New District 95 superintendent comes from within
Former Lake Zurich High School principal Michael Egan will replace Lake Zurich Unit District 95 Superintendent Brian Knutson upon his retirement at the end of this school year.
Egan will start in his new role July 1, 2009. The school board will finalize his appointment at a future meeting.
"The board believes that Dr. Egan's proven track record of success at the high school, coupled with his unsurpassed dedication to the children of District 95, make him a great candidate for taking our district to even greater levels of achievement," school board president Kathy Brown said in a news release.
Egan was appointed District 95's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in May. At that same meeting, the District 95 school board decided to let Knutson's out of his contract a year earlier.
Egan oversaw Lake Zurich High School's $40 million facilities expansion. He now must resolve construction-related problems with a failing field house retaining wall and damaged Performing Arts Center and drama room floors at the school.
He also inherits a district in a financial crunch with facilities problems stacking up, including the recently uncovered structural issues at Spencer Loomis Elementary School and Middle School North.
The district will have racked up a bill of $2.5 million by the time all the repairs are done at Loomis, North and the high school, which officials hope to recoup through a lawsuit.
"I think the challenges are getting the facilities issues straightened out," Egan said. "There's some long-range facilities planning that we need to follow through on. The work doesn't scare me and I'm looking forward to it."
Early next year, officials will finalize a redistricting plan redrawing the elementary school boundaries to consolidate six buildings into five.
"It will be my job to implement that plan," Egan said. "That's something that Dr. Knutson and I will be working on together."
Egan earned his doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy studies at Loyola University. He has a certificate of advanced studies in Educational Leadership from National-Louis University, and a master's degree in the teaching of reading from Northern Illinois University.