Terri Bresnahan, Oak Park’s new elementary school superintendent, attended her first District 97 school board meeting as superintendent on Aug. 11 and it was one of the shortest regular meetings in recent history, lasting just over 67 minutes. Whether that is a product of it being a summer meeting without any public comment or an indication of things to come is yet to be determined but in her first superintendent’s report Bresnahan indicated that she wants to keep school board meetings moving along.
“We’re going to keep our board meetings really tight and succinct,” Bresnahan said during her approximately 15-minute-long superintendent’s report during which she reported on her first six weeks as superintendent and recent happenings.
Cheree Moore, school board president, said it was relief to finally have a permanent superintendent in place after having interim superintendents all last year after previous superintendent Ushma Shah suddenly and unexpectedly resigned last August for reasons that have never been explained.
“I’m so excited,” Moore said of having Bresnahan at the helm and a permanent superintendent on the job. “She jumped right in and her experience just like shines through. Like so many things that we’ve been kind of having to step in and do now I can tell that Terri’s here, I don’t have to worry about it.”
Bresnahan has brought a brisk, confident style to her new job.
“I’m always like ‘slow down,’” Moore said after the Aug. 11 meeting. “She’s very high energy, she’s amazing, she’s a hard worker, she’s compassionate.”
Bresnahan has been on the job in D97 since July 1 and was happy to finally have a school board meeting.
“It was wonderful,” Bresnahan said of her first meeting as D97 superintendent. “I’ve been eagerly anticipating the meeting so it’s nice to be here, be together, the opportunity to be with the board as a whole is something I look forward to.”
Bresnahan is beginning her 12th year as a superintendent and comes to D97 after 5 years as the superintendent in Elk Grove based Community Consolidated District 59 and 6 years as superintendent at Berkeley School District 97.
Bresnahan announced at the Aug. 11 meeting that D97 now has a presence on Instagram to spread the word about what is going on in the district. D97’s Instagram handle is @OakParkD97. D97 already had a Facebook page. She suggested that those who want to follow the day-to-day goings on in the district should check out the district’s social media pages.
“If you want to see all the wonderful, great pictures and video clips please make sure you’re following us on social media,” Bresnahan said.
D97 has hired an additional communications person, Oak Park resident Jamie Lavigueur, to help out chief spokeswoman Amanda Siegfried in the communications department. Lavigueur began work in July and launched the district’s Instagram page. She is the mother of two students who attend Lincoln School. She previously worked as the director of communications at St. Francis High School in Wheaton and at Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills based Community Consolidated School District 181.
Bresnahan greeted the entire D97 staff at the district’s first Institute Day on Aug. 24 which was held at Isadore and Sadie Dorin Forum at UIC so that the entire staff could assemble in one room. The first day of school for students is Aug. 26.
Who’s new at District 97?
In addition to Bresnahan and Lavigueur other significant new administrative hires this year in D97 include Curtis Alsip as buildings and grounds chief, Daniel Medina as tech director, and Luke Pavone as an HR director.
Alsip comes to D97 from OPRF where he served for three years as director of buildings and grounds.
Medina, who will work under Michael Arensdorff, the chief tech officer, comes to D97 from Park Ridge-Niles School District 64, where he served as district network manager and helped oversee the district’s technology infrastructure, systems and cybersecurity. At D97 Medina will lead day-to-day IT and security efforts, making sure tech systems run smoothly. He will also guide the district’s tech team and strengthen the district’s cybersecurity strategies to keep district data and systems safe and secure.
Pavone will work under Natacia Campbell Tominov, the lead person in HR and equity. Before joining D97 this summer Pavone served as director of human resources for the Will County Regional Office of Education. His career also includes leadership roles in Proviso Township High School District 209, Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 and Beverly Hills Unified School District in California.
Lee-Ann Roskoph, who spent the past 15 years serving as a popular administrative assistant at Lincoln, has been hired to be the executive assistant to the superintendent and school board secretary where she calls the roll, tallies votes and keep minutes. Roskoph replaces Lonya Boose, a long-time district employee who also held the title of the since eliminated position of Director of Human Experience.
Another administrative position that was eliminated this year was the Assistant Superintendent for Middle Schools post which had been held by Luis Fernando De Leon. Assistant Superintendent Patrick Robinson, who also served as interim superintendent from January until July 1, has assumed responsibility for both middle and elementary schools.
New school board member Vincent Gay, who was attending his first meeting as a school board member after being appointed in June to replace Becky Perez who resigned from the board, praised Roskoph.
“She worked at Lincoln when we came into the district,” said Gay, a former Lincoln parent. “In terms of, like, the best people we’ve ever worked with in the district Lee-Ann is on the Mount Rushmore in our family. You would call the office, she would know you by voice.”
Gay was welcomed to the board with tongue in cheek comment by Moore.
“It is thankless job,” Moore said. “You will probably hate all of us in a couple of months.”