West Prairie

Miles of Smiles is offered to our students on April 2, 2025. This is free for all students. Consent forms are due this Friday, March 7, 2025.

Good morning West Prairie Families, Due to extremely cold wind chill temperatures this morning and out of an abundance of caution, West Prairie District #103 will have an e-learning day today, February 18. I again thank you for your patience and understanding as I try to make the best decision for the safety of our students and staff. With Gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good afternoon West Prairie Families, As usual I want to let you know what I am thinking regarding weather for tomorrow and the remainder of this week. I don't know about you, but I am ready for spring and this weather to straighten up. As you are probably aware, we are in a Cold Weather Advisory for tomorrow. I did get on a webinar with the National Weather Service out of the Quad Cities earlier this afternoon. Our area is not supposed to be quite as cold as some areas just northwest of us, but still pretty cold. As we know, some of the predictions have not turned out to be as severe as predicted this winter; therefore, I plan to check between 5:00 and 5:45 tomorrow morning and make a decision about in person attendance at that time. If temps warrant, we may call an e-learning day, but again, I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning. While temps the rest of the week are supposed to remain cold, it sounds like tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest, so I am hopeful we can be in person. As always, I will let you know as soon as I can, and I thank you for your continued patience and understanding. With Gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good afternoon Cyclone Nation, This is just a reminder that tomorrow, February 14, is a School Improvement Day. Students will be dismissed at approximately 12:30 p.m. Also, there is no school on Monday, February 17 in observance of Presidents' Day. Have a great weekend! Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good evening West Prairie Families, As you know, our area is in a Winter Storm Warning. Because of this and the predicted timing of the snowfall, West Prairie District #103 will have a traditional snow day tomorrow, February 12. There will be no e-learning tomorrow. As you know these decisions are not easy, but the safety of our students and staff will always be our top priority. Thank you for your patience and understanding. With Gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good evening West Prairie Family, I am closely watching the weather forecast, as I am sure you all are as well. The latest that I am hearing is that snowfall should start around midnight tonight with a half-inch or so in the morning. However, snowfall is predicted to become more significant over the course of the day tomorrow and tapering off tomorrow evening with a possibility of 6-8” at its conclusion. Of course, predictions and timing can change or can be completely off, so I will continue to monitor throughout the night and in the morning.  I will not make a final decision until Wednesday morning and will notify you as soon as possible. As a reminder, we have five emergency days built into the school calendar. One emergency day is on February 17 (Presidents’ Day) and another on April 21 (Monday after Easter). The three remaining emergency days are at the end of the school year calendar. In addition, five e-learning days can be used for inclement weather. It is not required to make up e-learning days. So far, we have used three e-learning days.  If these storm predictions come to fruition, and we are unable to attend school in person, my plan is to have a traditional snow day on Wednesday, February 12.  There may even be a possibility of an early dismissal on Wednesday, February 12 depending on the timing of the snow. If roads are still not safe for us to transport students to school on Thursday, February 13, we will have an e-learning day on that day.  Our staff sent devices and instructions home today in case an e-learning day is called. Please be prepared for all scenarios.  Now, what about Monday, February 17? Due to the short notice, I have made the decision that school will NOT be in session on Monday, February 17 regardless of weather. This means if we take a traditional snow day on Wednesday, we will make that day up on Monday, April 21. It also means we will have to amend the calendar to include an additional emergency day at the end of the school year.  Hopefully, we will not need it, but I want to be sure you know it could be a possibility. As always, thank you for your patience and understanding as we maneuver through these days and decisions. Spring is coming! With gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good morning West Prairie Families, After driving some roads this morning and getting reports from our Transportation Director and some road commissioners, we just have too many rural roads in our District that have slick, icy spots or are a sheet of ice altogether. Because of this, West Prairie District #103 will move to an e-learning day today. This day will work just like yesterday. Please let your child's building principal or classroom teachers know if you have any technology issues or questions . Temperatures are expected to rise, so if they do and road conditions improve over the course of the day, we will have evening activities. If you do not hear anything, please assume they are continuing as scheduled. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding. With gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good morning West Prairie Families, Due to the prediction of freezing rain set to hit our area and the uncertainty of the timing of when it will arrive, out of an abundance of caution West Prairie District #103 will move to an e-learning day. This day will work the same as our previous e-learning day. Please visit this link https://www.wp103.org/article/1909162 for more detailed information. If you have any questions or issues with technology, please let your child's building principal know, and we will do our best to fix them or offer an alternative solution. Thank you for your understanding and patience with this difficult decision today as I want to err on the side of caution and keep our students and staff safe. Stay safe, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good afternoon West Prairie Families, Due to the predicted extremely cold temperatures Tuesday morning, tomorrow, January 21, will be an e-learning day. Please refer to the graphic attached for more information about how the e-learning day will work for your child(ren). All extra-curricular activities for this evening will still continue as planned. There will be no practices tomorrow. Extra-curricular activities for tomorrow evening will be decided tomorrow morning. Thank you for your understanding. Please stay safe and warm. With Gratitude, Paula Markey

On Monday, January 20 there will be no school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. One of my favorite quotes from MLK is, "The time is always right to do what is right." Also, some of you may have noticed students brought home their devices on Friday. Next week temps are predicted to drop pretty low, so we had students bring home devices just in case it is necessary to call an e-learning day. Hopefully, that will not be necessary. If you do not hear from me, then school will be in session as normal. Enjoy your long weekend! With gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good evening Cyclone Nation, This is just a reminder that tomorrow, December 6, is a School Improvement Day. Students will be dismissed at approximately 12:30 p.m. Have a great weekend! Sincerely, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Good Afternoon Cyclone Nation, Please click on the link below to find an overview of our E-Learning Plan. Thank you to Corky Biswell for putting this document together for us. Please let your child's building administrator know if you have any questions. https://5il.co/32g8b With gratitude, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

The West Prairie CUSD 103 Board of Education is conducting a search for a new superintendent. The selection of a new superintendent is probably the most important decision a board of education has to make; therefore, the Board has hired the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) to assist in this process. The Board of Education is seeking everyone's input in the search process. The Board requests that all board members, all staff, all parents and community members complete an online survey provided by the IASB. The results will be tallied and used by the Board and Screening Team to develop a brochure to advertise the position. All survey responses and comments will remain anonymous. Thank you for taking time to complete the survey. The survey links will close at midnight on December 10, 2024. The survey link for the community is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JNDRHQQ If you are a parent/guardian of a West Prairie student, a link was sent to your email. If you did not receive an email you may use this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JLWQV9S. Please complete the survey one time only West Prairie board members, administration, faculty and staff were provided links to the survey as well. The survey is the same for all stakeholders. Separate links allow IASB to group the responses according to the respective categories. We thank you for taking the time to provide your input.

Dear West Prairie Family, On behalf of the West Prairie students, staff, and Board of Education, we want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you for your partnership and for your support throughout the year. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones. Sincerely, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Dear West Prairie Families, Cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, are on the rise across the United States, and unfortunately, within our regional area and within our West Prairie School District. If we believe your child may have been exposed at school, an email letting you know has been sent to you, and we will continue to do so with any new cases or exposures. In addition, we are sharing with you a “Pertussis Fact Sheet for Parents” from the Illinois Department of Public Health. If your child is exhibiting symptoms of pertussis, please do not send them to school until their medical provider has said it is safe for them to return to school. The IDPH and the McDonough Health Department report that the best protection against pertussis is to be sure your vaccines are up-to-date. They do report that the vaccine protection against pertussis decreases over time, so it might be a good idea to check with your medical provider to see if a booster is needed. For more information about pertussis, you may visit: https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/signs-symptoms/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/about/signs-symptoms.html. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the McDonough County Health Department or your child’s medical provider. Thank you for your assistance and diligence as we try to keep the spread of pertussis at a minimum. Sincerely, Paula Markey Interim Superintendent

Today, November 15, is School Board Members Day in Illinois. IASB would like to say “Thank You” to school board members across Illinois for their commitment to providing quality education opportunities for all students. This honorary date is our opportunity to give school board members the recognition they have earned for providing a local voice for community education decisions and serving an essential role as an elected board of education member.

West Prairie Jr./Sr. High School will honor our Veterans with a variety of activities throughout Veterans Day. We thank all those who have served for their sacrifice and service.

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!