UPDATE: Community grieves after elementary principal killed in UTV crash - East Idaho News
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UPDATE: Community grieves after elementary principal killed in UTV crash

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AMMON — Teachers, staff and students in Bonneville School District 93 are in mourning Sunday after the news that a district administrator was killed in a crash.

Oliver Roberts, 42, of Ammon, was killed in a UTV crash on Boundary Trail approximately one mile north of the Pebble Creek Ski area in Bannock County Saturday evening. Roberts had been the principal at Woodland Hills Elementary School in Ammon for several years.

“We’re still all in shock,” District 93 Superintendent Chuck Shackett said. “We had meetings with him and talked to him this week and now he’s gone — it’s hard to believe.”

Police reports show Roberts was driving southbound on a UTV when he drove down a steep embankment and rolled the vehicle. Roberts was ejected and succumbed to his injuries on scene. Roberts and a juvenile passenger were both wearing helmets.

The juvenile passenger was transported by ground ambulance to the Portnuef Medical Center in Pocatello. His condition is unknown.

Shackett said all the staff at Woodland Hills Elementary will be meeting with crisis teams and counselors Sunday at 5 p.m. The same teams will be on-hand on Monday for students.

“We have to be strong for the kids on Monday, because the kids loved Principal Roberts,” he said. “He had the ability to show real empathy and love to the kids.”

In the interim, Assistant Superintendent Scott Woolstenhulme will be acting as principal at the school.

Prior to working at Woodland Hills, Roberts was principal at Iona Elementary School, assistant principal at Rocky Mountain Middle School and worked as a teacher at Taylorview Middle School in Idaho Falls School District 91.

Woodland Hills
Courtesy Woodland Hills Elementary PTO Facebook page

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