Longtime Crystal City schools employee Taylor Massa will take over as the district’s superintendent on July 1.
Massa, 39, of Crystal City is the district’s current director of student services, curriculum, learning and assessment and will replace current Superintendent Crystal Reiter, who said she intends to retire when her contract ends on June 30.
Massa was chosen from among eight applicants for the job, board secretary Vickie Eisenbeis said.
The Crystal City Board of Education voted 6-1 March 26 to promote Massa to the top job in the district, awarding her a two-year contract. School board member Melissa Parker voted against the promotion, saying she would have liked to see someone with more experience in budgeting and dealing with legislation fill the job.
Massa, who is paid $101,000 a year as a director, said her salary as superintendent had not been set as of March 28, adding that it will be determined at a future school board meeting.
Reiter said she currently earns $122,400 as superintendent.
Parker said she has confidence in Massa despite her vote against promoting her to the superintendent job.
“I think she is capable and has the skill set to be superintendent of Crystal City schools,” Parker said. “My concern is there is a lot of legislation coming down. Being the fact she is new to the role – and not having had exposure around budgeting and how much (the legislation) can affect Crystal City – I felt we needed a new superintendent that has had that exposure and background in budgeting and the impact it can have long-term, not just this year.
“However, she has done a good job in cultivating mentorships that will help her.”
Linda Schilly, the board president, said she feels Massa was the best candidate for the job.
“I’m just really happy the board decided to go with her,” Schilly said.
Since 2013, when former longtime district Superintendent Ron Swafford retired, the district had six superintendents or interim superintendents: Philip Harrison, superintendent from 2013-2018; Bob Borman, interim superintendent from 2018 to early 2019; D.J. Goodwin, interim superintendent for part of 2019; Steven Barnes, superintendent from 2019-2020; Matt Holdinghausen, superintendent from 2020-2023; and Reiter, the district’s superintendent since 2023.
Schilly said she believes Massa will stick around for the long-term.
“She lives here and plans to stay here. She said she plans to retire here,” Schilly said.
Massa said she wants to bring stability to the position.
“We’ve had a lot of turnover,” she said. “I believe it’s important to have some consistency.
“I have a really good relationship with our students, faculty and families.”
Massa said she plans to have a hands-on approach to leading the district.
“I believe in service leadership,” she said. “I will be very involved with everything.”
She said she hopes to keep the district near the top of county schools in the state’s Annual Performance Report.
“We’ve been second in the county the last two years in APR,” Massa said. “We want to stay there or move to first. We have such a good staff of teachers.”
Massa said the district has an important issue on the April 8 ballot that would allow the district to continue its four-day school week, which it has had since the start of the 2020-2021 school year. Recent state legislation requires some school districts in the state with four-day school weeks to get voter approval before the 2026-2027 school year to keep it or else to switch back to a five-day school week.
The measure requires a simple majority to pass. If it gains voter approval, the district may keep its four-day week for 10 years, when the legislation would require the district to once again gain voter approval to keep its four-day week.
“The four-day week has really helped our students,” Massa said. “Staff really like it. It helps with our staff retention.
“We have proved with the four-day week our (APR) scores have remained high in the county.”
Massa
Massa has worked in the Crystal City School District for 18 years.
“I have been a teacher, coach and administrator,” she said.
Massa is also a member of the Crystal City Council representing Ward 3 and is running unopposed for a new two-year term at the April 8 election. She said she intends to continue serving on the board if reelected.
“I’ll see how it goes,” she said. “I’ll play it by ear.”
Massa said she is a tried-and-true Hornet.
“Both my husband (Jacob Massa) and I are Crystal City High graduates,” she said.
Her husband is a Crystal City High School English teacher, and Taylor Massa said his employment with the district will not cause a conflict of interest problem when she becomes superintendent.
“He reports to the principal, not me,” she said.
Massa has a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in education (in curriculum and instruction) from Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis County, a specialist in education degree from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Ark., and she is working on a doctorate in educational leadership from Evangel University in Springfield.
She is certified to teach in Missouri and Arkansas.
Massa and her husband have two children, Luca and Lena, who both attend Crystal City schools.
Reiter
Reiter, 50, of St. Peters said she alerted the board last autumn about her plan to retire at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
She said her long commute between her home and job was a major reason for her decision to leave her job at Crystal City, although not necessarily from education.
“The plan is to retire (as superintendent). I’ll likely work in education in another sector, such as consulting,” she said.
Reiter said she appreciated the time she has spent leading the school district.
“It’s been an amazing two years learning the community and serving the students,” she said. “I wish the Crystal City School District much success in the future.”