Students arriving at Hills-Beaver Creek Schools this week were greeted by a handful of new faces.

New staff at the elementary school are Little Patriot Academy preschool teacher Haley Tollefson, Early Childhood Special Education teacher Tonya Metzger, KidKare coordinator Amanda Metzger and task manager Brianna Boeve.

New to the high school is Deb Schandelmeier, who is a long-term substitute teacher. The position is for a one-year term while Mandi Kor is on extended leave.

Working with staff and students at both buildings is Betsy Otta. She is staffed as the school psychologist through the Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative.

Tonya Metzger, Early Childhood Special Education

Tonya Metzger is new to Hills-Beaver Creek and new to her teaching career.

This will be her first year in the classroom after finishing up a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education at Augustana College in Sioux Falls.

She said she is looking forward to all the new challenges that being a teacher will bring to her life, and she is excited to get to know all her students and their families.

She lives on a farm north of Lester, Iowa, with her husband, Morris.

Haley Tollefson, Little Patriot Academy Preschool

Haley Tollefson is not new to the district. She has been employed at H-BC in the past, as a first-grade teacher, KidKare coordinator and in the Early Childhood/Family Education program.

Tollefson said she is looking forward to “being back in an early childhood setting and having the opportunity to help prepare my students for kindergarten — also being able to work with the wonderful teachers and staff at H-BC Elementary.”

She spent the past two years teaching at the Worthington Area Language Academy.

She and her husband, Josh, live in Luverne with their sons, Leif, 5, and Tryg, 19 months.

Tollefson is currently working on obtaining her master’s degree from Dominican University, River Forest, Ill.