As the school year comes to a close, Indian Prairie School District 204 is gearing up for a major leadership change.
Starting July 1, John Price — most recently North Chicago District 187’s superintendent — will be taking the helm as superintendent of Indian Prairie, replacing outgoing Superintendent Adrian Talley after his contract with the district expires.
That means Price has been busy splitting his time between North Chicago, finishing up his responsibilities as superintendent as the district works to select a new leader, and learning the ropes at Indian Prairie — meeting with the school board and district administrators, holding roundtables with principals and hearing from community leaders.
After a monthslong search process, Price was selected
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by the district to succeed Talley, who announced last year that he would not be renewing his contract with the district, though the school board offered to renew it. Talley has been the district’s superintendent since 2020.Price comes from a family of “preachers and teachers,” he said at a press event at District 204’s Crouse Education Center in Aurora on Friday, though he initially only planned to work as a volunteer teacher temporarily before heading off to law school.
A California native, Price started his teaching career at Our Lady of the Westside, a Catholic school in Chicago. But then he fell in love with the profession.
He went on to spend much of his career in Chicago Public Schools in various teaching and leadership roles, eventually serving as the leader of a network of its district schools. He then worked in Evanston as an assistant superintendent, and ultimately landed at North Chicago District 187 in 2017 as its superintendent. In 2023, he was recognized as Lake County’s superintendent of the year.
Price has lived in Chicago for more than two decades with his wife and two children, 22 and 19, per the district.
At Friday’s event, Price said he’s opting to switch districts because he was ready for a change, and ultimately stumbled upon the superintendent job opening at District 204 and became interested in the job.
While presenting new challenges and opportunities, Price also said some qualities of Indian Prairie are, in a way, familiar: its larger size is comparable to the area of CPS he oversaw, its high community engagement reminds him of his time in Evanston and his experience as the superintendent at North Chicago prepares him to oversee a district once again.
Among other efforts, Price is preparing to take the reins at the district via a series of surveys meant to help him learn about the community’s priorities, on the topics of mental health, equity and communications. The surveys are available on the district’s website at: https://www.ipsd.org/departments/superintendent-transition.
And he’s beginning to develop a set of goals for the district, particularly as Indian Prairie gears up to begin work on a new strategic plan next year, he said on Friday.
Among his goals are building relationships within and outside of the district, understanding the context of the community and the district’s place in it and having a strong understanding of safety and security in the district, he said on Friday.
He also pointed to priorities like investing in and supporting principals, expanding early childhood education opportunities and access and improving opportunities for disadvantaged students.
Price said he’s been impressed with district partnership for mental health resources and hopes to maintain and grow those partnerships, and also emphasized the importance of students feeling safe in schools and having extracurricular activities to participate in to cultivate connection to their schools.
He will also be taking over leadership of the district’s ongoing facilities overhaul. Price has previously pointed to his own experience overseeing major construction projects, with North Chicago 187 building two new schools under his leadership.
There will also be challenges he and the district will have to tackle.
Price pointed to impending financial concerns, indicating that the district will likely have to make some hard decisions in the future. That’s something he’s experienced before at his past schools, he said, saying such challenges require community engagement, early preparation and transparency.
Recruitment and hiring is also a major undertaking, he pointed out, and emphasized a need to hire as well as maintain institutional knowledge within the district.
And there are also broader educational challenges coming — like how the district should adapt to and handle the use of artificial intelligence, or AI.
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On Friday, Price voiced support for a conservative approach to the new technology, while also expressing support for helping district educators learn about opportunities to use AI. Still, using AI brings with it numerous questions, he noted: how it changes the software students use, its impact on student privacy and how the district can prepare students for the world as it is before they go off to college and the professional world.
As for what’s next for District 204’s outgoing leader, Stamford Public Schools in Connecticut recently announced that it has selected Talley as its next superintendent. He will be starting there on July 1, when his time at Indian Prairie concludes. Indian Prairie is holding a farewell reception for Talley at 4:30 p.m. May 20 at the Crouse Education Center in Aurora.
Price will officially take the helm at Indian Prairie starting July 1. For the 2026-27 school year, he will receive a salary of $335,000. His contract with the district extends until June 30, 2029.