The Sauk Prairie Optimist Club held its annual Sauk Prairie School District Retiree Breakfast at the River Arts Center Gallery on May 7. After a welcome by Sauk Prairie Optimist President, Shawn Lerch, the Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright spoke about the retirees who represent 259.5 years of service to education. Wright then turned the honors over to the building principals to share more about each retiree. Ater the program, the 2025 retirees present were asked to pose for a picture with their administrators.
Pictured:
First row, left to right: Sauk Prairie Middle School retirees Mary Bittorf and Kelly Olson, 6th grade teachers; Julie Dahlman, 8th grade math; Cindy Ladd, 6th grade Special Education teacher; Lori Breunig, teaching assistant; Tina Raschein, Tower Rock library assistant; Cathy Stolz, Sauk Prairie School District Director of Business Services; and Ken Ziegler, Grand Avenue 5th grade teacher.
Back row, left to right: David Hansen, Sauk Prairie High School teaching assistant; Tricia Rodey, Sauk Prairie Middle School Principal, Jeff Wright, Superintendent; Kelly Petrowski, Tower Rock Principal; Ann Uphoff, Bridges Guidance Counselor; Lisa Ducke, Bridges, grade one teacher; Cindy Rothmann, Bridges Kindergarten teacher; Jamie Breunig, Bridges Principal; Chad Harnisch, Sauk Prairie High School Principal; and Craig Trautsch, Grand Avenue Principal.
Not able to attend the breakfast were retirees: Diane Borkowski, Merrimac Head Cook; Darcy Wirebaugh, Bridges grade 2 teacher; Jalaal Haj Hussien, Grand Avenue psychologist.
In the coming weeks, Optimist member and former Sauk Prairie Middle School Principal, Ellen Paul, will be writing short articles for the Independent Star News on the 2025 retirees who responded to her questionnaire.
Photo contributed.
