With several school principals retiring in June, Indian Prairie District 204 has hired five people to fill vacancies in the 2023-24 academic year.
Daniel R. DeBruycker, assistant principal of Metea Valley High School in Aurora, will succeed Darrell Echols, who is retiring as principal in June.
DeBruycker was the high school athletic director before being tapped for his current assistant principal role and prior to that was the athletic director at Oswego East High School and assistant athletic director, math teacher and head boys’ basketball coach at Crystal Lake South High School.
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He has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Aurora University and a master’s degree in teaching from Webster University.
Tarah Fowler, currently the district’s director of middle school core curriculum, will become principal of White Eagle Elementary School in Naperville. She succeeds Mary Howicz, who is retiring in June.
Fowler has overseen middle school curriculum since being hired by the district in 2017. Prior to that, she was a principal at Oswego District 308, assistant principal and lead administrator at Bensenville School District 2 and, in Missouri, she was assistant principal for the Pattonville School District and an English language arts teacher in the Wentzville and City of St. Charles school districts.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University and master’s degrees in education and educational leadership from Lindenwood University.
Jill Keller has been hired as the principal of Georgetown Elementary School in Aurora, succeeding Janan Szurek.
Keller is currently principal of Cisneros Elementary School, a charter school in Chicago, where she previously served as assistant principal and teacher. Prior to that, she was a teacher at schools in Round Lake and Schaumburg.
She has a bachelor’s degree in education from DePaul University and a master’s degree in education-school leadership from Concordia University.
Rachel Witkowski, who has a 20-year tenure with District 204, will be the new principal at Graham Elementary School in Naperville, succeeding Claudette Walton.
Witkowski is currently student services coordinator at Peterson Elementary School in Naperville as student services coordinator and has also held various teaching positions at Graham Elementary.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Illinois State University and master’s degrees in education from National-Louis University and educational leadership from University of St. Francis.
Kate Kempski, student services coordinator at Brooks Elementary School in Aurora, will succeed Brian LeCrone as principal of May Watts Elementary in Naperville.
Kempski joined the district in 2007 and held a variety of teaching and interventionist positions at Peterson and May Watts schools.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Illinois State University and master’s degrees in reading and literacy from Benedictine University and educational leadership from Aurora University.
Joseph Ruzich is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.