Each of the De Soto School District administrators received at least a $1,000 pay raise for the 2025-2026 school year, which officially began July 1. Administrator salaries will range from $159,500 for Superintendent Ron Farrow to $56,400 for Aleen Duffner-Davis, the district’s Parents as Teachers director.
Farrow said administrator raises are commensurate with the $1,000 raises for certified staff, including teachers, librarians and counselors, and classified staff, including aides, maintenance and transportation staff, to maintain “consistency across our team.” In addition to the $1,000 increase to the salary base, administrators received their “steps” on the administrator’s salary schedule. Step raises are tied to more experience and education.
The superintendent salary was increased by about 2.9 percent, from 155,000 to $159,500, Farrow said.
He said the district will spend $88,320 more on administrator salaries this school year.
Farrow said $1,671,693 was spent on administrator salaries (not including benefits) for fiscal year 2025 and the district will spend $1,760,013 for fiscal year 2026.
Farrow, who is beginning his second year as superintendent, said the district enacted “purposeful changes (last July) to better align our administrative structure with long-term goals.” The restructuring included adding back a second assistant superintendent (the position had been eliminated in 2018) and eliminating two positions: director of human resources and dean of students.
“Through a strategic reorganization of central office and district-level administration, we successfully reduced administrative costs by $92,794 heading into the 2024-2025 school year,” he said.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the number of administrators will remain at 20.
Farrow said the district is looking for a replacement for an administrator who resigned in June – Debbie Killingsworth, director of Special Services, who resigned to take another job.
“The (special services) director position has a starting salary of $75,000, and then it will be based on years of experience for the new hire. (Killingsworth’s) salary was $105,187.50 last school year. If we hire a new (special services) director who does not have previous director level experience, then that would be a savings of $30,187.50 in admin salaries for the district.”
Farrow said Killingsworth was a tremendous asset to the district.
“She fought and advocated for each and every child to ensure they had everything they needed to be successful, and she helped De Soto become known around the state as one of the top districts for special needs support,” he said. “We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
In February, the school board voted to extend Farrow’s original three-year contract by one year, through the 2027-2028 school year. At the same time, the board voted to approve contracts for the other administrators and directors through the 2025-2026 school year.
Raises were approved in June at the same time the school board approved the budget.
The following is a list of De Soto school administrators and their salaries for the 2025-2026 school year.
- Ron Farrow, superintendent, $159,500
- Shawn Brown, assistant superintendent of curriculum, $130,200
- Joshua Phipps, assistant superintendent of operations, $124,600
- Jon Roop, De Soto High School principal, $116,256.25
- Will Nunn, Athena Elementary principal, $97,718.75
- Zeb Hammond, De Soto Junior High principal, $94,437.50
- Melissa Dunnegan, Vineland Elementary principal, $93,343.75
- Russ Schmidt, activities director, $93,531.25
- Deana Pope, technology director, $91,175
- Chris Krueger, seventh- through 12th-grade assistant principal, $85,531.25
- Travis Rogers, maintenance director, $84,606.25
- James “Matt” Buechting, De Soto High School assistant principal, $84,437.50
- Nick Stearns, De Soto Junior High assistant principal, $80,168.75
- Nicole Spruell, communications director, $78,587.50
- Diana Casey, Early Childhood Center director, $76,875
- Meagan Wagner-Westermayer, Athena Elementary assistant principal, $74,987.50
- Layna Richardson, Vineland Elementary assistant principal, $73,062.50
- Eric Young, transportation director, $64,593.75
- Andrea “Aleen” Duffner-Davis, Parents as Teachers director, $56,400