West Iron County School Board to Post Single K-12 Principal Position

Stambaugh Elementary has had two principals in less than two years, and the West Iron County School Board voted March 17 to restructure leadership across all three buildings rather than post another single-building replacement.

The instability began when Michelle Thomson left the Stambaugh principal role in June 2024 to become superintendent at Forest Park. Her successor, Richard Spencer, was expected to remain through June but resigned effective Feb. 20, accelerating the vacancy that now sits at the center of the district's leadership debate. Trustee Mike Goriesky put the situation plainly at the March 17 meeting, saying the elementary school has not had "real great consistency" in leadership and calling the pattern "a revolving door."

The board's answer is a single K-12 principal position, paying between $101,000 and $111,000, who would oversee elementary, middle, and high school operations while mentoring two assistant principals, each assigned to one building level. Assistant principal positions are posted at $75,000 to $85,000. Rather than placing separate leaders in each building, the structure bets on one experienced administrator developing the next generation of leadership from within the district.

The board weighed two competing models during a March 12 work session before formalizing the K-12 structure March 17: two full-time principals supported by a shared assistant principal, or the single K-12 principal backed by two building-specific assistants. The second option carried. Middle and high school principal Mike Berutti, who presented during the work session, told the board he has "2-4 years to work" and wants a structure in place so "someone can slide into these roles" when he departs. Trustee Ryan Meske backed that framing explicitly, supporting a model where assistant principals develop toward permanent building assignments rather than the district recruiting from outside under pressure.

For families with students at Stambaugh, the structure has immediate Monday morning consequences. The assistant principal assigned to elementary will handle day-to-day discipline referrals, parent calls, IEP scheduling, and Title IX coordination, all duties listed in the posted job description, while the K-12 principal carries oversight responsibility across all three schools. The parent who calls after a classroom incident, or who needs to arrange a special education meeting, will most often reach the assistant rather than the top administrator.

The K-12 principal and assistant principal listings were posted simultaneously, with job descriptions that mirror each other in daily duties while explicitly adding a mentorship obligation to the senior role. Whether a single administrator can maintain meaningful presence across three buildings in a district where the applicant pool runs thin is the practical test the board has now set for itself.