Poor leadership in District 87?
As a retired teacher from Glenbard South High School I read with great interest the Nov. 17 letter to Fence Post from Madihah Sharif. I would agree with her premise that there is more to a school than test scores and that NCLB has been more of a problem than a solution, but the biggest problems in District 87 and at Glenbard South are the result of poor leadership.
When I was first hired at Glenbard South it was an annual top 10 school in the state and usually one of the top three high schools in DuPage. Today, it is no where to be found in the top 50 in either the Chicago Tribune or The Daily Herald. What happened?
In an effort to control finances the district began to hire on the cheap as opposed to hiring proven competent people. Since Peter Abruzzo retired as principal South has had two principals, neither of which had any prior experience for the position. As a result, South has been in a free fall.
Since I retired in June of 2007 there have been three assistant principals of instruction. According to every recent retiree I’ve talked with, building morale is extremely low.
When I was hired, I already had 14 years of teaching experience. I cannot recall one teacher with that amount of experienced hired away from another district to teach at Glenbard. Just about everyone hired in my department during my last 10 years at South had no experience or, at best, two years prior experience.
Naperville is hiring experienced and proven teachers and as a result have two top-tier high schools. Glenbard District 87 has four high schools and none are in the top 50.
I guess it is true: you get what you pay for.
Lawrence Viverito
Wheaton