The new superintendent of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 is now officially on the job. Terri Bresnahan began work in D97 on July 1. The D97 school board voted 5-0 to hire Bresnahan on Feb. 24. It is the first time that D97 has had a superintendent who was not an interim since Ushma Shah resigned unexpectedly last August.
Bresnahan comes to D97 refreshed after leaving her previous job as superintendent of Elk Grove based Consolidated School District 59 in late March by mutual agreement with the D59 school board after the D97 school board voted to hire Bresnahan.
Bresnahan had been a controversial superintendent for nearly five years and last year Bresnahan and the D59 school board mutually agreed she would leave D59 when her contract ran out this year. Bresnahan’s proposal to create grade level schools, different schools for kindergarten through second grade and another school for third through fifth grade, generated strong opposition and was ultimately not approved by the school board.
But now a rejuvenated and refreshed Bresnahan, coming off some travel and time with her family, is getting to work at D97.
“I felt very prepared, rested and ready for my return to full time work on July 1,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan also spent some time in Oak Park in recent months familiarizing herself with D97, a process that is continuing in her first two weeks officially at the helm.
Bresnahan met individually with each member of the district’s leadership team, met individually with school board members, participated in a panel discussion on women in leadership at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School, participated in planning meetings, and attended a teacher leader meeting on the day after the final day of school. Per her contract Bresnahan was paid at an hourly rate commensurate with her $270,000 annual salary for the time she spent in D97 before officially starting work.
Since she started officially as superintendent Bresnahan has been continuing to familiarize herself with the district. She is in the process of going out to all 10 schools in the district to meet with each school’s principal and assistant principal as well as getting a look at summer construction and maintenance projects.
Bresnahan said she has received a warm welcome from the D97 staff that she has met thus far.
“Everyone has been very welcoming which has been wonderful,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan has also participated in a meeting with the top staff of the other governing bodies in Oak Park. On July 8 Bresnahan took part in the reading of the Declaration of Independence at Scoville Park to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding document. She also visited the last day of D97’s extended school program to watch and participate in a talent show. Bresnahan and assistant superintendent Patrick Robinson tried to keep balloons in the air as long as possible as their part in the talent show.
Bresnahan, who had a strong equity focus in D59, said she has no great plans that she is looking to implement in her first year in D97. Rather she said she is focusing on providing consistency and positivity while getting to know the district’s employees and programs.
“Right now my focus is on building those relationships and really learning,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan is an experienced superintendent having served as the chief of Berkeley School District 97 for a little more than six years before her nearly five years as the superintendent at D59.
Bresnahan said she is fine with where D97 has came out in terms of two hot button issues, screen time for elementary school students and the 8th grade class trip, raised by some parents this spring.
Bresnahan, who served as the director of technology in two school districts before becoming a superintendent, said she supports the district’s balanced approach to the use of screens and technology.
“I plan to be actively involved with both our teaching and learning team as well as our technology team so that we can really support our staff in understanding that balanced approach to technology as well as being prepared and positioned for new and upcoming technologies like AI and things like that and how do we address that in our policies and practices,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan said she was impressed with way district staff has worked with parents expressing concerns about screen time for their kids.
“I’ve been really impressed and proud of the partnership and collaboration between our staff and our community members to kind of really open the discussion and have some honest conversations around what do we see as priorities, what do we see as impacts on our students and how to we really ensure that we are meeting the 21st Century needs of our learners while also understanding the potential impacts of screen usage,” Bresnahan said.
On the issue of whether there should be a district sponsored eighth grade class trip to Washington, D.C., which some support, Bresnahan said she agrees with the policy set by the administration, announced in early June, not to have district sponsor out of state overnight trips for eighth graders although the district is willing to work with parents who might choose to fund and run such a trip.
“I respect and honor the work that has come before me,” Bresnahan said. “I think where we landed is a place where we can be supportive partners but I would really like to focus on our instructional time with students and appreciate other entities and parents and families that can support those extra-curriculars for our students.”
Bresnahan will work closely with Robinson who served as interim superintendent for the past six months as well as doing his regular job as assistant superintendent for elementary schools. With the elimination of the position of assistant superintendent of middle schools Robinson’s new title will be assistant superintendent of schools.
“Being able to transition with someone who is still here internally is a gift,” Bresnahan said. “We are both very collaboratives and I appreciate his historical knowledge and expertise.”
Equity has been a passion for Bresnahan. It was the motivating factor for her plan to create grade level schools in D59. Equity is a perennial issue in Oak Park.
In the latest school report card there was a nearly 40 point gap in the proficiency rate in English Language Arts between low income students and their better off peers. The gap in the ELA proficiency rate between white and Black D97 students was 38 points. In math the gaps were even wider with the proficiency rate for low-income students being 43.3 points below the rate for better off students and the proficiency rate for Black students being 46 points lower than that of white students.