West Leyden High School will have a new principal in the fall: Tatiana Bonuma, who’s been assistant principal at the school for eight years.
The Leyden District 212 School Board voted on Dec. 11 to select Bonuma; she’ll start the job in July.
Before coming to West Leyden, Bonuma worked as associate principal at Grayslake North Community High School, dean of students at York Community High School, and dean and ESL/bilingual chairwoman at Larkin High School. Before that, she taught English as a second language and Spanish at Elgin School District U46.
Bonuma earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing, international studies and Spanish at the University of Dubuque, a master’s in secondary education, business and social studies from Roosevelt University, and a doctorate in educational administration from Aurora University.
Born in Brazil, she speaks Portuguese, Spanish and English.
About 40 people interviewed for the principal position. Five semifinalists were chosen and underwent two rounds of interviews with administrators, students, teachers and support staff.
“I do a lot of interviewing myself, so I’ve been on the other side of the table many times,” said Bonuma, though she added, “it’s kind of nerve-wracking when you go through it.”
Bonuma said that West Leyden High is in good shape and it’s more a matter of “refining” efforts than creating new ones. Areas like professional development for teachers and how students respond to interventions could be refined, she said.
“We were looking for someone who understand the needs of our students for whatever future they choose: college, career, military opportunities,” said Superintendent Nick Polyak. “She already knows Leyden. People respect her. She has the next six month to work on the transition.”
Polyak, however, only gets a few days off. Next week, the district will post the position of assistant principal at West Leyden.