D181 Names New Monroe Principal, CHMS Assistant Principal

The District 181 Board has named a new principal for Monroe School in Hinsdale and a new assistant principal for Clarendon Hills Middle School. 

Justin Horne, an Elmhurst father-of-two currently a fifth-grade teacher at The Lane School, will become the Monroe principal. Horne has worked at Lane since 2004, has coached the Clarendon Hills Middle School basketball teams for eight years and served three years as President of the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Teachers’ Association.

Horne also has a master’s degree in Educational Administration from Loyola University and a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

“I am extremely honored to serve the students, parents, and staff of Monroe School,” Horne said in a press release “With an all-star staff and supportive parent network, along with the outstanding momentum Ms. [Dawn] Benaitis has started, I know students will continue to grow and be successful at Monroe. I look forward to forming long-lasting relationships with the Monroe community in the years to come.” 

“Mr. Horne is an exceptional educator who demonstrates outstanding leadership skills, a child-centered focus, and a commitment to Monroe School,” Superintendent Dr. Renée Schuster added in the release.

Joni L. Sherman, a La Grange mother-of-two, will move from the assistant principal role at Pleasantdale Middle School in Burr Ridge to fill the same role at Clarendon Hills Middle School. Sherman has also previously served as assistant principal of La Grange’s Congress Park Elementary, and as a sixth-grade and fourth-grade teacher in La Grange.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to join the administrative team at District 181,” Sherman told the paper. “I look forward to working with the District in its vision of helping all students experience success and grow in excellence… I am excited to get to know the students and families of CHMS and to help all students experience success both academically and socially.

“[Sherman is] a proven leader with expertise in the improvement of instruction, particularly in the area of mathematics,” Dr. Schuster said in the release.