Two principal hires down and one to go for the Mid-Prairie School District.
The school board last week approved the hiring of Greg Jergens to become the new principal at East Elementary. Superintendent Mark Schneider says Jergens is currently a fourth grade teacher in the Iowa Valley School District and has been teaching for 21 years. He was selected from about 20 applicants to replace Robin Foster, who will be the new principal for West Elementary after Bill Poock submitted his resignation effective at the end of the school year to become Director of Teaching and Learning at the Grant Wood Area Education Agency.
Mid-Prairie Begins Search for New West Elementary Principal kciiradio.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kciiradio.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Parents are asking the Mid-Prairie School Board to review possible changes to the district-wide COVID mask mandate in place since last October.
All students and employees are required to wear masks and Superintendent Mark Schneider says about a dozen parents spoke during the public forum at Monday night’s school board meeting requesting perhaps loosening the policy. He says the district’s COVID numbers indicate the time to study the issue is appropriate, “The situation with COVID, at least in our area, is improving. The number of students infected and the number of students quarantined is down, we had approximately 165 employees receive their first round of vaccinations.”
The recent warmer temperatures have melted a lot of snow and ice in the past week, creating a challenge for school bus drivers on rural gravel roads.
Mid-Prairie School District Director of Transportation Teresa Hartley says it’s the time of the year when constant thawing can lead to soggy, muddy, gravel roads. She says deciding if a road is too soft for a school bus to use is a team effort between herself, Superintendent Mark Schneider, and her drivers. If a road is deemed impassable, they’ll make other arrangements to get kids to school including running buses on hard surface roads only.