Luann Domek says she could not have orchestrated her departure from Lone Dell Elementary any better.
She has been the principal at the school, 2500 Tomahawk Drive, in the Arnold area for the last 20 years and is retiring at the end of this school year.
Domek, 52, of Imperial will hand over leadership of the school to assistant principal, Jim Ray, 50, of Imperial.
The Fox C-6 School District Board of Education voted unanimously during a Feb. 2 closed meeting to promote Ray to the principal job. The school board voted 6-0 Dec. 15 to approve Domek’s separation agreement, with board member Carole Yount abstaining from the vote because Domek is her daughter.
Domek, who officially retires June 30, is being paid $134,479.78 this school year. Ray, who is paid $96,058.74 as an assistant principal, will be paid $113,000 as principal.
“(Lone Dell) is like another child,” Domek said. “Handing that child off after 20 years to somebody else was the part I was struggling with the most. Knowing I am handing that child of Lone Dell Elementary to Jim, I couldn’t be happier. It made the decision to retire that much more joyful. I know my family at Lone Dell is going to be taken care of.”
Domek has spent her entire career as an educator at the Fox School District, starting as a third-grade teacher at Simpson Elementary in 1994 before being promoted to an assistant principal, working at Fox Elementary School from 1997-2000 and then splitting her time as an assistant principal at Fox and Lone Dell elementary schools during the 2000-2001 school year before taking over as principal at Lone Dell in 2001.
Ray has worked in the district since 2000, starting as a sixth-grade teacher at Meramec Heights Elementary. He has been an assistant principal in the district since 2006, working at Lone Dell, Clyde Hamrick, Hodge, Seckman, Sherwood and Simpson elementary schools.
“I am humbled and proud to follow an incredibly loving, hardworking, giving leader like Luann,” Ray said. “I am humbled to serve along with so many caring staff members who want to leave a true legacy that deeply impacts the lives of our students and families. I am proud to walk into a building where I know nobody is going to outwork us to meet the needs of our students.”
Domek’s legacy
Domek joked that an encounter she and her husband, Ray Domek, had in a restaurant helped her decide it was time to retire.
She said a Lone Dell teacher spotted her and her husband at a table and they talked a while and then Domek told her husband the teacher was a former Lone Dell student.
“He was like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Yes, I have students who are now teachers for me.’ He said, ‘That means it is time.’ I said, ‘Tell me about it.’”
While that casual conversation in the restaurant highlighted Domek’s longevity at Lone Dell, she said she always wanted to make sure she left before time passed her by.
“I always worried about being that person who is an anchor to the staff and building, where you are holding them back,” Domek said. “I am still enjoying the job, but I don’t want to leave with people saying she should have left five years ago.”
Lone Dell was named a Gold Star school while Domek was the assistant principal in the 2000-2001 school year. The school then earned the Blue Ribbon distinction in 2003. It is the only Fox school to earn that honor.
While those awards were great milestones for the school and the district, Domek said the interactions with students are what she will remember and cherish the most.
“I had a student come back two or three years ago,” Domek said. “She is in the Air Force now, I believe. She called out of the blue and asked if she could come back to visit. She talked about being in trouble one day and having to come see me and how impactful that moment was for her and how it changed the direction of her life. I didn’t remember the specifics about the situation (when the student was in trouble), but it is those little things I take as moments of pride.”
Superintendent Nisha Patel said Domek will be missed.
“We will miss her dedication and love for what she does,” Patel said. “She has dedicated so much of her life not only to Lone Dell, but to the entire Fox C-6 family. She has the ability to always keep the focus on her students and what is best for them.”
Domek and her husband have an adult daughter, Randie Domek, 21, who attends college in Arizona.
Taking over
Ray said he knows he has big shoes to fill.
“Nobody outworks her,” Ray said. “She is so knowledgeable across the board. The biggest thing I will take away from her is innovation. She is not afraid to try new things as long as she thinks it is what is best for students to move them forward. Some people won’t do that.
“I’ve learned from her it is OK to try things. If it does not work, we will regroup and figure out a better way. Her innovativeness is something I will take away, and her heart. She really means it when she says Lone Dell is another child.”
Ray worked under Domek at Lone Dell from 2005 through 2007, and he returned to the school in 2019, when he split assistant principal duties between Lone Dell and Sherwood. The district assigned him to just Lone Dell at the start of this school year, after hiring an assistant principal for Sherwood.
“Because of this staff and the students and families, I feel like I never left,” Ray said. “I have moved around so much. When I came here, I just felt like I was home.”
Patel said she believes Ray will excel in the principal role after serving as an assistant principal for the past 16 years.
“Jim will be exceptional in this new role,” she said. “His passion and love for his students comes across every time he speaks about education. He is great at building solid relationships, which ultimately leads to academic success for all students.”
Ray said he has learned a lot from each principal he has worked under, including Simpson Elementary Principal Bryan Clark.
“Everywhere I have been, the heart of the administration has been unbelievable,” Ray said.
Ray said he wants to create a legacy like Domek. He said another person who had a big impact on his life and career was Tom Hensley, a former Rockwood Summit High School principal and Eureka High School assistant principal. Hensley, who died on Jan. 29 at age 75, worked at Eureka High when Ray went to school in the Rockwood School District.
“The legacy he left was his students knew he loved, cared and respected them,” Ray said.
He said Domek is leaving that same kind of legacy.
“I won’t get 20 years in here (as a principal), but I want to have the legacy when I leave that all students know how much I cared.”
Ray’s wife, Regina, has worked for the Fox district for more than 20 years, first as a second-grade teacher and now as the librarian at Seckman High School. The Rays have four children – Josh, 22, and Rachel, 21, both Seckman High graduates, and Caleb, 17, and Josie, 14, both current Seckman High students.