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6 | May 17, 2018 | The Homer Horizon news
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Will County School D92 Board of Education
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OPPORTUNITY
Fleming receives appointment to
become interim superintendent
Final successor
for position will be
named later this
year, per timeline
Abigail Hart
Freelance Reporter
The Will
C o u n t y
School District
92 Board
of Education
officially appointed
Mark
Fleming, currently
the
Fleming
district’s assistant superintendent
for curriculum and
instruction, to be the interim
superintendent at a special
Thursday, May 10, meeting.
The interim appointment,
confirmed in a 5-2 vote,
comes after board officials
decided to not renew Superintendent
Peter Sullivan’s
contract in late January. The
board is currently working
with the Illinois Association
of School Boards to find a
permanent replacement for
Sullivan.
“We were limited to the
number of candidates provided
by IASB, and, after
interviewing them, we did
not feel that any provided fit
what the board was looking
for in a full-time superintendent,”
said Mike Messina,
president of the School
Board.
Following the board’s
decision to discontinue Sullivan’s
$163,777 contract,
some teachers and parents
from the district at the time
initially voiced concerns
over a lack of communication,
as Sullivan and the
board both did not provide
detailed reasoning as to his
departure.
“We decided to move on
after discussions with the
board and Dr. Sullivan,”
Messina said. “It was nothing
personal.”
Sullivan sent out a statement
to district staff following
the original decision,
saying, “Mike Messina and
I wanted to share with the
District 92 community, faculty
and staff that I will not
be returning as superintendent
at the end of the school
year. After lengthy discussions,
the decision has been
made to not extend my contract
beyond June 30, 2018.”
Fleming, who is currently
in his fourth year with the
district, previously served
as principal at both Haines
School and Oster-Oakview
School, which are each in
New Lenox School District
122, for nine years. Fleming
is also camp director of
Joliet Royal Family KIDS
Camp, a free, weeklong
summer camp for abused
and abandoned children.
“My objective is to continue
carrying forward excellence
within the district,”
Fleming said of what he
hopes to bring to the role.
Fleming told The Homer
Horizon that he applied to be
the permanent superintendent
and would be interested
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in the position, but that it ultimately
is a board decision.
“The Will County School
District 92 Board has the utmost
confidence in Dr. Fleming
and his ability to lead the
school district as acting interim
superintendent, which
will allow the board to focus
on the search process to secure
a permanent superintendent,”
Messina said in a
press release issued Friday,
May 11.
At its special meeting, the
board also approved a new
2018-2019 timeline provided
by IASB for the continued
superintendent search.
According to this timeline,
the position will be listed on
IASB and Illinois Association
of School Administrators
websites on Aug. 15,
with Oct. 2 being the final
date for superintendent candidates
to apply. The board
then hopes to conduct initial
interviews that same month,
with site visits to occur in
November and December.
If all goes according to
plan with the new timeline,
the board would appoint a
new, permanent superintendent
by the end of November
or in December. Their employment
would then commence
on July 1, 2019.
IASB’s original timeline
was set to have a permanent
appointment by this July.
Instead, Fleming’s interim
appointment will become effective
July 1, as the search
for a permanent replacement
to Sullivan continues.