Aptakisic-Tripp Elementary District 102 has selected Lori Wilcox as its next superintendent, its board president said.
“She’s just such a people person,” board president Ellyn Ross said. “Lori’s vision really matches our vision. She just exuded all of that.”
Superintendent Theresa Dunkin will step away this summer. Ross said the board began their search for her replacement shortly after the end of the 2014-15 school year. From a nationwide field of 53 applicants, the board interviewed seven candidates, brought three back for second interviews, and announced Wilcox as their decision last week.
“They just really represent who I am and how I operate,” Wilcox said.
She comes to District 102 after working her way up the ladder in several districts. Wilcox studied educational topics at the University of California at Los Angles, then earned a doctorate in education from National Lewis University.
She spent nine years in elementary classrooms in Highland Park, then moved into administration in Oak Grove and Barrington. Her current position is assistant superintendent for growth, talent and human relations in Lake Forest School Districts 67 and 115.
Ross said that as they got ready to post the job opening, the board polled teachers, parents and administrators at the neighboring districts for what qualities they should seek. The list, she said, exceeded 20 attributes, including someone who would empower other leaders, having high integrity and, as Wilcox put it, being “an instructional leader who remembers what it’s like to be a teacher.”
Wilcox said she got into education simply because she wanted to be around kids.
“I’ve loved children my whole life,” she said. “I knew I wanted to work with them.”
The district’s four buildings and present enrollment of 2,235 lead to a budget that has averaged $34 million over the last three school years, according to spokeswoman Vickie Walter. The existing district has been in business since 1955, when Aptakisic District 102 merged with Tripp District 104, according to Walter.
Wilcox will join District 102 on July 1. By then, the School Board hopes to have a new contract with the teachers’ union, Ross said.
Ross said the leadership will forge its next multi-year comprehensive plan, which they term a “strategic design,” in January, and that Wilcox will take part in those meetings.
“There’s not going to be any major issues when she walks in the door,” Ross said.
Twitter: @RonnieAtPioneer
More Top Picks Best Wrist Wraps For Weightlifting