New principal at Blair Oaks High School

The Blair Oaks R-2 School District announced the hiring of a new high school principal on Wednesday.

Melinda Aholt will take over the position for the 2017-18 school year, after Principal Gary Verslues recently accepted a position with Jefferson City Public Schools as assistant superintendent of secondary education.

Aholt currently is the Osage County R-2 School District's high school principal in Linn. She has 21 years of educational experience and has been in her current position for two years, according to a news release from Blair Oaks.

Prior to Linn, she was at the Rockwood R-6 School District in Eureka for 19 years. She was assistant principal at Crestview Middle School for five years and taught language arts at Lafayette High School for 14 years.

She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, her master's from Lindenwood University and her doctorate from Maryville University.

"I am just really excited to get to know the people, the teachers, and how I get to start working with them," she said.

Aholt said she learned in Linn that a big part of getting students to succeed is parent and community involvement: "Us all working together really grows a really great child."

"I know that Blair Oaks has great support from the community," she added.

She resides in Wardsville with her husband, Clay, and stepson, Andrew.