The Other Four Schools Today

THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AND THE THREE ELEMENTARIES · PRINCIPALS AS OF NOVEMBER 2026

New Prairie Middle School, 5325 N Cougar Road, New Carlisle, grades 6–8, is the high school's campus neighbor and the present seat of the middle-school line whose earlier home was the old high school in town. Its principalship turned over this year: Justin Holmquest, principal since 2018, transferred on July 1, 2026 to become the corporation's Director of Finance and Assistant to the Superintendent, on a three-year contract through June 30, 2029, and Heidi West — the middle school's assistant principal for the three years before — was promoted to principal effective July 1, 2026, approved unanimously at the board's special meeting of March 4, 2026, "to follow Mr. Holmquest."

Olive Township Elementary School, 300 W. Ben Street, New Carlisle, grades K–5, the Tigers, is the town's own elementary and the successor in place to the township's district schools and the town graded school. Its principal is Mrs. Tara Bush, named on the corporation's Olive page and in the elementary handbooks of 2023–24 and 2024–25. The school's future was the subject of the corporation's fall 2025 public-input process described in the consolidation article above.

Prairie View Elementary School, 6434 E. 700 N., Rolling Prairie, La Porte County, the Bobcats, has a new principal in 2026–27: Tim Pedley, whose welcome on the corporation's Prairie View page says he is "thrilled to join the New Prairie community as your new principal." His predecessor, Kris Staats, was principal in the 2024–25 handbook and the school's 2025–26 general information. Rolling Prairie Elementary School, 605 E. Michigan Street, Rolling Prairie, the Bulldogs, teaches in the former Rolling Prairie High School building; its principal is David Burden, whose name signs the corporation's Rolling Prairie page and the 2025–26 handbooks, succeeding Dr. Pamela Moore, principal in 2023–24 and 2024–25. The two La Porte County elementaries share one distinction in the state record: both Prairie View and Rolling Prairie Elementary were named Indiana Four Star Schools for 2010–2011 by the Indiana Department of Education, among 162 of the state's 1,780 public schools so designated.

Sources:

1. NPUSC Board Notes, January 29, 2026, and March 4, 2026 (special meeting) — the Holmquest transfer and the West promotion, with dates.
2. NPUSC school pages and handbooks (corporation site) — addresses, grade spans, mascots, and the principals Bush, Pedley, Staats, Burden, and Moore at the years stated.
3. Indiana Department of Education, Four Star Schools 2010–2011, as cited for Prairie View and Rolling Prairie Elementary.