UPDATE: Hazelwood School District Appoints New Interim Superintendent

The (HSD) Board of Education announced Friday afternoon that there’s a new interim superintendent that will lead the district.

The board has appointed Dr. Grayling Tobias as interim superintendent and Ingrid Clark-Jackson as the interim associate superintendent. The changes are effective immediately.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the board of education made the decision Thursday night, Diana Gulotta, a district spokesperson said.

served as superintendent of the district since July 2010. That year, the Board approved a three-year contract with an annual salary of $235,000.

Price had previously served as superintendent in Middletown City Schools in Ohio. According to the Post-Dispatch article, he left after a separation agreement, where he resigned two years before his contract expired. The district agreed to pay him $10,417 a month for 12 months.

“We appreciate all of the hard work our staff is doing to assure the success of our students, and our Board of Education shares that same commitment to our students,” said Cheryl Latham, president of the HSD Board of Education, in a press release. “We have entrusted the leadership to Dr. Tobias and Dr. Clark-Jackson and are confident our district will continue to move forward. The Board of Education, in partnership with Dr. Tobias, Dr. Clark-Jackson and the rest of the Learning Leadership Team, will re-examine and review all improvement plans as we move forward.”

In the press release sent out this afternoon, the board has decided that new leadership is needed for the district at this time.

Tobias has worked in HSD for the past 10 years, previously serving as director of secondary education and assistant superintendent for accountability. He has more than 25 years of experience in education.

Clark-Jackson has worked for more than 30 years in education and has been serving as the assistant superintendent for human resources for HSD.

“It is an honor and privilege to serve our students and this community,” Tobias said. “We want to let our Board of Education, community, and our staff know that we are not going to let our students down. We want to reassure everyone that we will continue to move forward. We have trust and confidence in the people who work closest to our students and I know that our students will succeed at high levels.”

We'll be updating this story as we gather more information.