Oak Park School District 97 took another step toward choosing its next superintendent Oct. 28 with the selection of the Illinois Association of School Boards as its search firm.
According to a district statement, IASB’s executive searches team has more than 50 years of supporting school districts throughout the state, and “is known for its comprehensive, equity-centered approach to identifying high-quality educational leaders.”
“We appreciated hearing from several strong search firms but ultimately chose the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) because we felt they were the best fit to guide this important process for our community,” Cheree Moore, school board president, said in the statement. “IASB brings deep experience supporting Illinois school districts in identifying and recruiting outstanding leaders. Their team has a strong understanding of our local context and shares our commitment to equity and community engagement.”
The search is necessary because former superintendent Dr. Ushma Shah resigned Aug. 15 under undisclosed circumstances. Dr. Griff Powell and Dr. Patricia Wernet were named co-interim superintendents for the 2025-26 school year.
Community input is an important part of the superintendent selection process, the statement said. To that end, IASB launched an online superintendent search survey for staff, families and community members to share their thoughts on District 97’s strengths, challenges, and priorities for the future, along with the qualities they want in the next superintendent.
Next steps are clear. IASB is tentatively set to present survey results and draft an Announcement of Vacancy for board review on Nov. 18, with the position expected to be posted the next day. Focus groups with staff, families, and community members are anticipated in early December, and the board aims to conduct interviews in January 2026, with a new superintendent appointed by the end of January and beginning their tenure July 1, 2026.
“The board’s goal is to find a leader who reflects what matters most to Oak Park – equity, excellence and belonging,” Powell said. “We have a strong foundation of dedicated educators and supportive families, and they will be looking for someone who will honor that and continue moving the district forward.”
Whoever the new superintendent will be, they will inherit a high-performing district, judging by the results of the 2025 Illinois Report Card, released Oct. 30 by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Of the district’s 10 schools, five achieved Exemplary status – Irving (82.20 summative index score), Longfellow (85.31), Holmes (89.52), Whittier (86.18) and Beye (84.59) elementary schools. The Illinois Report Card awards schools that rank in the top 10% of the state as Exemplary, with the next 67% considered Commendable. Lincoln (80.60), Mann (80.48) and Hatch (72.64) elementary schools were named Commendable, along with Brooks (75.71) and Julian (70.30) middle schools.
“The recently released data from the Illinois Report Card gives us a meaningful snapshot of how our district is performing and what remains ahead,” Powell said. “We’re pleased that five of our 10 schools earned the Exemplary designation, which is a mark of strong performance under this statewide system.
“At the same time, it represents a moment in time – it doesn’t capture all of the teaching, learning, and innovation happening every day in our schools. Our focus remains on strengthening classroom instruction and improving the experiences of students who have been historically underserved. We’ll continue using the report card results as one of several tools to inform our school-level improvement efforts and to guide our work ahead.”
District 97 enrolled 5,501 students in 2024-25, 52.4% of which were white; 15.5% were Black and 15.3% were Hispanic.
District-wide, 72.4% of students were considered proficient in Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) testing for English/language arts, and 60.5% were considered proficient in math.
Like almost every other area district, chronic absenteeism is still challenging post-Covid. For District 97, chronic absenteeism, or the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of school days per year either with or without a valid excuse, checked in at 14.4%.
“Chronic absenteeism isn’t unique to Oak Park,” Powell said. “It’s a statewide and national trend with complex causes. We also know that consistent attendance is one of the strongest predictors of student success. Our focus is on partnership and working with families to identify what’s getting in the way of attendance and ensuring that every student feels like school is a place they belong.”