Dustin Bain has been named the Fox C-6 School District’s next assistant superintendent of elementary education.
Bain, currently the principal for the district’s Meramec Heights Elementary School, will replace Randy Gilman, who will retire from the district on June 30.
Board of Education members voted unanimously during a March 19 closed session to promote Bain to the job.
His salary as a principal is $130,412.41 this school year, and he will be paid $145,000 as an assistant superintendent during the 2024-2025 school year. Gilman’s salary this school year is $155,802.69.
Bain, 41, of Barnhart said he was thrilled to receive the promotion to the Central Office because he was searching for a way to continue to grow.
“We have accomplished a lot in my nine years at Meramec,” said Bain, who has been the school’s principal since 2015. “This year, I have gotten restless in my professional journey. I knew as much as I didn’t want to admit sometimes, I was getting comfortable. I always tell my staff, ‘No one grows in their comfort zone.’ I knew it was time to look for a new challenge. I am ecstatic that I get to expand my influence in this district.”
Bain grew up in the Fox district, attending Seckman elementary and middle schools, and he was part of the first freshman class at Seckman High School.
Superintendent Paul Fregeau said 14 people applied for the assistant superintendent position, and the district interviewed five of the candidates.
He said he is happy the district got to promote a longtime administrator to the role.
“With all things being equal, if you have two candidates and one has experience in the district and one is an external candidate, nine times out of 10 you want to go with the internal candidate,” he said. “They have the context, experience and relationships with some of the people within the district. It is always advantageous when you can go with someone who has experience in the district and community.
“(Bain) was born and raised in our district. He is committed to the Fox School District as an alum, and he wants to see us be the best we can be.”
Bain’s journey
Bain received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, a master’s degree in educational leadership from Southwest Baptist University and a doctorate in education leadership from Maryville University.
He started his teaching career in 2006 as a fifth grade teacher for the Rockwood School District’s Wild Horse Elementary School in Chesterfield, and he was an assistant principal from 2012 to 2015 at Rockwood’s Blevins Elementary School in Eureka before being hired as principal at Meramec Heights Elementary.
Bain said he wanted to start his career in education at the Fox district, but it didn’t work out.
“I got a job in Rockwood, and it was great. But I was just trying to find any opportunity to come back here,” he said.
Bain’s promotion to assistant superintendent will be the second time in his Fox career that he is stepping into a role Gilman previously occupied.
Gilman was Meramec Heights Elementary’s principal when he was promoted to assistant superintendent of elementary education.
“(Gilman) was very helpful when I took over at Meramec,” Bain said. “I learned from Randy how to empathize and make decisions that are truly about the kids. I learned how to be supportive. If you call him, he will talk to you on the phone, but probably, he will show up at your building within an hour or two. I learned it is about being personal and supportive in a way that is all in. It is about showing up and being there.
“I think you have to be analytical and strategic with the decisions you make because they affect a lot of people. I think he is very good at seeing a lot of different angles before he makes a decision.”
New role
Fregeau said student performance at Meramec Heights has improved under Bain’s leadership, and he expects that will extend to the rest of Fox’s elementary schools.
The district has 11 elementary schools and an early childhood center.
Fregeau also said Bain has proven to be very good at communicating and reaching out to the Meramec Heights community.
“Hopefully, we will replicate that (communication and outreach) for all of the elementary buildings,” Fregeau said. “He also has a commitment to developing leaders. He has done that on his own, and his ability to develop principals, assistant principals and teachers to build the leadership capacity in the district will be a great asset.”
Bain said he will talk to Fregeau to better understand the superintendent’s vision for Fox’s elementary education.
In addition, Bain said he wants to create a stronger sense of unity throughout the schools.
“My focus is how can all the elementary schools and early childhood center accomplish a common goal,” he said. “I want to unite what we are doing. Every school should have the opportunity to have its own personality and culture, but we should all be aligned with a vision, purpose and goal together. That is what I hope to bring to this role. It is much easier to reach a goal as a team.”
Bain said he will miss Meramec Heights, especially the spontaneous encounters with students, like the recent one he had with a kindergartner who ran into his office to read to him a book about great white sharks.
“I went from being serious about something (he was focused on in his office) to I couldn’t be happier to hear about great whites and what they are doing,” Bain said. “You just don’t get that type of pure joy in a lot of professions.”
Bain said he doesn’t believe he would have been promoted to assistant superintendent without the work and dedication of the Meramec Heights staff.
“For whatever reason, they believed in me and my vision,” he said. “I think we probably exceeded expectations because everyone was 100 percent in. If they weren’t, I probably wouldn’t be in the position that I am. I want to say thank you to them because they deserve so much credit for this opportunity.”
His wife, Nikki Bain, is a paramedic with the Rock Township Ambulance District. The couple’s children – Skylar, 14, and twin sons Jace and Gavin, 11 – are Fox C-6 students.