Dear West Prairie Families and Community Members,
I am honored to return to West Prairie as your Interim Superintendent for the remainder of the school year. I know many of you know me from either my time as interim principal last year at the North Elementary or as the elementary principal of the North and South Elementary Schools in my previous employment at West Prairie. For those of you who don't know me, I thought I would take a few minutes to introduce myself.
My husband, Mitch, and I have been married for 37 years. Mitch is a Colchester native and works as a Research Associate for the Corteva Research Center in Adair. We have three children, Angelica, Caleb, and Colton. We have also been blessed with four granddaughters and one grandson.
Professionally, I taught business and technology for Southeastern C.U.S.D. #337 for 14 years and served as Yearbook Advisor, Cheerleading Coach, Junior Class Sponsor, and Technology and Tech Prep Coordinator. During that time I also worked as a part-time instructor for Spoon River College for 12 years. I then served as the Elementary Principal for West Prairie C.U.S.D. #103 from 2003-2015. In 2015, I accepted the position of Superintendent at West Central C.U.S.D. #235 and retired June 30, 2022. Since then, I have stayed involved in the education field through professional organizations and with interim principal positions at Westview Elementary in Canton and of course West Prairie North Elementary.
We already have so many positive happenings at West Prairie due to our dedicated Board of Education, amazing administrators, outstanding staff, and supportive families and community! We take very seriously that you have entrusted the young people of this community to our care, and together we will work diligently to put what is best for students at the forefront and provide opportunities to achieve excellence. Our focus will be on continuous improvement and communication. We will keep you informed through newsletters, emails, social media, phone and/or text messages. In addition, take a moment to visit our district and school websites at www.wp103.org.
I do like to be involved and visible in our schools and in the district, so if you see me at an event or in the community, please don’t hesitate to come up and introduce yourself to me if I haven't already met you or to just chat.
Thank you for your support of our efforts to provide a quality education and many opportunities for all of our students. Your support is appreciated and necessary for continuous improvement. I look forward to our important work together this school year!
Go Cyclones!
Paula Markey
Interim Superintendent
West Prairie C.U.S.D #103
The 8th Annual Spooktacular 5K and Fun Run was a success! Big thanks to the coordinators and student volunteers/helpers who helped run the event. Great job everyone! More pictures coming soon!
Fun Run Winners!
More Fun Run costumes!
Fun Run Costumes!
A special thank you to the EMS and support volunteers that helped keep us safe during the 5K!
Thank you to everyone who donated prizes for the Spooktacular 5K!
Thank you to our amazing Spooktacular Sponsors!
Check out the winners of the 8th Annual Spooktacular 5K Run! Ayden Lacey - overall men's winner and Ezra Bithos - 11-15 men's division winner. Grant Bland - 27-45 men's division winner. John Burton and Jacey Roper - the 16-26 division winners. Julia Burns - 46-65 women's division winner. Katie Ruebush - 27-45 women's division winner. Steve Biswell and Debbie Goodpasture - 65+ division winners. Olyvia Clark - overall women's winner. Kate Beck - 11-15 women's division winner. Congratulations!
We invite the West Prairie Community to a public presentation of the information and plans described in the November 5th referendum. October 22nd at West Prairie North Elementary in Good Hope or October 24th at West Prairie Jr/Sr High School in Colchester. Both meetings will take place at 6:00 p.m.
Please note that some postcards state Tuesday for both dates, but the 22nd is Tuesday and the 24th is Thursday. We apologize for the error.
West Prairie 5K Spooktacular October 26, 2024. Check out the flyer for more information!
West Prairie Schools will be dismissed at 12:30 pm tomorrow, August 27, 2024 due to extreme heat conditions.
West Prairie would like to welcome our new Paraprofessionals to the Cyclone Nation! Mrs. Desiree Ford and Mrs. Heather Matthews
Good afternoon Cyclone Nation,
West Prairie is excited to be able to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students this school year. However, due to ISBE regulations we have to charge for anything extra. Those items would include:
• An extra milk ($0.30)
• A milk if you brought your lunch from home ($0.30)
• Bottled water ($0.60)
o we do have a water cooler in each cafeteria if you do not want to purchase a bottle
• An extra entrée—Jr/Sr High Only ($1.00)
• Flavored waters—Jr/Sr High Only ($2.00)
• Other a la carte items—Jr/Sr High Only ($1.00)
If you would like your child to have the option of purchasing these items, please add money to their lunch account as we will not be allowing a negative balance this year.
Have a safe weekend!
West Prairie would like to welcome Mrs. Sara Ryner, Mrs. Brooke Beckner, Miss Amanda Havens, Miss Ashlee Salyers, Mr. Regan Chatterton, Miss Rachel Laird, Miss Laura Dunlap, and Mrs. Ashley Fayhee to the district!
"If your child will need a food substitution due to a food allergy, this form must be filled out and signed by the prescribing physician or medical authority. This must be dated within 1 year of the first day of school. Food substitutions cannot be made without this form on file. Please contact Kortney Burling or Mandy Palmer for any questions."
Preschool Screening is August 6th at North Elementary and August 7th at South Elementary!
Attention Cyclone Nation!
Online registration is now open
Online payments with ePay is now available
West Prairie qualifies for CEP - free lunch and breakfast for all students!
Good Afternoon Cyclone Nation,
West Prairie CUSD #103 will be holding a Silent Auction for all surplus school furniture and other miscellaneous items. The silent auction will be held Friday June 28th from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. and Saturday June 29th from 8 a.m. - Noon. Pick-up time for items won will be Tuesday July 2nd from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. The sale will be held at the 18575 E 800th St, Sciota and will be cash only.
We look forward to seeing everyone who is interested!
Have a great weekend and stay hydrated!
West Prairie NHS Induction
