Elmhurst District 205 Set To Pick New Superintendent

ELMHURST, IL — The Elmhurst School District 205 board is expected to select a new superintendent at its meeting Tuesday. It has given no clue on the person's identity.

Tuesday's meeting agenda includes an item "Approval of New Superintendent Contract."

In other states, including Wisconsin, Colorado and New Mexico, school boards are required to release the names of finalists. The idea is to allow the public to scrutinize the finalists' records and ultimately determine whether school board members made the right choice.

In Illinois, school boards have a choice whether to release the names of finalists. Virtually all of them choose to keep that information secret from the public, as did the Elmhurst school board. The argument for secrecy is that disclosure discourages candidates from applying because they fear the wrath of their current employers.

In Elmhurst, the board hired Oak Park-based School Exec Connect to handle the search.

Superintendent Dave Moyer had planned to leave the district June 30 to take a superintendent's job in New York State. But late last month, the board and Moyer entered a resignation agreement in which he would leave March 31, three months earlier than expected.

Former York High School Principal Linda Yonke, who helped with the superintendent search for School Exec Connect, was named the district's interim superintendent until the new one begins work.

Most superintendents start their employment July 1.