On January 31, 2013, district superintendent John Speer told media that Principal Mark Gronemeyer was going to resign from his position, effective immediately. Gronemeyer was subsequently reassigned to a newly created job in the district office for the remainder of the year, given the title of Secondary Curriculum Specialist. Both resignations and the reassignment were approved on February 1. Many in the community began to wonder why the district would unexpectedly reassign the principal in the middle of the term to a newly created position, knowing he would resign at the end of the year, and rumors began that an incident occurred that forced the school board to remove him from Prairie High School. Speer said he could not directly comment on the suspicious nature of the situation.