The St. Joseph School District Board of Education recently approved a number of hires in leadership positions throughout the District.
At Central High School, Jason Simpson has been selected to fill the open assistant principal role. Simpson is currently the activities director at Lafayette High School. He joined Lafayette in 2016 after teaching Business at Central for 11 years. Simpson rounds out the new leadership team at Central for the 2018-19 school year. Central recently announced Dr. Terri Godfrey as the building principal for 2018-19 and Dr. Kris Larson as an assistant principal. Neal Hook remains as the building’s other assistant principal. The St. Joseph School District’s Board of Education approved Simpson as assistant principal during executive session at Monday’s meeting. The search for a new activities director at Lafayette will begin immediately.
The Board also approved David Stroud as Central’s head volleyball and assistant wrestling coach for 2018-19. Stroud currently teachers English-Language Arts at Union Star High School. He is a graduate of Missouri Western State University with experience teaching in the St. Joseph School District at both Benton High School and Central High School. He will also teach Special Education at Central.
At Lafayette High School, Bart Hardy has been selected to fill the open assistant principal role. Hardy is currently teaching Mathematics at Lafayette and serves as the head football coach. He has been with the St. Joseph School District since 2005. Hardy fills the position left open after Dr. Ashly McGinnis was promoted to principal at Lafayette. The Board of Education approved Hardy during executive session at Monday’s meeting. The search for Hardy’s replacement as Lafayette’s head football coach will begin immediately.
The Board also approved Kevin Bristol as head coach for the boys’ basketball program. Bristol is a Special Education teacher at Benton High School. His coaching experience includes JV and freshman basketball at Benton and head boys’ basketball coach at Robidoux Middle School. Bristol will also teach Special Education at Lafayette.
At Benton High School, Kerstyn Bolton has been selected as head coach for the girls’ basketball program. Bolton is currently an assistant coach for the program. She is also a 5th grade teacher at Hosea Elementary School. Bolton will replace head coach Brett Goodwin. Goodwin was recently selected to fill the activities director position at Benton following the retirement announcement from Mike Ziesel. Bolton will retain her teaching position at Hosea, as well.
At Bode Middle School, Stacia Studer has been selected to fill the open assistant principal role. Studer currently teaches 8th grade English Language Arts at Bode and serves as a department chair. She has been with Bode since 2002. Studer also served as an instructional coach at Truman Middle School and has held numerous leadership roles with the St. Joseph School District and in the community. She will replace Janice Wing who recently announced her retirement.
At Lindbergh Elementary School, Eric White has been selected to fill the open assistant principal role. White currently teaches at Tiffany Ridge Elementary in the Park Hill School District. He also has experience teaching in the Excelsior Springs School District and the Independence School District. White has leadership experience at Tiffany Ridge Elementary where he served as principal during summer school in 2016 and 2017. He also currently serves as an assistant to the principal.
(Press Release)