The next Fox High principal has spent a large portion of his life at the Arnold school.
Joe Salsman, currently an assistant principal at Fox High, will take over as the school’s principal in July, replacing Ryan Sherp, who is retiring at the end of this school year.
“Fox has been in my roots my whole life,” said Salsman, who graduated from Fox High in 1988 and has worked at the school since 2008. “I grew up in Arnold. My mom (Jay Salsman) still lives in Arnold. She has lived there for 55 years. I have walked the same hallways that these students walk. I have lived in the community where they live.
“I’m very humbled and honored that I have been chosen to be the next leader of Fox High School, and it is something I do not take lightly.”
Salsman will be paid a salary of $138,538 next school year. His salary this school year as an assistant principal is $131,865.
Sherp, who has been the Fox High principal since the 2015-2016 school year, is paid a $148,755 annual salary.
Superintendent Paul Fregeau said four people applied for the principal position, the district interviewed three candidates and the Board of Education members voted unanimously Dec. 17 to hire Salsman as the next Fox High principal.
“His love for Fox High’s staff and students; his commitment to improving the academic performance; and his recognition of the strengths of the building, as well as the opportunities to improve,” is what made Salsman stand out among the candidates, Fregeau said.
Salsman has a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, a master’s degree in education from Southwest Baptist and an administrative and specialist degree from Missouri Baptist University.
He started his teaching career 1994 as an in-school suspension teacher at Lindbergh High School.
Salsman began working for the Fox district in 1995, first as a physical education teacher at Sherwood Elementary School. In 1998, he began teaching physical education at Seckman Elementary School, and while teaching there, he was the head coach for Seckman High School’s girls basketball team from 1999 to 2008 and the head softball coach from 2006 to 2007. He also coached the junior varsity softball team from 2002 to 2005 and was an assistant varsity football coach from 1997-2001 and an assistant varsity boys basketball coach in 1998.
When Salsman moved to Fox High in 2008, he was the school’s athletic director and an assistant principal. He switched to strictly an assistant principal role in 2011, overseeing the school’s safety and security and supervising the special education, math and business departments and the teaching assistants and custodians.
“His familiarity with the students, staff and families will be a huge asset for him,” Fregeau said.
Salsman said he anticipates a smooth transition to the principal role.
“Dr. Sherp and I have a great relationship,” he said. “I think he was happier for me than I was for myself.”
Salsman said one of his primary focuses as principal will be to build relationships with students.
“As an assistant principal you have your 400 kids who you get to know,” he said. “Now my focus is going to be on trying to get to know all 1,650 kids. I look forward to that. There will not be much time spent in my office, which is great. I will be in classrooms meeting kids, helping kids.”
Salsman said he believes it’s important for educators to be role models for students.
“When I went through high school, my teachers, coaches and principals were my role models,” he said. “I can list off so many people (from Fox High School) who impacted my life. That is what I want my staff to be, role models for our students.”
Salsman said he will continue to serve on the Fox High School Alumni Association’s executive board and help organize the school’s Alumni and Staff Hall of Fame, which was formed in 2023 and has inducted three classes for a total of 20 members.
“The board members reached out to me when they found out (I was named principal), and I was like, ‘Absolutely, I am staying on the alumni association,’” he said. “Fox is my life and passion. I wouldn’t feel comfortable turning that over to anyone else. I want to continue helping with (the Hall of Fame). I have seen the success we have had in just a couple of years and how it has reached a lot of community members and alumni. I want to continue to build on that.”