Welcome
to the new school year
 is
389. Last year at this time we were at 384. We start
the year in the elementary with 216 students and 173 at the junior/senior
high. Of our total enrollment, 44 students are open enrolled from
other districts.
Our elementary open house was a great success with approximately 88% of our parents in attendance. Our cooks Cara Duman and Stacie Jackson served approximately 247 meals. Our high school volleyball and football teams are off to a great start and our junior high football and girls’ basketball teams started their season last week. Cross country is off to a great start with a new practice trail mapped out along the football field fence line. Volleyball started the year with 28 student/athletes, Football 26, Cross Country 13, and Cheer 9. Student organizations FFA, BPA and HOSA along with Knowledge Bowl are gearing up to have meetings and start their year. Prairie is offering 13 dual credit courses this year. Dual credit courses are those that students take for high school credit as well as having the option to take for college credit. The courses include U.S. History, U.S. Government, Economics, Psychology, Calculus, Math 137, Math 147, Speech, Natural Science, Chemistry, English IV, Art Appreciation, and CNA. Several students are also taking Fundamentals of Health Professionals and Medical Terminology for dual credit through IDLA. You can get more information about Prairie’s dual credit program by calling 208-962-3901 and talking with Suzi Quintal, Counselor. We take this opportunity to welcome new staff members. Sharon Deimler is working at the elementary as our custodian. She started midyear last year and we take this opportunity to give her a formal welcome. She has 2 sons who attend Prairie Schools. Sharon and her family live in Ferdinand. Eric Coffelt is our PE and Health teacher K-12. He was born and raised in Hermiston, Oregon (home of the best watermelons) . Some of his hobbies include hiking, being on the water, and enjoying the great outdoors. He graduated from LCSC in 2019. He states that he became a Physical Education and Health Teacher because he wanted to share his passion for living a healthy lifestyle and make learning fun and engaging for all students. Welcome to Eric. Terryn Pitcher is our Music Instructor K-12. Terryn comes to Cottonwood from Kimberly, Idaho. She is married to Jordan and they have been married for almost two years. Terryn and Jordan have two Brittany dogs that are just over a year old. They enjoy exploring the outdoors, fishing, and camping. Terryn has been playing the flute for the past 11 years. They are looking forward to getting to know everyone and are excited for this new adventure. Stacie Jackson joins our staff as head cook at the JrSr High School. Stacie states she is very excited to join District 242. She is married to Jeff, who is a logger with Mark Anderson Logging. She and Jeff have been married for 34 years. She and Jeff have three children Amanda Rehder, Ashley Uhlenkott, James Jackson - eight grandchildren ages ranging from 2-10 years old. Shelley Schlader joins the elementary staff as a Counselor/Social Worker. Shelley was born and raised in Cottonwood and attended Prairie Schools. She has been married to Scot for 27 years and has 7 children Beau, Tanna, Rhett, Tyson, Cole, Tara and Erica. The last three still attend Prairie Schools. She graduated with a degree in Social Services and has worked with children in the field, but most recently owns and operates Schlader Photography in Cottonwood. She is excited to be involved with students at the elementary and will work Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is looking forward to working in the district. Risa Mader started working at both schools in January of 2019. She brings a lot of energy and is a very hard worker. She starts at the JrSr High School and then comes down to the elementary to serve lunch and help clean up. Risa is married to Ryan and they have three children, who attend Prairie Schools. Risa and Ryan have a ranch on the outskirts of Keuterville. A formal welcome to Risa. Molly Wimer started driving a bus route during spring 2018-2019 school year. She has been married to Marv for 32 years. She loves life. She says she has a superpower and that is SEWING… She has six beautiful children and loves her grandchildren. She drove swim lesson bus this summer and loved it. She drives the Moughmer Point bus route. We formally welcome Molly. Katrina Bentley will be at the elementary and JrSr High Schools handling nursing needs and will teach the Skills and Clinical Courses for the Regional II Academy. Katrina is a retired military nurse and educator. Jennifer Enneking has been a substitute teacher/paraprofessional at both schools and a one-on-one paraprofessional at the JrSr High School. This school year she will job share a fifth-grade paraprofessional position with Renee Eckert. Jennifer grew up in Grangeville and graduated in 1998. She has been married to Bob for 15 years and they have 3 children, The Ennekings live on the family farm in Keuterville. A formal welcome to Jennifer. We welcome Alecia Hagen as a student teacher. Alecia is from Grangeville, but her father is a Prairie alumnus. She is married to Erik, and they have two children. She worked for the Mountain View School District for the past eight years as secretary for the elementary and secondary schools. In those eight years, she discovered her passion for helping students and decided to pursue her degree in teaching. She is currently finishing an elementary education degree from Grand Canyon University. She is thrilled to begin her teaching journey with Cottonwood School District and working with Kristi and her 5th grade class this semester. We finished a big summer project adding heating and cooling systems to the upper floor of the JrSr High School. We worked on the roof at the elementary and finish half of it this summer and plan to finish the second half next summer. We added drain tile along the wall of the elementary school helping to divert the water from the building and down to the city drainage system. Our parking lot at the elementary, front and back, was seal coated adding a new layer of thickness which helps keep the dust down and the mud from being tracked into the building. The grounds, football and baseball fields were kept mowed and watered all summer long. Jake, Dave and Damian were busy continually monitoring sprinklers and mowing at the elementary and JrSr High Schools. We are looking forward to a great year. If any community member is interested in being on an email list from the schools, please contact Lynn Rehder at rehderl@sd242.org or Jon Rehder at rehderj@sd242.org, |
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