Fox C-6 School District administrators and professional employees will be paid an average of 7 percent more during the 2025-2026 school year, said Kelly Bracht, assistant superintendent for human resources.
The salaries for those administrators and professional employees will range from $233,758.50 for Superintendent Paul Fregeau to $48,256 for Trey Jimenez, who manages Rickman Auditorium.
With the pay increases for those employees, the Fox district will pay $525,838 more on salaries and benefits next school year than it did this past school year, said Bracht, who is retiring June 30. She said Fox C-6 anticipates paying $9,256,312 for salaries and benefits during the 2025-2026 school year after spending $8,730,474 for the 2024-2025 school year.
Bracht said the district will employ 78 administrators and professional employees in the 2025-2026 school year after having 77 this past school year. The extra administrator is a director of assessment and college and career readiness, and Alisha Conley was hired to fill the position.
Board of Education members voted 5-0 on May 19 to approve the salaries for 65 of the 78 administrators and professional employees. Vice president Todd Scott and treasurer Curtiss Frazier abstained from the vote, board documents show.
The board had already voted in February to increase Superintendent Paul Fregeau’s salary for the 2025-2026 school year to $257,134.35 and extend his contract through the 2027-2028 school year. His salary for the 2024-2025 school year is $233,758.50.
Board members also previously voted to approve salaries for nine administrators who were moving into positions that became open following retirements or promotions.
Bracht said when the 65 salaries were approved in May, the district had three administrative or professional staff positions open, and two have been filled. In addition to hiring Conley for the newly created position, board members voted unanimously on June 3 to hire Wendy Williams as the director of data and student information, replacing Maria Bielik, who is leaving the district June 30.
Williams’ salary for the 2025-2026 school year will be $104,723, and Conley’s salary will be $107,326, district officials said.
Fox C-6 still needs to hire a new Seckman Elementary School assistant principal to replace Ryan Shreve, who has been the school’s assistant principal since 2012 and is retiring on June 30.
The board approved his retirement on June 3. His salary for the 2024-2025 school is $102,759.
Shreve started his career at Fox C-6 as a teacher at Meramec Heights Elementary before transitioning to the assistant principal role.
“Ryan provided stability and a familiar face to the community over his tenure at Seckman,” said Dustin Bain, assistant superintendent for elementary education. “Ryan had great relationships with the families that sent kids there for years. It was not uncommon to show up to Seckman in the summer and find Ryan working on the landscaping or doing something to help beautify the school. Ryan really took pride in providing a great place for families to call their school home during their elementary years.”
The departure of Shreve means Seckman Elementary will have a new principal and assistant principal next school year. Paul Husch was previously hired to replace principal Dan Baker, who also retires on June 30.
“It happens more than you would think,” Bain said of replacing a school’s principal and assistant principal at the same time. “Just over the past three years. we have had this happen at Fox, Hodge, Lone Dell, Rockport, Simpson and now Seckman (elementary schools). Any transition will pose challenges, but this does provide the opportunity for a new team to evaluate past practices in collaboration with staff and begin forward thinking on how they want the next few years to develop in the building.”
Bain said Fox C-6 plans to name a new Seckman Elementary assistant principal by June 17.
Pay increases help with staff retention
“The increase in salaries for administrators and professionals demonstrates our commitment to attracting and retaining those employees, just as the increases we’ve given to teachers, nurses and hourly employees for next year do,” Bracht said.
The average 7 percent raises for administrators and professional employees is the same average that teachers received for the 2025-2026 school after board members voted unanimously during a May 19 special meeting to approve a two-year collective bargaining agreement.
Teacher and certified staff salaries will increase by an average of 13 percent over the next two school years with teachers receiving an average raise of 7 percent for the 2025-2026 school year and an average of 6 percent for the 2026-2027 school year, according to district officials.
Certified staff members covered in the deal includes teachers, counselors, librarians, diagnosticians, behavior specialists, SLPs, social workers, therapists, interventionists, curriculum coordinators and instructional coaches.
This is the second year individual administrator and professional salaries are determined by a salary schedule the board approved in March 2024.
“It is tied to the teacher salary,” board president April Moeckel said of the administrative and professional employee salaries. “It is kind of like a no-brainer. We are comfortable with (the salary schedule) because that is budgeted in as well.”
Moeckel said while Fox C-6 is often criticized for having too many administrators, she does not believe that is true.
“I do not feel we are top heavy,” she said. “When you compare us to other districts with numbers like ours, we are always lower.”
Fox C-6 will employ 17 principals and 25 assistant principals for the 2025-2026 school year, with each elementary, middle and high school having a principal and at least one assistant principal.
Bracht said those numbers are within the recommended guidelines from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), which recommends that buildings with 451 to 600 students should have at least a principal and assistant principal.
However, Bracht said the district only has half of the recommended number of assistant superintendents based on its number of certified staff members. DESE guidelines recommend districts have one assistant superintendent for every 100 certified staff members.
“Fox C-6 has four assistant superintendents, but should have eight, as we have approximately 870 certified staff,” Bracht said. “The staffing for principals and assistant principals varies by enrollment and staffing at each building, but on average we are within the recommended levels for principals and assistant principals at each of our schools.”
2025-2026 administrative and professional salaries
- Paul Fregeau, superintendent, $257,134.35
- Tammy Cardona, assistant superintendent of secondary education, $165,546
- Dustin Bain, assistant superintendent of elementary education, $157,993
- Jeffrey Krutzsch, Seckman High principal, $157,280
- Mark Rudanovich, Antonia Elementary principal, $154,594
- Nathan Burch, assistant superintendent of human resources, $154,349
- Tracy Haggerty, assistant superintendent/chief teaching and learning officer, $153,349
- Tracy Schmidt, chief operating officer, $153,349
- Jackie Waller, Guffey Elementary principal, $151,594
- JP Prezzavento, chief technology and communications officer, $148,564
- Joe Salsman, Fox High principal, $146,582
- Gina Buehner, Clyde Hamrick Elementary principal, $144,561
- Marilyn Jackson, Fox Middle principal, $138,933
- Robert Townsley, director of early childhood education, $138,933
- Matthew Metz, Antonia Middle principal, $137,933
- Kimberly Loomis, director of federal programs, $137,623
- Patrick Schwalbe, Seckman Middle principal, $135,736
- Curtis Sykes, Seckman High assistant principal, $135,252
- Jessica Meeks, Sherwood Elementary principal, $134,736
- Dave Kastrup, Seckman High assistant principal and activities director, $134,252
- Courtney Meagher, Ridgewood Middle principal, $133,236
- Dustin Brown, Hodge Elementary principal, $132,613
- Jennifer Fritz, Fox Elementary principal, $131,613
- Katie Collins, Simpson Elementary principal, $128,564
- Samantha Muehlenbeck, director special services, $125,303
- Paul Tramel, Lone Dell Elementary principal, $123,677
- Jason Bahr, Meramec Heights Elementary principal, $121,177
- Christina Rufkahr, executive director of finance, $121,177
- Paul Husch, Seckman Elementary principal, $120,837
- Kristin Darnell, Rockport Heights Elementary principal, $119,837
- Karen Dormeier, director of special services, $119,568
- Susan Belleville, director of childcare services, $118,068
- Andrew Waterman, director of communications, $118,068
- John Hallenberger, director of technology, $118,068
- Chelsea Boyd, Seckman High assistant principal, $116,644
- Scott Leuthauser, Fox High assistant principal and athletic director, $116,644
- Heather Schwalbe, Fox High assistant principal, $116,644
- Rachel Sauer, Fox High assistant principal, $113,196
- Trenton Sauer, Seckman High assistant principal, $113,946
- Tracy Larose, Seckman High assistant principal, $111,310
- Ann Asher, Antonia Elementary assistant principal, $109,112
- Rob Anthony, Fox High assistant principal, $107,236
- Alisha Conley, director of assessment and college and career readiness, $107,236
- Matthew Weber, Fox High assistant principal, $107,236
- Kevin Piel, director of maintenance, $105,184
- Wendy Williams, director of data and student information, $104,723
- Kolin Peterson, Seckman Middle assistant principal, $99,373
- Gary Cross, director of transportation, $97,873
- Lisa Hazard, Guffey Elementary assistant principal, $97,079
- Casey Tinker, Fox Elementary assistant principal, $94,839
- Lisa Brake, Antonia Middle assistant principal, $93,651
- Chris Kaiser, assistant director of technology, $93,339
- Jeremy Conley, Meramec Heights Elementary assistant principal, $92,651
- Cheryl Hayes, Simpson Elementary assistant principal, $92,651
- Holly Dreher, Clyde Hamrick Elementary assistant principal, $91,901
- Lindsay Gruenewald, Lone Dell Elementary assistant principal, $91,901
- Sara Helm, Hodge Elementary assistant principal, $91,901
- Craig Coleman, Fox Middle assistant principal, $91,151
- Shellie Manes, Sherwood Elementary assistant principal, $91,151
- Kaila Odenwald, director of food service, $91,151
- Kimberly Schumacher, director of nursing, $91,151
- Erik Dessau, Rockport Heights Elementary assistant principal, $90,515
- Alicia Uhl, Ridgewood Middle assistant principal, $89,015
- Jarrett Halley, assistant director of maintenance, $80,826
- Susan Graham, administrative assistant to the superintendent, $76,867
- Ana Juricic, payroll manager, $75,066
- Toni Michalik, custodial manager, $75,066
- Tabitha Schnurbusch, HR manager, $75,066
- Monica Montgomery, substitute and family medical leave specialist, $74,766
- Jamie Willis, administrative assistant to assistant superintendents, $69,631
- Michael Ross, assistant director of transportation, $66,406
- Michael VanMeter, assistant director of transportation, $66,406
- Jessi Dennis, assistant director of food service, $63,329
- Kimberly Pecoraro, benefits and payroll specialist, $61,845
- Czarina Bohler, administrative assistant to director of special education, $58,980
- Rennee Rapert, assistant director of childcare services, $58,980
- Trey Jimenez, Rickman manager, $48,256