A familiar face will head up Maple Grove Elementary next year, taking over for Principal Kimm O’Connor, who is retiring after 29 years with the Northwest R-1 School District.
The Northwest Board of Education voted unanimously March 18 to promote Aubrey Bauer to the principal job. She currently is an administrative intern, acting as an assistant principal.
Bauer, 38, of St. Louis currently is paid a $69,457.68 annual salary, and she will make $99,404.00 as principal next school year.
O’Connor’s annual salary is $116,973.63, and her last day will be June 30.
Bauer, whose first day as the Maple Grove principal will be July 1, said she is “excited” about her promotion.
“I’ve worked in this building for seven years, and this building holds a very, very special place in my heart,” she said.
Bauer was a student teacher at House Springs Intermediate and then moved to Chicago and taught third grade for one year there before returning to the Northwest District in 2008.
Bauer said when she returned from Chicago, O’Connor was the principal at Cedar Springs Elementary and hired her for a fourth-grade teaching job.
“I have so much respect for her,” Bauer said. “She’s really taken the time to help me grow as an educator and she has been an amazing role model to watch facilitate and lead teachers.”
O’Connor, 61, of House Springs started her teaching career at High Ridge Elementary as a classroom teacher and soon moved to Cedar Springs Elementary as principal for four years. She has been Maple Grove’s principal for the last 11 years.
She said she has stayed with the district all those years because of the “hometown feel.”
“It’s been a great district to grow up in,” she said. “I have learned a lot starting as a first-year teacher and then in my 15th year as a principal.”
O’Connor said she is retiring because it felt like the right time.
“I know the staff had worked very tirelessly, and it’s just time for me to move to my next step,” she said.
O’Connor said she plans to spend time during her retirement at her pool and possibly travel a bit.
She said she feels comfortable leaving Maple Grove Elementary in Bauer’s hands.
“She’s great at building relationships,” O’Connor said.
From 2009 to 2011, Bauer taught sixth grade at House Springs Elementary then moved to Maple Grove to teach fourth grade until 2014. Bauer also was the summer school principal for Cedar Springs Elementary in 2013 and 2014.
She taught fourth grade at Brennan Woods Elementary from 2014 to 2018 before becoming assistant principal at Maple Grove Elementary.
A district spokesperson said the opening for the assistant principal job at Maple Grove will be posted online soon.