In addition to the new students who will be starting school in River Forest Friday, District 90 will be welcoming a new spokesperson.
Tari Marshall, 56, started her position as the part-time communications and community outreach coordinator in early August. She takes over for Karin Sullivan, who became director of communications at Oak Park and River Forest High School in July. Classes resume at D90 on Sept. 7. Marshall said Sullivan spoke highly of the D90 job, which “made it easy to want to be there.” The two previously worked together at the National Parent Teacher Association in Chicago.
Originally the national PTA’s public relations director, Marshall later took over as director of communications in her nine years with the parent/teacher organization. As director, she wrote grants and managed the organization’s magazine. The La Grange Park resident also worked as a public information officer in Springfield, and served as the director of external affairs for Prevention First, a Chicago nonprofit resource center specializing in teen drug abuse prevention.
Her interests in education and children are “near and dear” to her heart, Marshall said, adding that her background working with schools and parents made the D90 job a natural fit. She has a 14-year-old freshman son and 17-year-old senior daughter at Riverside Brookfield High School, where she sits on the PTO board.
Currently, Marshall writes and does consulting work for libraries and nonprofits. She’s been updating D90’s website, working on its next newsletter and getting familiar with the Board of Education.”I’m really excited about working with District 90. They’re doing so many things well and are just so engaged in reaching out to the community,” Marshall said. Her new job, she adds, will allow her to help parents and students understand the value of great schools.
