Of the three members of the Chief Gabriel Cote Education Complex staff that are new to the school for the 2015-16 year, one is returning to the staff, one is a principal from a neighbouring school and one is a newly-certified educational assistant.
Added to the staff of the school for which Jonas Cote returns for a fifth year as principal are Elton Keshane, who is a former principal at the neighbouring Keeseekoose Chiefs Education Centre; Sara-Ann Keshane, who taught at the school three years ago, and Dallas Cote, who is working with Gaylene Koeppe, the pre-Kindergarten teacher, who begins her 25th year as a teacher at the school.
Elton Keshane, who had worked as the principal at Keeseekoose for two years prior to last year, has been hired to teach grades 4 and 5 students. A graduate of the St. Philips School in 1999, Keshane received his bachelor of education degree from the Univer sity of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in 2006 and has taught at Keeseekoose for a total of five years, including two years as principal. He took a leave of absence last year.
The father of two, Hunter Keshane, 12, and Ellie Keshane, 1, Elton, a member of Keeseekoose First Nation, is well known as a hockey player in the district having played Junior A, Junior B, minor and senior hockey. He is a member of the Keeseekoose Blues fastball team and although he owns several race hors es, he has not been racing them over the past year.
Sara-Ann Keshane, also a member of the Keeseekoose First Nation, was hired to be the Grade 10 homeroom teacher at Cote.
A graduate of St. Philips School in 2001, Sara- Ann obtained a bachelor of education degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 2007.
Last year, she taught at Keeseekoose and has taught at Cote and Keeseekoose schools before that and has taught for two years at the Fort McMurray Composite School.
The mother of two, she says that among her interests is travelling.
Dallas Cote, who was hired to help instruct the Kindergarten and pre- Kindergarten classes, graduated from the Kamsack Comprehensive Institute in 2012 and this summer she received her educational assistant’s certificate from the Saskatchewan Polytechnic (formerly the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology or SIAST) in Regina.
A hockey player while attending high school, Cote plans to coach the Cote school’s volleyball team this year and wants to start her daughter, Macey, 4, into hockey.
