In what could be a first for Glenbrook High School District 225, both high schools will kick off the next school year with newly-hired principals.
Glenbrook High School District 225 board members on Wednesday unanimously approved the appointments of John Finan to Glenbrook North and Lauren Sternfield Fagel to Glenbrook South. Both hires are effective on July 1.
Finan is currently Glenbrook North’s associate principal for administrative services, responsible for the school’s operations. Fagel is now the assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, technology and assessment for Lake Forest Elementary District 67 and Lake Forest Community High School District 115.
Finan replaces principal Paul Pryma at Glenbrook North, who is retiring at the end of the school year after seven years in the job.
Fagel replaces principal Brian Wegley at Glenbrook South, who took a job as superintendent of Northbrook Glenview District 30 starting with the next school year.
Fagel, who graduated from Glenbrook North, said District 225 gave her and her siblings their starts in life.
“Now I will come home to pay it forward,” Fagel said.
Finan said becoming principal is something he’s pursued since the beginning of his career. As a new teacher at his alma mater, Fenwick High School, he was inspired by then-principal James Quaid, who was also associate superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Quaid is now principal and president of DePaul College Prep High School.
“He was just a great leader, and I think that was when I had the first inkling of what he wanted to be and do,” Finan said.
Superintendent Mike Riggle said Finan’s familiarity with Glenbrook North stood out during the hiring process, as did support from faculty and parents. “He’s someone they know for his talent and expertise,” he said.
Fagel “knows what it’s like to live and grow up on the North Shore and her experience at Mundelein High School gives her a good background for Glenbrook South,” Riggle said. “She’s very people-oriented, very student-oriented.”
Before coming to Districts 67 and 115 in July 2013, Fagel spent five years as principal of Mundelein High School. She was an assistant principal at Deerfield High School in 2007-08. She was also coordinator of the freshman academy program at Highland Park High School, where she began her teaching career.
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Fagel is working on a doctorate in education with emphasis in special education at Johns Hopkins University. She has Master’s degrees from Northwestern (secondary education) and National Louis universities. She was graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English and history from the University of Pennsylvania.
Finan has a doctorate from National Louis University; Master’s degrees in School Leadership from Concordia University and Spanish Studies from American University. He was graduated from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor’s degree.
Before coming to Glenbrook North, he had spent nine years at Harper College in Palatine as an assistant professor and associate dean of liberal arts. He was previously a Spanish teacher and athletic coach at Fenwick High School. He also taught Spanish in Hinsdale Township High School District 86 and at the University of Nevada, Reno.