Elmhurst Principal's Hiring Delayed At Last Minute

ELMHURST, IL – The Elmhurst School District 205 board was set to approve a new principal for Jefferson Elementary School at its meeting Tuesday.

At the last minute, though, board President Kara Caforio pulled the item from the meeting agenda. She did not explain why.

In response to an inquiry, district spokeswoman Tonya Daniels said the board removed the item because the district needed to complete the "on-boarding process" for the prospective principal before the board's vote.

On-boarding is when an employer integrates a new employee into an organization.

For the Jefferson position, the district interviewed 51 candidates and interviewed 14, Daniels said.

Last month, the board approved Jefferson Principal Christina Podraza's resignation as part of a package of personnel actions.

The district said Podraza made the career decision because she was prioritizing her family.

According to Podraza's LinkedIn page, she started as Jefferson's principal in 2019. Before that, she was the interim principal at Elmhurst's Emerson Elementary for a few months.

She was an assistant principal in the district from 2017 to 2019, according to her LinkedIn page.