District 116 seeking input on new superintendent
Round Lake Area Unit District 116 wants community input on a superintendent search as it prepares to handle financial affairs without state assistance for the first time since 2002.
Launched by the Illinois State Board of Education, a special school finance authority has recommended it end oversight of District 116, with a formal vote likely in January. District 116 has been judged stable enough for the five-member authority to recommend shifting financial decisions from the state back to local leaders. The elected board also would get to select a superintendent.
As part of that move, the District 116 board has scheduled two community forums to gather feedback on the qualities a new superintendent should possess.
The first is at 7 p.m. Thursday at Magee Middle School's cafeteria, 500 N. Cedar Lake Road, Round Lake. The second is at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 at Round Lake Middle School's gymnasium, 2000 N. Lotus Drive, Round Lake Heights.
Board President W. Guy Finley said opinion also will be solicited on criteria elected officials should use in the superintendent search.
The public sessions will be moderated by representatives from Wilmette-based PROACT Search Inc., which will offer interpreters to those who don't speak English, he said. The firm will head the search, but the school board will make the final selection.
Gary Solomon, chief executive officer of PROACT Search, said the candidate pool will come from across the country, and the goal is to have a new superintendent hired by early March.
"This will be an important opportunity for us to hear various stakeholders of the community and to share information about the challenges of leading the Round Lake area schools," Solomon said.
District 116 doesn't have much experience in trying to hire superintendents from outside the system, Finley said. He said the district mostly promoted from within.
"This is going to be the first time the district has sought to have a superintendent from outside the district in at least 30 years," Finley said.
District 116 Chief Executive Officer Ben Martindale, a chief education officer and a chief financial officer have been reporting to the state school finance authority. Those positions would be eliminated with the hiring of the new superintendent.
Martindale said he won't apply for the job. He said he plans to visit a couple of times a week to ensure the district is running smoothly as the financial operations move from state to local control.
District 116's downward financial spiral began in the 1990s. Short-term debt was the main problem that threatened to force District 116's closure and send its students elsewhere in Lake County to be educated.
School board members asked for the state's help in 2000. That led to creation of the school finance authority by special legislation in 2002, which had debt-erasure as one of its main tasks.
At one point, short-term debt reached $14 million. That short-term debt has been eliminated and the district has an education fund that's $25.7 million in the black.