A middle school principal from Berkeley School District 87 will lead Oswego East High School in the coming school year.
The Community Unit School District 308 School Board approved the hire of Scott Savage on Monday. Savage’s one-year contract begins July 1. He will be paid $131,000 a year in his new role.
The district said Savage would work with interim principal Craig Watson “to ensure a seamless transition over the coming weeks.”
Oswego East has had a series of leadership turnovers in the last two years.
Watson has led the high school in an interim capacity since mid-January. Watson was hired after former principal Todd Martens resigned for personal reasons in January after a half-year on the job.
Martens replaced Louis Lee, who was hired away last year to serve as the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning at Indian Prairie School District 204. Lee led Oswego East for a year.
After Lee announced his resignation, several parents of Oswego East students asked the school board to hire a principal who was equally passionate, inclusive and representative of the district’s diversity.
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Prior to Lee, Jeffrey Craig served as Oswego East’s principal for five years through June 2013. Craig is now the superintendent of nearby West Aurora School District.
Since July 2012, Savage has led MacArthur Middle School in Berkeley, a school of about 500 where eight in 10 students come from low-income families and about nine in 10 are black or Hispanic, according to state data.
Oswego East is a school of 2,190 where about three in 10 students come from low-income families. According to the most recent state report card, more than half the student body is white, about 21 percent are Hispanic, 14 percent are black and 8 percent are Asian.
In a news release, Savage said high student achievement would be a top priority. He said he looked forward to connecting with students, parents and staff.
Savage is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and began his career in education 17 years ago as a high school social studies teacher at a Chicago magnet school. Over the years, he’s worked as a summer school principal, dean of students and a high school assistant principal, District 308 said in a news release.
Superintendent Matthew Wendt said in the release that Savage was the “right fit” for Oswego East.