Willowbrook principal signs for three more years

Dan Krause will be at the helm of Willowbrook High School in Villa Park for another three years after the DuPage High School District 88 board voted unanimously to extend his contract.

Krause currently receives a base salary of $146,000 with standard medical, dental and vacation benefits. The board has not yet approved any salary changes for his new contract, which expires in 2014.

Krause’s contract wasn’t set to expire until end of the 2011-12 school year, but recent changes by the Illinois State Board of Education regarding performance contracts sparked his early review.

Superintendent Steve Humphrey said Krause has done an outstanding job since he was named Willowbrook principal in 2007. He said Krause is especially known for being accessible to students and visible in the community, including his involvement in the Villa Park Kiwanis Club.

“He has a high level of competence and skills in defining our learning and ... has a great sense of what that needs to be in terms of high performing schools,” Humphrey said. “Dan has made a lot of changes in how the work is being done at Willowbrook to create a more positive culture for students, and all while respecting the staff and the traditions of the school. He’s just taking it to the next level.”

Krause is the seventh principal in Willowbrook’s history and has been a District 88 employee since 2002.

His challenges in the next three years will include boosting student performance under the No Child Left Behind mandate. On Willowbrook’s state report card for 2010, about 66 percent of students were meeting or exceeding state standards in math, while 69 percent were meeting or exceeding in reading.

Next month, the school board also is slated to announce the new principal for Addison Trail High School. Current Principal Scott Helton will become the new superintendent at the end of the 2011-12 school year, when Humphrey retires.