COEUR d'ALENE - Mark Cotner is moving on.

Cotner, the director of KTEC (Kootenai Technical Education Campus), is leaving Idaho to return to the Midwest.

"My wife has taken a position back home, so I guess I'm chasing a girl," said the Oklahoma native.

Cotner and his wife, Tami, have four grown children.

Career-wise, Cotner said he's returning to industry: "I've been out for 26 years, and there's an opportunity to go back."

For the last decade, Cotner has been making a mark on vocational-technical education in Idaho.

Members of the Coeur d'Alene Rotary first met Cotner in 2008, when he spoke at one of their meetings at The Coeur d'Alene Resort. Cotner was then the director of a unique and successful public school district cooperative in southern Idaho. Called COSSA (Canyon-Owyhee School Service Agency), it comprises five school districts that combine resources to provide vocational and technical programs. Cotner moved to Idaho in 2003 to take the COSSA position.

Five years ago, he told the Rotarians that the common belief that professional-technical programs aren't for students headed for college is a myth, that at COSSA they were seeing a 96 percent college placement rate.

"That's students who graduate and are working in the field they're trained for," Cotner said.

Kootenai County students now have a similar opportunity at KTEC, the new professional technical high school on the Rathdrum Prairie. Cotner played an integral role in developing the school, working with local leaders in business and education to make it a reality.

"Mark built the foundation of this KTEC organization. Clearly, even though he's moving on, he's created something that has changed this community forever," said Ron Nilson, a founding member of the KTEC committee. "His last day is going to be a sad day. He's quite a remarkable human being."

Cotner gives credit to the unity created by developing KTEC.

"It's brought education, the community and industry together. I think it will have a far-reaching, long impact here," he said.

Like COSSA, KTEC is a public school district cooperative made up of three school districts: Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland.

Cotner has served as KTEC director since 2011, coming on board shortly before the groundbreaking to build the professional technical high school. He oversaw the construction of KTEC and coordinated the development of the curriculum.

"Mark will be greatly missed. He provided outstanding leadership and expertise that is hard to find," said Jerry Keane, KTEC board chair and superintendent of the Post Falls School District.

Keane said they plan to begin advertising to recruit someone to replace Cotner.

Available to juniors and seniors from the three school districts, KTEC opened its doors last fall. More than 1,000 students applied for admission to the school, which was built for 280. A third session was added to the class schedules, allowing KTEC to serve 500 children.

Since 2011, Cotner also served half-time as the director of professional-education for the Coeur d'Alene School District.

"We want to be able to continue that focus and direction, so we'll be reviewing and evaluating the position to determine how we might continue the work that Mark's been doing at the middle school and high school levels," said Laura Rumpler, Coeur d'Alene School District spokeswoman.

Cotner told The Press he has enjoyed his time working in Kootenai County, that he loves his job and loves working with the students and the community.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity," he said.