Charter school's first principal already gone

The first principal of the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove resigned less than two months after the first day of school, charter school officials confirmed on Monday.

Josh Emmett stepped down as principal on Oct. 29, according to the Northern Kane Educational Corp., which runs the charter school.

School officials announced the leadership change at an Oct. 22 faculty meeting but only confirmed Emmett's departure publicly Monday.

Just over 500 students from Community Unit District 300 attend the charter school, according to District 300's latest count. Most of those students live in the Cambridge Lakes subdivision, where the school is located.

Officials in District 300 said they were notified shortly after the change was made.

"(Northern Kane Executive Director) Larry Fuhrer called me shortly after the decision was made," District 300 Superintendent Ken Arndt said on Monday. "I'm surprised you just heard about it."

Emmett cited "personal reasons" for his resignation and is pursuing his Ph.D at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to Northern Kane.

But the timing -- only seven weeks into the charter school's inaugural year -- raised questions about the reasons for Emmett's departure.

In September, Emmett was brimming with excitement over the possibilities at the charter school, calling the experiment "an incredible opportunity to do something really exciting."

Arndt suggested Emmett's departure wasn't entirely the principal's idea.

"They felt that they needed to make some changes there," Arndt said Monday.

An undated Cambridge Lakes news release also seemed to suggest that Emmett's departure might not have been voluntary.

"The change occurred as a result of the corporation's commitment to continual improvement through data-driven decisions," the release read.

It is not clear if the release was ever sent out to local media.

Charter school officials said that "data-driven decisions" referred to the selection of former assistant principal Karen Behrns as Cambridge Lakes' new principal -- not Emmett's departure.

They also stressed that Emmett left of his own volition.

"It was his decision to resign for personal reasons," said Heather Schaeffer, associate director of development for Northern Kane.

Westfield Community School Principal and Northern Kane Trustee Bill Doran said that, as far as he knew, Emmett was doing a good job.

"He did a very good job over the summer getting the school up and going," Doran said. "He was instrumental in the hiring of the teachers last spring."

Emmett did not return calls seeking comment.

New principal Karen Behrns also is a former director of operations for Cambridge Lakes and former principal of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School in Hampshire.