Come July, Mehlville School District’s assistant superintendent of student services seat will be filled by a familiar face within the district: Tiffany Schwaegel, who currently serves as the Director of Mehlville Early Childhood. The current assistant superintendent of student services, Adam Smith, will retire at the end of the school year.  

Schwaegel has worked in public education for nearly 20 years, starting as an interventionist in Illinois. Throughout her career, she has had a heart for special education, which led to her later transitioning into the role of a special education teacher for Special School District of St. Louis County, with her work based in the Hazelwood School District. 

From there, Schwaegel worked as an area coordinator within Special School District. In that role, she says she was able to “observe and learn from” administrators across seven districts in the county. One of those districts was Mehlville. 

“While I was there, I created so many relationships with administrators across the district in Mehlville,” Schwaegel said. “I learned a lot and felt very quickly that my values were aligning with the district’s values. The next year, when an opportunity as a special education coordinator (through Special School District) came up the next year, I couldn’t pass it up.” 

She added, “I fell in love with the community here. I even moved my own family into the school district because I was so passionate about what the district was doing.”

Schwaegel worked as a special education coordinator through Special School District, housed in Mehlville, for six years before being hired as the Director of Mehlville Early Childhood in 2022. In 2025, she received her Doctorate of Education from Missouri Baptist University.

“Her work over the last several years has set Tiffany apart,” Mehlville Superintendent Jeff Haug said. “Whether it’s budget, data or instruction, she has done an amazing job. What she brought to Early Childhood — the stability and the growth — is what we’re so excited about.”

Though Schwaegel is excited to take on this new role, she says it will be difficult to say goodbye to her team in Early Childhood. According to Haug, when it was announced on Jan. 16 that Schwaegel would be accepting the assistant superintendent position, there were “tears and hugs” with her Early Childhood team.

Haug says that Schwaegel’s current role as Director of Mehlville Early Childhood has already been posted, and he hopes to fill the role and start the transition throughout the rest of the semester.

“There’s a lot of emotions tied with (leaving Early Childhood), because I have such strong relationships with our team here, and they’re such an amazing team,” Schwaegel said. “I’m just excited to be able to advocate for them and support them with a larger impact, and I’m hoping to take the things they taught me and use them district-wide.”

Haug says that Schwaegel has already earned the respect of their cabinet, and he expects the transition to be an easy one. She will start her new role on July 1.