07/02/2009

Associated Press

The superintendent of the Hazelwood School District has been chosen as Missouri's next education commissioner.

Chris Nicastro is to take over the state's top education job Aug. 1. Her selection was announced Thursday by the State Board of Education at an event in Jefferson City.

The 58-year-old Nicastro has led the 19,000-student Hazelwood school system in suburban St. Louis since 2002 and previously was superintendent at the nearby Riverview Gardens School District.

She is the fifth person, and the first woman, to be selected to lead Missouri's education agency since 1947.

Nicastro replaces Kent King, who died in January from cancer.