HERMANN – Hermann Middle School Principal Matt Mueller will be moving to the Central Office this fall after being hired as the Gasconade County R-1 School District assistant superintendent.

The R-1 Board of Directors Thursday night in closed session formally hired Mueller for the second-in-command position. He will succeed Associate Superintendent Leslie Lause, who earlier this year was hired to be the new superintendent of the Grandview School District in Jefferson County.

Superintendent Geoff Neill said the job of middle school principal has been posted.

In other matters taken up during last week’s regular monthly session of the R-1 board, Vice President Jessica Armstrong was elected the new president, succeeding Jeff Englert who chose not to seek re-election this year. Veteran director Dot Schonning was elected vice president. She also will serve the next year as he district’s delegate to the Missouri School Boards Association and the Missouri Association of School Administrators.

Amy Grannemann, who won re-election to a second three-year term in the April 7 balloting, was tabbed by the directors to again serve as the board secretary. She also will continue as a district representative on the board of the Hermann Regional Economic Development (HRED) Corporation. Further, Grannemann will serve as the R-1 board’s liaison to the Memorial Committee. This is the group that considers applications for the annual Bearcat Memorial Award.

Newly elected R-1 Director Dawn Grosse was appointed as a representative to the district’s Alumni Committee.

Also receiving appointments were Executive Assistant Madison Miller as the board’s recording secretary and Bookkeeper Letha Sadler as the board treasurer.

Grannemann, Grosse and Chad Walton, who also serves as a Hermann alderman, were the winners of the three seats that were scheduled to be filled in this April’s voting. Rachael Brinker finished fourth in the race.

A bleak financial forecast

Meanwhile, Neill presented the board with a rather bleak financial outlook for the coming years as public education officials await the outcome of a couple of things: Legislation in the state capitql that would curb the amount of state dollars directed to local districts and a final ruling on the legality of Senate Bill 3 – a property tax-relief measure that was approved convincingly last week by Gasconade County voters.

Public education officials and county government administrators across the state are pinning their hopes on a favorable court ruling challenging several aspects of the law that essentially freezes the property tax on the primary residence of a homeowner 62 and older.

In last week’s voting, Gasconade County voters approved the property tax credit measure on an officially certified vote of 1,910 in favor to 1,135 against. If the law stands, it is set to take effect in 2027 and could mean the loss of an estimated $200,000 in revenue for the R-1 District. Coupled with the expected actions to reduce state funding, the R-1 District could see upwards of $1 million being lost in the next couple of years, officials predict.

“I think there are some hard decisions to be made ahead,” Neill told the board.