Elmhurst Principals Feel Like Stepchildren: Consultant

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst School District 205's principals feel like stepchildren who are left out of the loop, a district-hired consultant said Tuesday.

Parents and teachers also believe principals are being kept out of the loop, consultant Linda Yonke told the school board.

"There is a perception that principals are not part of the decision-making process," she said. "The principals feel a little bit like a stepchild without a clear way to communicate with district office."

Yonke and others at Oak Park-based School Exec Connect are helping the district recruit a new superintendent to replace Dave Moyer, who is resigning in the summer to take a superintendent's job in Upstate New York.

School Exec Connect has conducted 23 virtual focus group sessions and received more than 2,400 responses to an online survey about the district and the public's views of an ideal superintendent. The board plans to choose a new superintendent next month.

About the principals' views, Yonke described that as an unusual result in her experience. Pressed by the board for clarification, she said there isn't much opportunity for principals to collaborate with central office officials.

"It's a big district with 14 principals. A meeting with them all is difficult. It's hard for them to leave their buildings," said Yonke, a retired New Trier School District superintendent. "Finding a way for a superintendent to build them as a team would be a really good goal for a new superintendent."

Tim Shimp, who also works for School Exec Connect, said communication was an issue with teachers as well.

"Internally, there's a sense that employees are receiving communications consistently at the same time as the community. They would love to see that change," Shimp said. "Again, whether that's reality or perception, it was kind of a common theme that came through."

School board President Kara Caforio asked whether that feeling existed before the pandemic.

Yonke said she and others asked forum participants that question.

"I think that it was an issue before the pandemic, but it was magnified by the pandemic. We heard from a lot of people from different constituencies," she said. "People know that this is a unique, very difficult time for leadership in school districts. But I think more effective communication would be helpful."

In at least one case last semester, the central office communicated with elementary school teachers about a major change before telling the public. It emailed teachers that it planned to end teaching elementary Spanish. After Patch reported on the communication, the district said it would launch a leak investigation, saying it was concerned about the "premature sharing of information."

Through a public records request in January, the district indicated it had reached no outcome in that investigation.