Niles Township High School District 219’s Board of Education voted 4-1 at its April 7 meeting to cut seven administrator positions and create four assistant principal positions.
The move followed Superintendent Tom Moore’s earlier announcement that the district has a greater percentage of administrators per student than surrounding districts, and a desire to be more efficient with taxpayer dollars.
“When I was recruited and hired as the superintendent here, one of the clear goals of the Board was to examine our structures and how many administrators we had,” Moore told Pioneer Press.
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“As I got to know the district, I not only wanted to reorganize to make our administrative team more efficient, but I also wanted to be sure that our administrators were a daily part in the lives of our students, and that, structurally, we were giving leaders the experiences necessary to advance in their own careers if they saw fit.”
The reorganization saves the district almost half a million dollars, he said, and of the seven positions that were cut, some of those staff accepted administrative jobs in other districts and the rest accepted teaching positions in District 219.
Moore brought up the topic of streamlining administration at Jan. 14 Board meeting, saying, “I take my responsibility to the taxpayers very seriously. They need to know that the money that’s being spent here is being spent efficiently. We shouldn’t be asking for more than we need at any given moment in time. ”
He also cautioned that financial times might get tougher.
Moore cited a 2016 President Donald Trump proposal to cut federal spending on education by 13%. The measure at the time failed.
“If a similar proposal was put forward, and I don’t know what will be put forward… I would say there’s a far greater likelihood that it would pass (now),” he said.
“As opposed to some districts, that would not be catastrophic or cataclysmic for us. But it would be less funding,” Moore said.
Moore said Moody’s downgraded credit rating for K-12 public schools for 2025 from stable to negative is “a pretty big deal, because it affects bond rates and it affects thoughts that are out there about K-12 spending in America.”
The cuts are for director positions of Operations, English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Physical Welfare, as well as the position of Chief Equity Officer. The district is also eliminating the role of a dean, which traditionally focuses on student discipline, and creating the positions of four assistant principals at each of its two large schools, Niles West and Niles North High School.
“You’ve given me a pretty distinct charge as your superintendent, to look at things and think of how we can do things better. Better sometimes means we do things more efficiently, ” Moore said.
Moore said the district has a one to 84 administrator to student ratio. Prior to the pandemic, the district had a one to 106 administrator to student ratio and the state average is a 1 to 136 administrator to student ratio, Moore said.
“Our administrators are not sitting around doing nothing. Our administrators are not not busy,” Moore said in his defense of the district’s administrators. “Nothing I am going to say is about an individual. We have very good people working for us. But we can’t get away from the fact that our administration by pure numbers — other administrations are doing it more efficiently, at the very least.”
Despite the role of the Chief Equity Officer being cut, Moore said it was not the district’s goal to not prioritize equity.
“This is in no way money saving. We’ll invest the exact same amount of resources, if not more in equity next year. I give you my word,” Moore said.
“Our equity work is about our family. Our equity work is about our kids. Our equity work is about staff. Our equity work has to be housed in the building, because the buildings have unique needs,” Moore said. “Every bit of research says that the principal is the leader. The principal is the voice, the fulcrum for change and accountability, because they’re there living it everyday.”
“I’ve got to break the silo… (the) same amount of money will be spent (on equity), I just want to spend it more efficiently,” he said.
Some of the deans at Niles West and Niles North will remain at their schools as assistant principals.
“Discipline can’t be siloed,” Moore said. He said currently, deans navigate a nebulous system of bureaucracy in their work to meet students’ needs.
Moore said the assistant principals will take over some of the dean responsibilities while also taking on new ones.
Assistant principals will transition to follow each grade as they progress to graduation, he said. They will handle student discipline, but also evaluate curricula and assist in planning grade-specific activities and being present at grade-specific events.
The new system will create a chance for assistant principals and students to know each other, as they plan for college, graduation, sports and arts, while also giving assistant principals meaningful experience through the cycle to make the next move in their career as well, he said.
The role of associate principals will stay the same, according to Moore.
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The following individuals were named as having new roles in the district. They will begin their role on July 1.
- Sarah Kowalski, Director of Finance and Operations
- Brian Weems, Director of Niles Central High School
- Jaclyn Sanabria, Assistant Director of Transition Services
- Sarah Long, Niles North Associate Principal for Curriculum
- Catherine “Katie” Kannokada, Niles North Assistant Principal
- Kosta Kougias, Niles North Assistant Principal
- Matthew Krueger, Niles North Assistant Principal
- Dianna Yu, Niles North Assistant Principal
- Verneisha Gair, Niles West Assistant Principal
- David Hawk, Niles West Assistant Principal
- Tanya Kennedy, Niles West Assistant Principal
- Andrew Sinclair, Niles West Assistant Principal
- Priya Amin, Director of Social Studies – North and West
- Joe Collins, Director of Physical Welfare – North and West
- Britt Czupryna, Director of Science – North and West
- Sara Klos, Director of English – North and West
- William Shanahan, Director of Multilingual Learners – North and West
- Jody Trapani, Director of Mathematics – North and West
- Natalie Hoss, Niles North Student Activities Director