ETHS Superintendent To Retire At End Of School Year

EVANSTON, IL — Eric Witherspoon announced plans to retire at the end of the 2021-22 school year after more than 16 years as superintendent of Evanston Township High School District 202.

Witherspoon has spent nearly half of his more than three decades as a school superintendent in Evanston, he said at a board meeting Monday ahead of the approval of his notice of retirement, which is effective June 30, 2022.

"I know how many people count the days until their retirement," Witherspoon said. "But for me, this is bittersweet. Because while I certainly hear all of these things about, 'You've earned your retirement' — and I hope I have to be perfectly honest — I leave completely loving this school and this job."

Witherspoon, 72, previously worked as superintendent in Indiana and Iowa, where he was named the state superintendent of the year in 2002 before taking over as chief of ETHS in July 2006.

"I really do see this as the capstone of my career," he said. "I see this as where I was able to build on my past successes and my past experiences and come to a school district and really bring to fruition what I believe is important in a school — the equity mission, the antiracist mission, the making sure it's a school for all young people, making sure that there are not racial issues that hold some students back while they benefit others more disproportionately."

Board President Pat Savage-Williams said Witherspoon works tirelessly behind the scenes to improve academic performance. She noted more students than ever are enrolled in advanced placement classes.

"Under your leadership," Savage-Williams said, "ETHS has been recognized by the U.S. News and World Report and the Washington Post as one of the top 2 to 3 percentage of high schools in the country."

Earlier this year, U.S. News and World Report ranked ETHS as No. 41 in Illinois and No. 827 in the nation among public high schools, falling from 28th in the state and 773rd nationwide the prior year. The rankings formerly published in the Washington Post classified ETHS as the 767th most challenging high school in the nation in 2019, the most recent year available.

Savage-Williams said her fellow board members were deeply appreciative of Witherspoon's impact on Evanston as a whole.

"I feel like we've been extremely fortunate to have you as a leader in our district and in our community, and I could say so much about how you've transformed this district," she said. "You've demonstrated for our community, and for the country, how to identify and respond to institutional and systemic racism, what needs to happen, and we know that there are other agencies in our community that emulated the work that we've done here."

According to a retirement announcement from district officials, results of the ACT standardized test reached the highest level in the history of the school for nine consecutive years.

The announcement praised Witherspoon for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he "remained vigilant to offer high quality remote instruction."

ETHS was one of three suburban public school districts that did not offer any in-person instruction for most of the 2020-21 school year, according to a review of data submitted to the Illinois Department of Education and school district websites. The other two districts were in southern Cook County. Following spring break, the district began offering interested students one class on campus every two weeks over the objections of its teachers union.

The superintendent told Patch via email that he is sure he will remain an Evanston resident after his retirement.

"I look forward to being active in this community that I love so much and involved in service to our community," Witherspoon said.

Property records show Witherspoon and his wife, Cynthia, have owned a condominium in Venice, Florida, since at least 1993. In 2019, they purchased a single-family home, also in Sarasota County, for $300,000.

According to the most recent administrators' compensation report available from the one-school district, Witherspoon received total annual compensation of about $341,000 — plus a 23.25 percent annuity — during the 2019-20 school year.

The board unanimously approved a two-year contract extension with him in June 2018, but a copy of Witherspoon's current contract was not immediately available from district officials.

A civil rights lawsuit filed in August 2019 naming Witherspoon and ETHS Principal Marcus Campbell as defendants is likely to remain pending in Chicago federal court even after the superintendent steps down next year.

According to an amended version of the complaint filed earlier this year, Witherspoon was aware of "ongoing, persistent and widespread" sexual assault by security guards and that it was a "a well-known and open secret among all ETHS faculty and District 202 personnel, including Witherspoon and Campbell, that ETHS safety officers were inappropriate, unprofessional, and engaged in flirtatious behavior with ETHS students, and further engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with ETHS students."

Attorneys for the district have denied wrongdoing and sought to dismiss the case ahead of trial.