The Grandview R-2 School District has several people in new administrative positions this school year.
The high school has a new principal and assistant principal, and the middle school has a new principal. In addition, the district has filled the previously vacant role of district curriculum/instruction coach.
Sean Breeze was promoted from assistant principal to the high school principal job. He replaces Alan Davis, who is now the district’s special projects coordinator.
Grandview hired Tom Anderson as the high school’s new assistant principal to replace Breeze. Kimberly Copeland was named the middle school principal, replacing Cody Mothersbaugh, who left the district at the end of the last school year for a different job. Both Anderson and Copeland previously worked for other school districts.
Grandview has also hired Jessica Smogorzewski as the district’s new curriculum/instructional coach. She worked for the Northwest R-1 School District last school year.
Communications director and school board secretary Jason VanHouten said the district’s administrative team is a strong one.
“The amount of experience that we have in our (administrative staff) is uncanny right now,” he said. “The team feeds off each other very well.”
High school
■ Breeze, 53, of Festus was selected from more than 20 applicants for the position.
Davis was paid a $101,123 annual salary as principal, and Breeze will make $97,893 this school year. He earned $80,284 last school year as an assistant principal, VanHouten said.
“He came in full force learning how things happen at Grandview,” VanHouten said. “(He) was a leader from the moment he started (at the district).”
Breeze said he learned a lot from Davis.
“A lot of the things that I learned from him I’ve tried to implement,” Breeze said. “There’s always (a lot of) changes when you go from administrator to administrator, but he did a really good job of setting some very good, solid expectations last year.”
Breeze has a bachelor’s degree in education from University of Missouri-St Louis and a master’s degree in administration from Missouri Baptist University. He has nearly 20 years of teaching experience from other districts in the county.
Breeze began his career teaching at the Dunklin R-5 School District and after two years there, he spent 11 years in the Crystal City District and then taught at the Jefferson R-7 School District from 2019 to 2024.
Breeze and his wife, Amy, have three sons.
■ Anderson, 53, of Oakville was chosen from more than 20 applicants for the high school assistant principal job. He will be paid $88,506 this school year, VanHouten said.
This is Anderson’s first year at Grandview. Last school year, he taught gifted students in grades one through five at the Lindbergh School District.
In addition to his background in education, Anderson has a law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law.
“He is a very data driven guy,” VanHouten said. “He really cares about the athletic side of the job and the administration side as well.”
Anderson said his biggest goal right now is to determine areas that may need improvement.
Anderson and his wife, Tina, have a son.
Copeland
Copeland, 42, of Festus was chosen from at least 10 applicants for the Grandview Middle School principal job. She will be paid $111,303 this school year. Mothersbaugh’s annual salary was $91,872 last school year, VanHouten said.
Mothersbaugh is now principal at Potosi High School.
Copeland said she feels prepared to step into the role of Grandview Middle School principal.
“I’ve had the experience to work on preparing for this. I spent 10 years as an assistant principal,” Copeland said. “Before this, I’ve had a lot of experience supporting instruction and staff development, so I feel like that time prepared me to step into this new role.”
Copeland previously served as an assistant principal for both Pevely Elementary and Senn-Thomas Middle School in the Dunklin School District from 2015-2017. She then served as assistant principal at Hillsboro Junior High School from 2017-2025.
Copeland attended Missouri Baptist University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in educational administration, an education specialist degree, and this past year, she earned a doctoral degree in leadership of teaching and learning.
She said her goal as principal is to continue the momentum the district’s administrative team has created.
“I am working on strengthening the culture, deepening the relationships and doing everything I can to make sure we are keeping student growth at the center of everything we do,” Copeland said.
She and her husband, Steve, who works for the Festus R-6 School District, have one daughter.
Smogorzewski
Jessica Smogorzewski, 37, of Hillsboro was chosen from about eight applicants. Hilligos and Howerton each made $58,780 per year in the position, and Smogorzewski will make $89,250.09 this school year, VanHouten said.
The district curriculum and instructional coach position was vacant for an entire year. Previously, two people covered the duties Smogorzewski now handles.
Emily Hilligos served as one of the curriculum/instructional coaches and left the Grandview district before the start of the 2023-2024 school year, and Lori Howerton, who also served as one of the coaches, took over as Grandview Elementary School principal in February 2024. The curriculum and instructional coach positions were not filled last school year because there was not a good fit found, VanHouten said.
The position was reopened for this school year, but only for one person, he said.
Since Smogorzewski started her new job with Grandview in July, she has been busy, VanHouten said.
“It’s a lot of different types of work, but I’m excited about the challenge,” she said. “(I) already feel like I’m making a positive impact with (the) teachers and administrators.”
Smogorzewski has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in administration, a specialist degree in curriculum and instruction, and a doctoral degree in education and leadership in teaching, which she completed in February 2024. This is her 13th year working in education.
“I’ve done a variety of roles,” Smogorzewski said. “I’ve taught different grade levels, like kindergarten, first, fourth and sixth. I have also been in a social-emotional learning role, and then an assistant principal.”
Smogorzewski is also the Grandview district’s Missouri School Improvement Program coordinator this year.
According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, MSIP is the mechanism DESE uses for making recommendations for accrediting public school districts in Missouri. This year, the Grandview district is up for review.
“School districts in Missouri are required to do a comprehensive school improvement plan, and it should be reviewed annually,” Smogorzewski said. “I came in as a second person to work with the superintendent (Matt Zoph) to help (him) through that process.”
She also said this will lead to updates in the district’s Comprehensive School Improvement Plan and processes.
Smogorzewski and her husband, Thomas, who also works for the Grandview district, have two sons.