La Grange Elementary School District 102 officials expect to sign a contract with a new superintendent this month, four months after announcing that the district’s top administrator was leaving at the end of the 2014-15 academic year.
School board President David May said on Monday that the board is in the process of finalizing a contract with one of more than 50 candidates who applied for the job this fall.
May said he could not reveal the name of the final candidate just yet but that he is currently a superintendent in a district out of state and has several years of experience as an instructor and administrator in Illinois schools.
In August, Superintendent Warren Shillingburg and the board announced they had agreed to part ways at the end of this school year. Shillingburg’s contract ends on June 30.
A firm hired to conduct the search for a new leader narrowed down the applications to seven candidates, who were then interviewed by the school board. Board members then chose three finalists who were interviewed by a committee of parents and teachers, as well as a group of administrators.
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The board chose its top choice during closed meetings last week, said Linda Hanson, president of Deerfield-based School Exec Connect.
“The board is really excited. We think we really got an outstanding new superintendent,” May said.
May said the board will likely need to schedule a special meeting sometime before Christmas to approve the contract. The school board’s next meeting is Thursday, but May said it was unlikely the contract would be ready for a vote by then.
“The candidate wants to know that he’s got a job and we want to know that we’ve got a superintendent so we want to move right ahead and get this taken care of,” May said, adding that the executive has experience preparing a referendum — one of the key skills the school board was looking for.
“Where he’s been he’s been innovative and (he has) real strong communication skills and processes which we thought was important,” he said.