LP_111518

4 | November 15, 2018 | The Lockport Legend news
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Jessie Molloy
Freelance Reporter
Will County School District
92 has reopened its
search for a new superintendent.
After choosing not to renew
its contract with former
Superintendent Peter
Sullivan at the end of the
2017-2018 school year, the
district named Assistant Superintendent
for Curriculum
Mark Flemming as interim
superintendent and contracted
with the Illinois School
Board Association to find a
permanent replacement. The
new superintendent would
begin in the 2019-2020
school year.
However, after reviewing
an initial candidate pool of
more than 30 applicants and
conducting interviews with
six individuals, the school
board opted to pass on all the
candidates and open up the
application process again.
District 92’s Teachers
Union President Kyle Jacobson
said the union had
been asked for input about
what they were seeking in a
new superintendent before
the search process began
last spring, and that new input
was requested at the end
of October for the second
round of searches.
Jacobson said he compiled
his own survey of the
union members’ feelings toward
the district and school
administrations, which produced
mostly positive feedback,
and is distributing a
repeat survey of what to look
for in a new superintendent.
Jacobson says a meeting
was scheduled for Oct. 31
for the union leaders to discuss
the first survey regarding
the administration with
the president and vice president
of the school board.
“Then, on the 30th, I got
an email from the vice president
[Tim Houlihan] saying
they had invited all the union
members and pushed the
time back,” Jacobson said.
About 50 people attended
the meeting on Oct. 31 at its
new time, including board
secretary Doreen Sweis
and another member of the
Board of Education, a situation
Jacobson called “questionable,”
since the board
had quorum, without giving
any public notice.
The meeting generally
produced positive feedback,
as did his survey, which was
completed by about half of
the union’s 130 members.
According to Jacobson, 70
percent of the respondents
said they feel comfortable
with their supervisor, and
between 50 and 60 percent
of the respondents said they
feel positively about the administration’s
use of the staff
time and resources, implementation
of the district’s vision
and mission, respect for
employees, professionalism
and integrity.
“I don’t know why they
changed the meeting, but I
feel like the board is being a
little disingenuous,” Jacobson
said. “We would like a
little more transparency in
this process.”
Jacobson sent the results
of his survey to the school
board and is in the process
of compiling the results of
the second round of surveys
seeking qualities desired in
the next superintendent.
The board was to discuss
the next round of candidates
at its Tuesday, Nov. 13 meeting,
though most of the discussion
was to be held in
closed session to protect the
privacy of the candidates.
“Most of these candidates
have other jobs, and they
don’t necessarily want their
current employers to find out
they’re looking elsewhere,”
Board President Mike Messina
said.
Addressing the topic of
transparency, Messina said
the first round of candidate
interviews were attended
by union representatives, as
well as a community liaison.
He also said transparency
was the reason for opening
up the union meeting to include
all the teachers.
“A lot of teachers who
aren’t in the union leadership
wanted to attend that
meeting and give their input,”
he said. “Some of
them don’t feel they’re being
completely represented,
and we wanted to make sure
their voices were heard.”
Messina said the board
hopes to move forward with
a final superintendent candidate
by January.
“We had a variety of candidates
from different backgrounds
the first time, but
we don’t think they quite fit
the criteria we had set,” he
said. “We’re just trying to
find the best person for the
district.”
He also noted that the
reason for Sullivan’s contract
not being renewed was
because “the board felt he
wasn’t the best fit.”
Jacobson was to present
the board with the findings
of the preferred qualifications
survey at the Nov. 13
meeting.
“I’m not sure what’s going
to happen, but the community
should know what’s going
on so we can get what’s best
for the students,” Jacobson
said. “We just want this to be
a clear-cut, open and ethical
process.”