-frontier/boyssoccer/
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ , Ice Hockey Turners Falls Indians. Accessed April 17, 2009.
  9. ↑ , Frontier Regional baseball team loses Division III state final to Westwood 12-6. Accessed April 21, 2009.
  10. ↑ , The Valley Advocate. Accessed April 17, 2009.
  11. ↑ , A Timeline for Indian mascots. Accessed April 17, 2009.
  12. ↑ , NATIVE_NEWS: MASCOT: Frontier MA, Reds**** still unsettled. Accessed April 17, 2009.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 , Frontier Regional School. Accessed April 16, 2009.

External links