Rockport Heights Elementary School in Arnold will soon have a new principal, for the first time in two decades.
Janine Hueter, who has been the school’s principal since 2005, will retire at the end of this school year.
Her last day with the Fox C-6 School District will be June 30.
Hueter, 53, of Festus said the decision to retire was a tough one.
“I tell my husband (Chris) this isn’t a job for me. It is truly something that I love.”
Board of Education members voted unanimously Feb. 4 to accept Hueter’s retirement as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.
Hueter is being paid an annual salary of $147,987.
The Fox C-6 School District posted the job opening for the principal opening on Jan. 27, and it stopped accepting applications on Feb. 6. The listed salary range was $113,000 to $139,887 per year.
Dustin Bain, assistant superintendent of elementary education, said district officials hope to fill the principal job by the end of this month or in early March.
He said the district is looking for a strong instructional leader, who is student centered and excited to engage with the community.
“As a building leader they need to have strong communication and collaboration skills to be able to share their vision and then work with all stakeholders to execute the vision over time,” Bain said.
Hueter has been an educator for 30 years, all of those for the Fox School
District. She started her career at Rockport Heights, where she was a fourth grade teacher from 1995 to 2001. She also was the Fox High School cheerleader coach from 1995 to 2001 and was Seckman High School’s boys volleyball head coach for the 1999-2000 school year.
She moved into an administrator role in 2001, when she was named the assistant principal at Simpson Elementary School. Then she was the assistant principal for two schools, both Simpson and Hodge elementary schools, in 2003, the year the district opened Hodge.
“That was really cool being part of opening a new school,” she said. “That was a neat experience.”
In 2004, Hueter was the assistant principal for Simpson, Sherwood and Rockport Heights elementary schools before being named Rockport Heights’ principal.
“I have been able to see generations come through Rockport,” she said. “I was able to have my students become my employees and be my teachers. My grandparents in my building were parents when I was a teacher here.
“Rockport is such an amazing community. It is a true family. The relationships with the students and parents is second to none. They have supported me 100 percent.”
Hueter said the next Rockport Heights principal will be the luckiest person in the world.
“We have amazing teachers,” she said. “They work so hard every single day. Our kids are the best around.
“It all goes back to the climate and the culture that we have here. We set very high expectations for our kids, and they really rise to those expectations.”
Hueter said after retiring she will miss greeting students as they arrive at school, working with the school’s staff and building relationships with parents.
“(The kids) greet you with smiles and hug you,” she said. “Seeing kids love to come to school is just the best feeling in the world. I have an amazing staff. They are very seasoned veterans. Most of the time when teachers start at Rockport, they don’t leave. Most of our teachers retire at Rockport. Our parent support is just over the top. I can’t describe how much parent support we have at Rockport.”
Hueter said she decided to retire so she could spend more time with her family. She and her husband have two sons, Will, 20, who attends college in Columbia, and Jonas, 17, a senior this year at Fox High who plans to attend and play football at Missouri Baptist University after graduation.
“I want to be able to visit my sons,” she said. “I want to go to the football games.”
Hueter said she also plans to volunteer for nonprofit organizations, such as Meals on Wheels and Brenden’s Friday Backpacks.
“I really have a heart for helping others,” she said. “I am looking forward to getting involved in the community.”
Hueter said she probably will work as a substitute in the Fox district.
“It is a serious need in our district,” she said. “We need subs every single day. If I can help alleviate that burden, it will be a way to help the Fox community.”