New D-205 Leader Starts With Upbeat Message

ELMHURST, IL — Keisha Campbell, the new superintendent of Elmhurst School District 205, officially started Thursday.

But she had already been working for the district over the last month under the terms of a transitional services agreement. Before her first day, she had visited all 13 school campuses.

On Thursday, the district released a nearly three-minute video of Campbell in which she gives a positive message and uses the motto, "Forward together."

For the last three months, Linda Yonke, a former York High School principal and former New Trier High School superintendent, served as interim superintendent. She replaced Dave Moyer, who had been superintendent for six years.

In January, Moyer announced he was leaving Elmhurst to take a superintendent's job in New York in July. In late March, the district announced Moyer was leaving March 31, three months early. This was days before the April 6 school board election and shortly after protesters outside a school board meeting chanted, "Moyer must go!" He was seen as the impediment to a return to in-person learning.

In her video, Campbell was upbeat about how the district handled the pandemic, saying she wanted to take time to celebrate a victory from the 2020-21 school year.

"This spring, Elmhurst D-205 was a leader in getting students back in the buildings and ending the school year with the vast majority of our students experiencing in-person instruction," said Campbell, a York High graduate. "As a community, we pulled together by taking personal and collective responsibility for keeping ourselves and others safe as we fought and continue to fight through this ugly virus."

She promised that District 205 would open in August as planned with five full days of instruction for all students.

"I am committed to our forward momentum," said Campbell, an Elmhurst resident. "The pandemic has been extremely hard, but we are stronger and more determined than ever to continue our legacy of excellence."

Campbell, whose salary is $225,000, was most recently the director of school leadership with the Academy for Urban School Leadership in Chicago. It is a nonprofit group with a network of 31 Chicago public schools with more than 16,000 students.

Campbell started with the academy in 2012. She was in charge of leadership development and school academic achievement in eight schools with more than 4,000 students.

District 205 has more than 8,000 students.