Lakeland High lists new leadership

RATHDRUM — With Lakeland High Principal Conrad Underdahl and Assistant Principal Curt Carr retiring at the end of the school year and an existing employee taking Underdahl's spot, multiple leadership changes at the school are in the works.

Trent Derrick, current athletic director at the school, has been named the school's principal for 2016-17.

Jimmy Hoffman, currently a half-time P.E. teacher and half-time assistant principal at Lakeland Junior High, has been named the assistant principal at LHS.

Tim Cronnelly, the half-time athletic director for Timberlake High School, will be the AD at Lakeland to replace Derrick.

Derrick has spent 24 years in public education, 20 of them at LHS. He formerly coached the LHS boys basketball team. He said he grew up with "humble beginnings" on a farm in North Dakota.

Derrick said his career highlights included taking the LHS boys basketball team to Mexico to play Mexican teams, run a basketball camp at an orphanage and assisting with a water system for a small village.

In a second trip to Mexico, LHS students dug trenches for water pipes and assisted at a medical facility.

"It was a transformative experience as we immersed ourselves in a different culture in a place very different from home," Derrick said.

Hoffman, a graduate of Timberlake High, started "Hoffman's Heroes" at Lakeland Junior High to highlight championship character. The program recognizes students for doing the right thing even though no one is looking.

Cronnelly has spent 27 years in public education, including 13 at the Lakeland Joint School District.

As the athletic director at Timberlake, Cronnelly, who grew up in Butte, Mont., was recognized by the Idaho Athletic Admini-strators Association as the 3A Athletic Director of the Year three times (2009, 2012, and 2016).