Metro-east superintendent moving from one district to another

After five years with Smithton schools, Superintendent Courtney Castelli will become the next superintendent of Roxana Community School District.

Castelli was officially appointed as Roxana’s new superintendent during the school board’s Nov. 25 meeting. She will begin her role July 1 and said she accepted the district’s annual salary offer of $155,000.

Castelli said the Smithton Consolidated School District 130 board will officially accept her resignation at a special meeting in December, at which point the search for a new superintendent will begin. She will replace current Roxana Superintendent Debra Kreutztrager, who is retiring at the end of this school year.

There are key differences between the Smithton and Roxana school districts — Smithton serves pre-K through eighth grade, while the larger Roxana district serves pre-K through 12th grade. Roxana also has a more racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse student body, Castelli said.

However, Castelli said that at the end of the day, the role of an educational leader is the same, regardless of the district.

“Your job is always, ‘Where are we now, what do the kids need, and how are we going to make that happen?’” Castelli said.

There is another similarity, Castelli noted: In both Smithton and Roxana, the community takes great pride in its schools and comes together to support them.

“That just lays such a wonderful foundation for doing educational work,” she said.

Castelli said she enjoys her current role in Smithton and was not actively seeking to leave, but the opportunity with Roxana came together by chance. She routinely receives emails advertising open education roles around the state, most of which are filtered into her junk folder, but she happened to notice one about the Roxana position. After learning more about the district, she decided to apply.

Castelli, who is originally from Belleville and lives in Columbia, began her career as a high school science teacher in California. After moving back to the area, she taught in several settings — including at a hospital for long-term care patients in Missouri.

Her administrative career began as a high school assistant principal in the Ritenour School District in St. Louis. She and her family then moved to Columbia, where she served as the middle school assistant principal and later as the district’s assistant superintendent. Becoming Smithton’s superintendent was a natural next step, Castelli said.

As of Thursday, a date and agenda for Smithton school board’s special December meeting had not been posted online.