Dr. Amy Dill, who has an administrative background in elementary education as well as special services, was able to combine both of her passions as O’Neal Elementary principal this year.
Dill, the wife of new superintendent Scott, was hired to succeed Angie Rideout, who has transferred to the Middle School to join the expanded administrative team there.
Dill most recently served as the director of special education at the Exceptional Child Education Cooperative, which oversees 13 school districts in Missouri.
“It was a big job and it was great, but I missed the kids,” Dill exclaimed. “I’m a kid person—I just am. I’ll always be a teacher at heart.”
She has previously served as a classroom teacher, counselor, special services coordinator and principal at schools across the region, for the past decade in Houston, Mo.
Having received her specialist and master’s degree in educational administration from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Dill defended her dissertation and earned a Doctorate of Education in October.
Coming from a smaller school system, she says she is a fan of the support programs available to families directly on the elementary school campus such as latch-key and the Boys and Girls Club.
O’Neal also houses the district’s special education programs for elementary students including SWIN, TRUST and FUN classrooms.