NEW SCHOOL CHIEF NAMED AT MEADOW HEIGHTS

PATTON -- Duane Schindler, superintendent at Marquand-Zion schools and former high school principal at Oak Ridge, has been named superintendent of Meadow Heights School District.

Schindler succeeds Jerry Deardorff, who is retiring after 33 years in Missouri education. Deardorff has been superintendent at Meadow Heights for three years.

Schindler was selected for the post from a list of five finalists, said Meadow Heights Board of Education President Mike Reagan.

"Basically this is a career move," said Schindler, who has been superintendent at Marquand-Zion in Madison County for three years.

"Meadow Heights is a little larger school, about twice the population," he said. "I saw that as a challenge."

Meadow Heights is also closer to Schindler's home in Perryville.

Prior to becoming superintendent at Marquand-Zion, Schindler had served 20 years in the Oak Ridge school system in Cape Girardeau County.

"I've been familiar with Meadow Heights since my years at Oak Ridge," he said. "It seemed a likely fit."

He assumes the job July 1.

Greg Ellis, vice president of the Meadow Heights Board of Education, said Schindler has experience, which was a plus.

"It seems like he's helped the Marquand school grow," Ellis said.

Ellis said Schindler seemed honest, straight-forward and interested in the best interests of the school and students.

"I don't think he'll be pushed around, and I think he'll do what the board asks him to do," Ellis said.

Meadow Heights has experienced a growth in enrollment. It currently has 614 students.

"We're getting short on room and will have to look at an expansion sometime in the future," Ellis said. "Our classrooms are starting to be overcrowded. It's not bad yet, but we want to be prepared."

Schindler sees continued growth in Meadow Height's future.

He said: "I'd like to be a part of it. They are a growing district, and they're talking down the road about a bond issue. That's exciting to be a part of that."

Schindler earned his undergraduate, master's and specialist's degrees at Southeast Missouri State University. He and his wife, Karen, have three children.