Oak Lawn Residents Asked For Feedback On New Superintendent

OAK LAWN, IL — Community High School District 218 will hold a community forum in Oak Lawn to learn what the community is looking for in its next superintendent.

Superintendent Ty Harting, who has served as the district superintendent since 2015 and worked in the district since 1989 in a variety of different roles, will retire in June. District officials have said they hope to name a replacement by February, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

The district, which comprises Eisenhower, Richards, and Shepard high schools, has been criticized for a lack of diversity in its staff. Even though data from the 2020 Illinois School Report Card shows that just 30.7% of district students are white, and 65.6% are Black or Latino, 90% of its teachers are white. Just 5.4% are Latino and 4% are Black.

Harting said at a forum last month in Robbins that while the district is working to correct this imbalance, they are having trouble finding teachers of color, according to The Tribune.

Ahead of the hire, the district is conducting three community forums throughout the month of October: on Tuesday, Oct. 12 from 6-7 in the Richards High School cafeteria; on Wednesday, Oct. 13 from 6-7 at the Shepard High School cafeteria; and on Thursday, Oct. 14 at the Eisenhower High School cafeteria.

“The one-hour forums will allow the community to share characteristics desired in the next Superintendent of Schools,” the district said in the program announcement.

Ahead of the forum, the district has sent out community engagement surveys in English, Spanish, and Arabic. The main question asks respondents to select the “10 most important characteristics you believe the next superintendent for CHSD should possess” out of 21 options.

Some of the options are “an ability to develop and maintain strong relationships with diverse communities and stakeholder groups” and “work experience in districts with similar demographics.” Others are “strong moral character and absolute integrity,” “an ability to create a culture of ethics, accountability, and safety,” “experience in implementing and delivering a strong curriculum and instruction program,” and either financial, media, or technological savvy.