CHERRY TWP — Moniteau School board said goodbye to four board members Monday night but welcomed its new superintendent one week before its new members gain their seats.

In a unanimous decision, the board hired Thomas Samosky as superintendent.

Former Superintendent Sean Arney submitted his resignation letter in September. His last day was Friday.

Arney, who joined Moniteau in 2017, is returning to eastern Pennsylvania for family reasons.

Samosky was offered a four-year contract through January of 2024 at an annual salary of $145,000.

“My only regret is that I won't get to work with that gentleman right there,” said Cecil Blauser, outgoing board member. “He's going to be amazing and take this district to the stars.”

Before Blauser's comments, board member Joann Duke thanked Blauser and the other three outgoing board members, Kathy McBride, Eric Anderson and Diane Hunter for their service.

“All four of you have been unreal,” Duke said.

“I'm very humbled and honored to be a part of this school district,” Samosky said.

Samosky has served as principal at Trinity High School for the last five years. He said he hopes to start in January.

Before Trinity, Samosky served a 10-year period as assistant principal and later principal of Chartier's Valley High School.

“This will be my first superintendent position,” he said. “I'm excited.”

Samosky said one of his immediate goals upon starting will be to listen to the opinions of students, faculty and staff about the future of Moniteau.

In addition to Randy Armagost, who returns to his seat post-election, incoming board members Mark Dematteis, Matthew Zietz, Jennifer Rottman and Michael Baptiste, will be sworn in next week.

Baptiste said he does not have an issue with Samosky, but would have liked if incoming board members had a say in the hiring.

“This is wrong,” Baptiste said. “There is no reason they couldn't have waited one week for the new school board members to come on before they did this.”

Moniteau Solicitor Andrea Parenti said the board started the selection process in September and had experience from selecting former superintendents.

“They did their due diligence,” Parenti said. “In the best interest of the children, they worked to act in a timely manner.”

McBride said the board made a good decision to bring Samosky to Moniteau, and he will have big shoes to fill after Arney.

“We were happy to have him. We'll miss him,” McBride said. “ We are super excited to have (Samosky too).”