I had the honor to be Principal of McClure for 3 years and Superintendent for 22 years. The biggest change is the district has become a more complex organization over the past two decades-plus. Technology is much more prevalent in our student and staff's everyday experience. Our levels of support, intervention, and extensions are greater than they were when I arrived in D101. And the levels of issues we need to address - social, emotional, tech-based, etc. - are much greater than those of the early-2000's. What has not changed through it all is a strange - and wonderful - ability to get past potentially bureaucratic barriers, with our adults really and truly focused on our students...each student. That "non-change" makes me very proud!
What impresses you most about D101 is the ability for the adults to really focus on each child. It is borne of a combination of having really caring people who make up D101, and those people are also very personally driven and they are bright. This combination is rare, and so great for the children we serve. That care of children AND being a place that continues to value constantly learning and improving....those are the two things that most impress me about D101. So, in the end....it is the people!
What are your future plans? Catch my breath during the months of July and August, and then figure out "what's next." I am looking forward to continuing to do something connected to education, connected to leadership, but right now I don't know what that will be. It will be exciting to try something different and new after such a long tenure in D101, but I look forward to it. And, I look forward to watching from an arms-length on the amazing things that this special school district (and its community) do for the children of our Village!
