New Trier High School officials have chosen a familiar face, current administrator Peter Tragos, as the next superintendent.
At its Nov. 18 meeting, the District 203 school board unanimously approved the appointment of Tragos, currently the school’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. He is set to move into his new role on July 1, 2025 upon the retirement of outgoing superintendent Paul Sally.
“I recognize being superintendent is not a one-person job. To be successful requires collaboration and partnership with the Board, the administrative team, students, staff and the community,” Tragos said at the school board meeting. “I’ll continue to nurture those relationships and empower those that you know are essential to institutional success.”
Tragos has worked in education for nearly 30 years, starting his career as a teacher at Kenwood Academy in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
He was hired at New Trier as a social studies teacher in 1998 and then promoted to assistant principal of the high school’s Northfield campus in 2013, per New Trier’s website. Four years later, he moved into his current role, where his responsibilities include presiding over curricular initiatives plus faculty supervision, professional development and testing.
At the same time, Tragos has also been working on a series of programs as part of the high school’s strategic plan goals.
“Peter is an innovative thinker who has pushed us to consider how to prepare students not just for college or career but for a fast changing world that values collaboration, critical thinking, flexibility, respect for differences, civic responsibility and civil discourse,” Sally said.
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Tragos has also worked with prominent organizations such as the Carnegie Foundation, Aspen Institute, and America Succeeds Educational Advisory Panel on many public education issues, according to a school statement.
“What truly sets Peter apart is his wealth of durable skills. The warm empathy, humility, humor and curiosity with which he approaches every commitment, personal as well as professional,” Board President Jean Hahn added at the meeting.
Tragos is a Northfield resident, whose wife and three daughters all graduated from New Trier.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric, speech communication, and history from Drake University, a master’s degree in education and history from DePaul University, and a doctoral degree in educational leadership and administration from National Louis University, according to New Trier’s website.
The district is giving Tragos a three-year contract, through June 30, 2028, with an annual salary of $315,00 for the 2025-26 contract year.
After Sally formally announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2024-25 school year, the NTHS board retained an executive search firm to facilitate the process. Over the last few months, the firm received feedback from the greater community through 21 focus groups, five open forums, nine interviews and an online survey, according to the school.
A school spokesperson said the search firm presented 12 candidates to the school board for its consideration.
Sally is set to retire in June after 31 years at NTHS, 15 as a math teacher and 16 as an administrator.
New Trier has an enrollment of 3,658 this school year.