Hermitage school directors filled the district's only remaining administrative hole for the coming school year Monday, hiring Robert Kwiat Jr. as assistant Hickory High principal.

Kwiat -- a sixth-grade teacher for the last eight years and an assistant varsity basketball coach for the last nine in Lawrence County's Neshannock Township School District -- was the fifth administrator hired since March and the second hired in the last week.

Kwiat, who assumes the post Aug. 1, will make $57,900 in the coming year. Kwiat was one of 15 candidates and one of seven who interviewed for the job.

Kwiat touted the district's curriculum programs and the high school renovation and construction project, saying the district was "on the move."

"The district has the best interest of the children at heart," Kwiat added.

Kwiat will assist Eric Trosch, who was hired last month as Hickory principal. The administrators, both about 6-foot-5, will be Hickory's "Twin Towers."

Kwiat, 32, and Trosch, 34, were basketball teammates for two seasons at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Kwiat, a Neshannock High graduate, earned a bachelor's in elementary education from Edinboro and principal's certificates and a master's in education administration from Youngstown State University.

Superintendent Karen Ionta said Kwiat and Trosch will make a solid team. Trosch has a background in guidance and Kwiat has one in instruction, she said. Both are former coaches and can relate well with students, she said.

"He (Kwiat) has good instincts and was an outstanding teacher," Mrs. Ionta said.

The high school has not had a full-time assistant principal since the 1999-2000 school year. The board was unable to nail down a replacement after John Camuso's resignation.

Trosch filled in as acting dean of students for the first half of last school year, and Jeannette Whitehead became interim assistant principal for the second half after Trosch was named interim Hickory principal.