By Roger Sims, Journal staff
LA CYGNE – La Cygne Elementary School and Prairie View High School will have new principals when school opens for the 2023-24 year in August.
The Prairie View USD 362 Board of Education on Monday, May 8, accepted the resignation of La Cygne Elementary principal Tiffany Ellett effective at the end of the current school year. Ellett said she has taken a new position as elementary school principal with the Olathe district.
Olathe USD 233 Superintendent Brent Yeager announced Ellett’s hiring on April 29, saying that she will be principal at Cedar Creek Elementary, a school of about 400 students, more than twice the size of La Cygne.
Ellett, who came to the Prairie View district in 2019, served as assistant principal in elementary and junior high schools and a special education district teacher in Illinois before coming to La Cygne.
She said after Monday’s meeting that her husband, family and consumer science (FACS) teacher Eric Ellett, would continue to work for the Prairie View district.
The board also voted unanimously to make current PVHS Principal Joseph Hornback a full-time assistant superintendent. Along with his duties as principal, Hornback has also been part-time assistant superintendent as well as curriculum director for the district.
According to district Superintendent Rex Bollinger, the district’s new Superintendent Chris Johnson suggested making the assistant superintendent a full-time position. He is expected to also take on some of the duties of departing Student Service Director Beth Sandness, who has been hired to be a superintendent at Bronaugh R-VII school district in Bronaugh, Mo.
Johnson attended Monday’s meeting and was called into executive sessions for personnel matters along with Hornback, who also applied for the superintendent’s post when it became available. Johnson will take the reins of the district beginning July 1.
Hired to replace Bollinger in February, Johnson apologized for missing the board’s meeting in April. Currently the superintendent of Crane R-III in Crane, Mo., Johnson said that her board called for a special meeting on the same night as Prairie View’s meeting.
Other staff changes accepted by the board included the resignation of Gretl Shelton, middle school English teacher, and the resignation of Joe Cullor as head baseball coach and assistant football coach.
The board also accepted the retirements of kitchen manager Donna Koechner and bus driver Rebecca Marsh.
Emily Mader was hired as Parker Elementary pre-kindergarten teacher, and April Hankin was hired as kitchen manager. Both of the positions begin in August. Britni Delgado was hired as a para and aide substitute effective immediately.
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