NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
A3
Big changes at Prairie City School
Increasing
enrollment, new
teachers, many
completed projects
greet students
Blue Mountain Eagle
Students returning to Prai-
rie City School found many
new upgrades this year — and
met more classmates.
Prairie City School Super-
intendent Casey Hallgarth said
students are back in class with
“even more positive energy.”
He said enrollment has been
going up. When he started in
the fall of 2019, he said enroll-
ment was 133, and it’s now at
210.
“I honestly think it is
because of the relationships
and trust we have all built
together here,” he said.
New teachers have also
joined the staff , and the school
now has a seventh- through
12th-grade principal.
Billy Colson, a teacher and
athletic director, took on the
additional duties as principal.
Eagle fi le photo
Billy Colson, a math teacher and athletic director at Prairie City School, will add the additional du-
ties of seventh- through 12th-grade principal this year.
He will still be teaching two
upper-division math classes
but has four periods per day
to work as principal, Hallgarth
said.
“We decided to add the
principal position to Prairie
City because of our enroll-
ment these past three years,”
Hallgarth said. “We have a
great relationship, and we see
most everything through the
same lens.”
Sharon Fritsch will be
teaching kindergarten through
12th-grade Spanish, building
on the Spanish lessons taught
in the school’s all-day pre-
school program.
“The students love her, and
she does a great job building
relationships with all students
and staff ,” Hallgarth said.
“She will build this program
to be top notch.”
The school also hired Jake
Lopez as a computer and tech-
nology teacher. He will be
teaching a coding, web and
three-dimensional
printer
class along with basic and
advanced computer classes,
Hallgarth said.
Prairie City School com-
pleted a variety of projects
over the summer. Hallgarth
said they installed a new
reader board, a new sound
system for the high school
gym, new playground equip-
ment, new fl oors in two class-
rooms and the high school
gym foyer, mini-split HVAC
units throughout the school,
in-ground sprinklers at the
Eagle fi le photo
Prairie City School.
baseball and softball fi eld,
new elementary school side-
walks, an updated camera sys-
tem and a new offi ce for the
secretary and principal.
He said they repainted
the elementary school gym,
and the remodel on the Bates
building is coming along with
a vapor barrier underneath and
a new roof with gutters.
“These past two years
have been tough, but I have
learned a lot about the resil-
iency of our staff , students and
community,” he said. “This is
Dayville School features new
renovations, administration
Blue Mountain Eagle
School is back in session in Dayville
with a new superintendent at the helm.
New Dayville School Superinten-
dent Brandon Haberly said enrollment is
currently at 58 students in kindergarten
through 12th grade.
“Students are back in the building,” he
said. “There is excitement both for stu-
dents and staff to all be here. We have a
newly renovated school and new admin-
istration. This is our fi rst week back in
school, and our focus has been on care
and connection.”
The school has a new part-time sci-
ence and agriculture teacher in Liz Love-
lock, who will also help with the AG pro-
gram, he said.
“Liz has graciously off ered to help
until we fi nd a science/ag teacher,” he
said.
Haberly said the school is exploring
the option of restarting its school gar-
den. It would be a partnership with the
third- through fi fth-grade class under the
instruction of Carrie Sullivan and middle
and high school agriculture students.
The school also has a new head foot-
ball coach, Tim Auty, who coached his
fi rst home game Friday. The fi rst home
volleyball game is the newly renovated
gym is at 4 p.m. Sept. 14 versus Grant
Union’s junior varsity team, he said.
Blue Mountain Land
Trust purchases property
outside of Prairie City
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
New football coach and part-
time science and ag teacher
start this year
File photo
This photo from last year shows renovations nearly complete at Dayville School. New Su-
perintendent Brandon Haberly said students and staff are excited to be back in session.
Haberly said the school is also look-
ing to see if any other communities would
be interested in an elementary co-ed
fl ag football program. He said Dayville
could fi eld a kindergarten through sec-
ond-grade team and a third- through fi fth-
grade team. If people are interested, he
said to give him a call at 541-987-2412,
ext. 103.
Monthly school board meetings are
held the second Tuesday of each month
in the school computer lab, and the school
is working to livestream those meetings
within the next two months. Haberly said
links will be posted on the school website,
dayvilleschools.com.
Job openings are also posted there,
he said, currently including an assistant
for the Early Learning Center and a bus
driver.
what keeps me motivated and
going. There is nothing like
seeing these students in the
hallways and joking around
with them, seeing them smile
and hearing them laugh.”
Hallgarth extended thanks
to the school staff and commu-
nity for support throughout the
pandemic.
“There are times when
the light gets more and more
dim,” he said, “but we all
know that we have to keep the
fi ght up and advocate for our
school and community.”
The Blue Mountain Land
Trust purchased a 278-acre
parcel outside of Prairie
City.
With help from the Con-
federated Tribes of Warm
Springs and fi nancing from
Craft3, a regional nonprofi t,
the organization purchased
Phipps Meadow, according
to an Aug. 11 press release.
The press release noted
that the Malheur National
Forest surrounds the “eco-
logically diverse” property
and is composed of wetland
meadow, pine forest and sits
on a mile and a half of the
John Day River. The press
release states it is an import-
ant ecological feature for
wildlife and native fi sh in
the region.
“Phipps Meadow is a
remarkable property in the
headwaters of the Middle
Fork John Day River. The
John Day River basin con-
tains one of the last entirely
wild runs of salmon and
steelhead in the Columbia
River Basin. This section
of the river provides critical
habitat for wild spring Chi-
nook salmon, mid-Colum-
bia summer steelhead, bull
trout, redband trout, pacifi c
lamprey, and a host of other
native non-salmonid fi shes,”
said Amy Charette, water-
shed restoration coordina-
tor with the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs
John Day Basin offi ce.
Alyssa Martinez Neu-
mann, Blue Mountain Land
Trust’s communications and
marketing specialist, told the
Eagle that the acquisition of
the land is just the beginning
of the project.
Martinez Neumann said
the land trust is just starting
to meet with technical con-
servation stakeholders in the
next couple of months to
look at what land use would
look like in the future.
“Something to remem-
ber with these types of proj-
ects is that it’s a multi-year
project,” she said. “It’s a
marathon.”
September 7
Auditions to:
Santa Claus and the Naughty Gnomes
K thru 6th graders 6 PM
Our Mrs. Brooks and the Christmas Carol
7th thru 12th graders
5 boys 7 girls, 7 pm
Thursday, September 9, 6 PM - 8 PM
Monday - Thursday
7am-
6pm
Monday
- Thursday
7am-
6pm
Friday
8am
- 5pm
Friday Sharpe
8am - 5pm
Mendy
FNP
“Simply Blessed”/“Enjoy Every Moment” Paint Party
Friday, September 10, 5 PM
Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
Presentation by Clair Kehrberg & Julie Smucker
Mendy
Sharpe FNP
Apppointments
available
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