Bayless Elementary Restructuring Under New Principal

At their regular meeting Wednesday the Bayless School Board approved a plan to restructure the district's intermediate and elementary buildings into Bayless Elementary, now serving pre-K through grade 5.

At the start of the school year, Bayless had an for pre-K through grade 2, an for grades 3 through 6, and a for grades 7 and 8. In March, however, the district voted to move 6th graders to the junior high building and recast the school as Bayless Middle School.

Now the district has finished its restructuring, combining Bayless Intermediate and Elementary into a single elementary school. The district said the move would improve administration and professional development in the district, but would not impact students significantly.

Heading the new Bayless Elementary will be Aaron Kohler, who will be filling the shoes left by Bayless Elementary Principal Gina Siebe—who is retiring—and Bayless Intermediate Pricipal Kim Stallons—who is moving to a new job in the Ladue School District.

Aaron Kohler has been in education for 17 years.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of Missouri – St. Louis and a Master’s degree in Education Administration from the University of Missouri – St. Louis.  Mr. Kohler also has an Education Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Webster University.  As a child growing up, he attended kindergarten at Bayless Elementary and lived in the Bayless School District until he was a teenager. 

With 17 years experience in education, Kohler is coming to Bayless from the Northwest R-1 School District, where he worked for the past 8 years as an assistant principal an principal. Prior to that Kohler worked in the Kirkwood School District at Nipher Middle School as an assistant principal and in the City of St. Charles School District at Jefferson Middle School as an assistant principal. He began his educational career as a math teacher at Oakville Middle School.

Kohler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s degree in Education Administration from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. He also has an Education Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Webster University.

Kohler grew up in the area and attended Bayless Elementary for kindergarten. Now he lives in Affton with his wife and four young children.

"I'm extremely excited," Kohler said about his new position. "I’m ecstatic that it worked out."

Kohler added that Northwest R-1 has recently gone through a similar restructuring, and he is familiar with the process.

"Our district has gone through that. I’ve experienced that. I think I would do a great job," he said.