The Northwest School District will see three administrators leave at the end of this school year to take jobs at different school districts.
Kim Hawk, chief operating officer; Nicole Myers, director of student services; and Jeff Taggart, activities director, will leave the district on June 30, and the district already has named their replacements.
Northwest school officials have hired Jefferson College controller Mark Janiesch to replace Hawk and have promoted two district employees to fill the other two positions.
Brennan Woods Elementary School Principal Mary Smith will replace Myers, and Kyle Wampler, a teacher and baseball and football coach at Northwest High School, will replace Taggart.
The Board of Education voted 6-0 on May 19 to name the three to fill the three slots. Board member Gary Bonacker attended the meeting but was not present for the vote.
Chief operating officer
Hawk of St. Clair has been with the Northwest district for one year and is leaving to take a job as chief financial officer at the Francis Howell School District.
“I apologize for just being here for a year; it wasn’t my intention. It wasn’t my game plan,” she said.
Hawk said the opportunity at Francis Howell is best for her family.
She makes a $126,496.40 annual salary at Northwest and will be paid $163,888 next year at Francis Howell.
Janiesch, 43, said he was not looking to leave Jefferson College, but Northwest Superintendent Desi Kirchhofer suggested he apply for the chief operating officer job.
“I honestly wasn’t looking for anything,” he said.
Kirchhofer said Janiesch was one of 11 applicants for the job.
“I don’t know many people who know more about school finance and auditing than Mark,” he said.
Janiesch lives in House Springs but grew up in High Ridge and graduated from Northwest High in 1997.
He has been the controller at Jefferson College for close to three years and is paid a $94,033 annual salary there. He will make $125,255.20 at Northwest next school year.
Janiesch earned an associate degree in business from Jefferson College in 1999 and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Missouri Baptist University in 2001.
He said Jefferson College has not posted his position yet and might reorganize the office before filling the job.
Director of student services
Myers said she has been with the Northwest district for 16 years and has served as director of student services for nine years.
Myers of Wentzville said she will start a new job as the assistant director of early childhood and special education for the Wentzville School District next school year.
She said the position will give her more time at home with her daughters.
“I am really going to miss the families (at Northwest) I’ve built really good relationships with and the students I have been serving for 16 years because I’ve seen several of them since preschool,” she said.
Myers is paid a $104,432.33 annual salary at Northwest and will make $104,000 next school year at the Wentzville School District.
Smith, 47, of St. Louis County, who will be the district’s new director of student services, makes $94,031.60 a year as a principal and will make $115,403.20 next school year in her new job.
Smith, who has been with the district for three years, said she will miss her daily interaction with Brennan Woods students but is looking forward to the new challenge.
“Being able to have a direct impact on student services as a whole, it’s always been a passion of mine,” she said.
Smith earned an elementary education degree and a special education degree from Lindenwood University in 1997 and a master’s degree in educational administration from Southwest Baptist University in 2004.
She currently is working on her specialist degree in superintendency at Southwest Baptist and expects to finish it in August.
Kirchhofer said Smith was one of 14 applicants for the job and was a good choice.
“We have watched her as a principal the last three years lead a school building, and she’s done a wonderful job, and we think she will be a great contributor to the administrative team and central office,” he said.
Activities director
Taggart has been the Northwest district’s activities director for the past 11 years.
He will start a new job as the activities director for Parkway West High School in Ballwin on July 1.
He has been making $103,690.97 a year at Northwest and will earn a $115,000 annual salary at Parkway West High next year.
Wampler, 34, of House Springs, who will take over the activities director job, currently teaches health and principles of biomedical science and is the head baseball coach and assistant football coach at the high school.
He is a 2006 Northwest High graduate.
“It has kind of come full circle for me,” he said. “I’m going to miss coaching baseball. I feel like I’ve kind of turned our program from not being very successful to now where in the last two years, we’ve won 19 games.”
Kirchhofer said the transition from Taggart to Wampler, who was one of 17 applicants for the job, should be smooth.
“He knows the other coaches and athletes and established a very respectful relationship,” Kirchhofer said. “Kyle came in and interviewed for the job and showed that he had a clear vision for the future of Northwest activities and athletics.”
Wampler currently makes a $44,535 annual salary and will be paid $88,600.80 next school year.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in sports and recreation from William Jewell College in 2010 and has master’s degrees in teaching and educational administration from Lindenwood.
Wampler said he hopes to retire from the district.
“I feel at home here, and I have no desire to leave here ever,” he said.