SCHOOL HIRES BUSINESS MANAGER

Louis J. Schultz School Principal Rob Huff has been hired as the business manager for Cape Girardeau schools.

Superintendent Dan Steska said the school board approved a one-year contract, with a salary of $64,000 plus benefits during a closed session meeting last week. Huff will begin his new position July 1.

He replaces Dr. Steve Del Vecchio, who resigned in April after holding the position for the past five years. Del Vecchio's resignation is effective June 30, the last day of the district's fiscal year.

Steska said Huff will bring a different set of qualifications to the job than Del Vecchio, who had handled the district's annual fiscal audit as an accountant prior to being hired as business manager.

Huff has worked within the district for 14 years. He was a Central Junior High math teacher from 1985-97 before leaving the district to serve as principal at Caruthersville High School for a year. He returned to Cape Girardeau in 1998 to become principal at Schultz.

He and his wife, Rose, have two children, Jordan and Noah.

Although Huff's background has primarily been in an educational setting, Steska said he is confident Huff is qualified to perform his new job duties. He cited Huff's undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics and a master's degree in education administration.

"It's hard to find someone who has both a business background in financial management as well as an educational background," Steska said. "He seemed to have a fairly close fit with some undergraduate study as well as his advanced degree in educational administration."

A committee of top administrators and building principals will begin interviewing employees this week who have expressed an interest in the principal's position at Schultz. If no applicant is approved, the position will be advertised.

Steska said the successful candidate should be able to move to another school in two years, when Schultz is scheduled to close. Voters approved an $18 million bond issue in April to finance construction of a new high school. The school is scheduled for completion in two years. The high school will become a junior high building for seventh and eighth grades; the junior high will become a fifth- and-sixth-grade center; and all elementary schools will house kindergarten through the fourth grades.

"We're looking at someone who can then possibly transition into either the fifth-sixth grade administration or the junior high administration, depending on the need in two years," said Steska.