The District 200 high school board has begun looking for outgoing Supt. Steven Isoye’s replacement. Isoye was hired by Niles Township High School District 219 on May 19 to become that district’s new superintendent.
At a May 26 special meeting, D200 board members heard proposals from the search firms BWP & Associates and School Exec Connect but opted not to hire either firm.
The board will reconvene a special meeting next week to decide whether they should pursue the search for an interim superintendent in-house or contract the responsibility out. They’ll also consider several other search firms for the job of finding Isoye’s permanent replacement.
According to board members, the district has roughly five weeks to hire an interim superintendent, a position the district could possibly fill on its own with the assistance of a database of potential candidates for the job provided at no charge by the Illinois Association of School Boards. According to board President Jeff Weissglass, the list comprises around 100 retirees across the state.
At the May 26 meeting, many board members expressed reservations about what they described as the administrative search firm industry’s troubling “oligopoly” and seemingly entangled nature. According to district officials, three search firms do 95 percent of the searches in Oak Park school districts.
School Exec Connect, which offered to conduct a search for both the interim and the permanent superintendent positions at a cost of $19,500, not including expenses, conducted the search that led to Isoye’s hiring six years ago and, according to officials, also conducted searches for several other administrative positions in the district.
BWP, which also offered to conduct both searches, at $20,000, not including expenses, conducted the search that led to the hiring of Attila Weninger, Isoye’s predecessor, in 2007. Weninger announced his retirement in 2009 after he wasn’t offered a contract extension.
Among the board’s main criteria for selecting superintendent search firms is that they have some experience and expertise in searching for personnel capable of dealing with the high school’s historical equity and achievement issues.
New tech, book fees
At a May 26 regular meeting, the District 200 school board took action on long-anticipated changes in some fee structures at Oak Park and River Forest High School. The board voted unanimously to reduce the $320 fee charged to most families for students’ textbooks by roughly 16 percent to $268 next school year and to keep registration fees at the same level they’ve been since the 2010-11 school year.
The board also voted 4-2 in favor of a new $50 technology fee to help offset the costs of a program that would put Google Chromebook laptops into the hands of all students next school year. Board members Fred Arkin and Tom Cofsky voted against the measure.
District officials explained that the $50 tech fee would act as an incentive for students to maintain the devices, which they would be required to use throughout high school for everything from homework assignments to in-class instruction.
Some board members indicated that the fee, which would only apply to the 2016-17 school year, may be subject to change in the future. Cofksy said he’d rather either students not be charged at all for the laptops or that the fee be changed to a deposit, so families could receive the money back if the students maintain the laptops and return them intact after four years. Several board members agreed.
“I see this as an expense the district should bear,” Cofksy said. “I think we’ve made great moves as a board in addressing some of the fee issues, and I see this as kind of going in the opposite direction.”
CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com
