D113 Wants New Superintended by Jan. to Help with Principal Searches at DHS, HPHS

District 113’s school board hopes to have a new superintendent under contract by January so that he or she can help chose new principals for Highland Park and Deerfield high schools in February and March, according to an article in the Highland Park News.

Superintendent George Fornero, who had come under fire from parents who thought he forced out Highland Park’s popular principal Brad Swanson and otherwise showed bad leadership, announced this summer that he would be retiring early. Swanson left at the end of the last school year for a job at nearby District 225. The district also needs to hire a new principal at Deerfield High School and a director of student support services.

At a meeting last week, a small number of residents spoke up to ensure that the community had input in the searches and that the recruiters who were hired were not soliciting comments just for show, the News article says. They also wondered if hiring new leaders just before school board elections in the spring made sense.

You can read the full Highland Park News article here.