District 205 Educators Named as Curriculum Directors

ELMHURST, IL - The District 205 Board of Education approved current Hawthorne Elementary School Principal Nikki Tammaru as the new District 205 Director of Literacy, and current STEM Coordinator Dave Beedy was elevated to the position of Director of STEM Education.

The board unanimously approved both appointments at its April 25 meeting. Tammaru and Beedy will start in their new positions on July 1.

According to a release from the district, Tammaru has a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Eastern Illinois University and a Master's degree in reading and in adminstration from Northern Illinois University.

“Ms. Tammaru has a strong background in both literacy and leadership," Dr. Mary Henderson-Baum, Assistant Superintendent of Learning and Teaching said in a release. "Her passion for literacy is evident in her daily work. Her ability to plan and lead professional learning will allow us to fully support our teachers at all levels in our continued work to improve instruction.”

The district said that prior to coming to District 205 in 2011, Ms. Tammaru served as Assistant Principal of the Americana Intermediate School in Glendale Heights’ Queen Bee District 16 for three years. From 2000 to 2007, she was a reading specialist and literacy coordinator for Lombard Elementary District 44 for one year; she worked in Aurora West District 129 as a reading specialist for four years. Previous to that, she was a third and fifth grade classroom teacher for four years in Lyons Elementary District 103, where she also served as a Title I teacher.

Beedy has a Master's degree in Earth Science Education from the University of Illinois and a Type 75 in Educational Leadership from DePaul University.

"His leadership, initiative, and the quality of his work has been outstanding,” Dr. Moyer said in a release. “Mr. Beedy is an accomplished leader who, most recently, has led the curriculum development team for our revised math curriculum. He is highly collaborative, seeks to build consensus and has worked to open access to challenging curriculum for all learners. He is consistently recognized by teachers in our district for his support, communication, and responsiveness to teacher questions and concerns.”

According to the district, prior to joining the Elmhurst team in July of 2014, Beedy served as Assistant Principal at Perspectives Charter School in Chicago. He was also the Science and Technology Instructional Leader there, and previously worked for Lake Forest and New Trier High Schools as a science teacher and Science Olympiad head coach.

The district said Beedy was one of 41 educators chosen by the State Board of Education to develop a model science curriculum based on the Next Generation Science Standards, which are connected to the Common Core Literacy and Math standards.

According to a release, the new directors will facilitate parent education, lead professional learning, supervise department chairs, other leaders and committee work, actively plan and coordinate curriculum development work, with a focus on interdisciplinary units of instruction, and play a more prominent role in the assessment development work in the District.

Photos provided by District 205.