The recently vacated position of Columbia Middle School principal was filled during the Columbia School Board meeting on Thursday night.

Dawn Mueller was hired to take the position of previous principal Angie Huels, who recently left to serve as principal at Gardner Elementary.

Mueller said she is originally from Highland but moved to Columbia when she got married to her husband, who now serves with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.

Mueller’s previous experience includes 12 years as a teacher at Grant Middle School in Fairview Heights, three years as assistant principal at Central Junior High and West Junior High in Belleville District 118, and time as principal at Marissa Junior/Senior High School since 2020.

The new CMS principal said she looks forward to having a position closer to home. Mueller added that her experience as a teacher for grades 5-8 should make the middle school principal position a good fit for her.

“I’m just excited for all of the possibilities, all of the new ideas that I can bring to the table as well as continuing on with the Columbia traditions,” Mueller said. “I just want to make school a fun place for kids and adults to be and just do what’s right for kids.”

Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode said he is hopeful for Mueller stepping into this new position.

“I look forward to her leading that building, her and Jake Elliot a team, and it’s gonna be a great year,” Grode said.

It will be a totally new administration this fall for CMS students and parents. 

Huels’ resignation from CMS came amid the resignations of multiple other faculty members since the 2021-22 school year and following the departure of CMS Assistant Principal David Ackerman earlier this year.

Confusion regarding the district’s sex education status was also addressed at Thursday’s meeting. The district will not be including new sex education standards into the curriculum.

It was explained that, as the district does not have a comprehensive sex education curriculum, the school board is able to opt out of adopting changes made through a sex education bill recently signed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

Thursday’s meeting also saw the acceptance of eight district resignations – two of which were not originally on the agenda — and several hirings including high school English teacher, CTE industrial arts teacher and high school special education teacher.

The board also approved various bids for school resources for the upcoming school year before discussing possible changes to address space and parking issues pertaining to Columbia High School, though no action was taken relating to the facility talks.

The next meeting of the Columbia School Board will take place Aug. 18.