The First Day of School is a nervous one as it is—new teachers, a new traffic pattern for some, new routines and such. But what if it’s the first day of the school? That was part of the excitement and the deep breaths at Cross Prairie K-8, which swung open for the first time for school Monday. The new facility in Kindred, led by Principal Frank Telemko and his staff, welcomed hundreds of new Owls who may have been at Neptune Elementary or Middle or other area schools to a history-making day at the new school which keeps students of like ages on each of its three classroom floors. Cross Prairie is the district’s fifth K-8 school, a model Osceola School District Superintendent Mark Shanoff is high on.
“We love the idea of students to learn and grow as a community for those nine years,” he said when the school was being built. “It allows flexibility in our school programs. And a lot of parents want their kids to go to the same school for as long as they can. It also allows us to build community, and that’s what we want in a new residential community going up. That’s the benefit of the K-8 model.”
Photos by Taylor McFee
