R-XI Assistant Superintendent to Retire Next Year

Union R-XI Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Hope will retire next year after 11 years as a district administrator.

Superintendent Steve Bryant told school board members Monday, Nov. 19, that Hope would continue to work until June 30, 2013.

“Jennifer told me, ‘Don’t make a big deal out of it,’ ” Bryant said. “She says she’s good with this.”

Hope has more than 20 years of experience as an educator.

She began her career in the R-XI district as Central Elementary principal in 2002.

She began her career in education in Sullivan as a second-grade teacher and a special education instructor.

Hope also was a principal in the Washington district, at Fifth Street and Labadie Elementary Schools, prior to coming to work for the Union district.

She stepped into her current position, assistant superintendent, in 2005.

Hope, a Union native and member of the Union High School graduating class of 1984, holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in elementary administration from what is now Missouri State University in Springfield. She received her doctorate in educational leadership from St. Louis University.