Next school year the Crystal City School District will have a new superintendent, as well as a new principal for the district’s high school and junior high students who are housed in the same building.
On March 21, the Board of Education voted 7-0 to hire Crystal Reiter to replace Superintendent Matt Holdinghausen, who is retiring.
At a March 28 special meeting, board members voted 6-0 to hire Eric Pouvaranukoah to replace Katie Minster, the principal at the high school and junior high school, who is leaving the district to take a job with a nonprofit agency.
Crystal City board member Curtis Binsbacher abstained from the vote.
Reiter
Reiter, 48, currently is the interim superintendent and assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Normandy Schools Collaborative in north St. Louis County.
Crystal City officials chose her from eight applicants, giving her a two-year contract with a starting salary of $120,000 for next school year, Holdinghausen said.
His current salary is $115,586.
Reiter said her current annual salary at Normandy is $141,000.
She impressed the board members during interviews, board member Linda Schilly said.
“She said she puts children first,” Schilly said. “She’s good on curriculum. She’s a real personable person. She’s good with discipline.
“She will be in the schools interacting with the teachers and students. She said she won’t stay in the office.”
Reiter has worked in education for about 27 years. At Normandy, she has been a director, assistant superintendent and interim superintendent over the past six years. Before that, she spent 21 years working in the Hazelwood School District as a teacher and administrator.
She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri in Columbia, a master’s in educational administration from Lindenwood University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Maryville University.
Reiter said she grew up in Poplar Bluff.
“I am familiar with the Crystal City area and I know it’s a tight-knit community,” she said.
Reiter said the prospect of leading a district as the superintendent drew her to the Crystal City job.
“I have served as interim superintendent and wanted to continue as a superintendent,” she said.
Reiter is coming to a district of about 500 students at Crystal City after working at Normandy, which enrolls about 3,000 students and Hazelwood, which has about 19,000 students, she said.
However, Reiter said she does not expect culture shock.
“To me, kids are kids everywhere,” she said. “In a school district like Crystal City, I’m looking forward to knowing each child by name.”
Reiter said her goal is for all students to learn and grow.
“I believe every single child should be growing; it doesn’t matter where they are in their learning process; they should be growing,” she said.
Reiter lives in St. Peters, and she and her fiance, Rob Schmidt, have a combined six children.
“I’m going to commute, for now,” she said.
Holdinghausen
Holdinghausen, 45, became the district’s superintendent in July 2020.
“I am retiring because I can and would like to try something new,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what that means at this time, but I have had some interesting discussions about a career moving forward. I look forward to the changes.”
He has worked for the district since 2003, and prior to becoming a superintendent, he worked in the district as a teacher, coach and principal. Before that he worked for the Jefferson R-7 School District for one year.
Schilly praised Holdinghausen’s work for the district.
“Matt has done a wonderful job in his position,” she said. “We wish him every bit of luck in whatever he does.”
Pouvaranukoah
On July 1, Pouvaranukoah, 46, will become principal of the combined Crystal City High School and Junior High School, which enrolls students in grades seven through 12.
Pouvaranukoah is a 1995 Crystal City High School graduate and currently works as a teacher in the Windsor C-1 School District.
He was selected from eight candidates for the new job at Crystal City and was given a one-year contract, with an $85,977 salary for next school year, Holdinghausen said.
He said Minster’s current salary is about $89,000.
Pouvaranukoah said his current salary is about $64,000.
“I’m excited for him,” Schilly said. “Eric went to Crystal City schools. He worked for us for a number of years early in his career. I’m excited for him to come back.”
Pouvaranukoah has worked at Windsor for the past 10 years, teaching industrial arts. He started his educational career teaching sixth grade for six years in the Jefferson R-7 School District and then worked for Crystal City schools for seven years as an industrial arts teacher and softball coach before joining the Windsor district.
He has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Lindenwood University, a master’s in education from Missouri Baptist University and a master’s in educational administration (K-12) from Southeast Missouri State University.
“I always wanted to be an administrator, whether as an athletic director or a principal,” Pouvaranukoah said. “Luckily, this position at Crystal City came open. I always wanted to come back here.”
He said his priority is to support both students and staff.
“My goal is to be there for the staff and to be there for the students,” he said.
Pouvaranukoah and his wife, Amy, live in Barnhart and have two children.
Minster, 46, said she has accepted a position with LifeWise STL, a nonprofit organization that works to help people improve their economic positions.