U-46 gets 70 new principals ... for a day

Kenyon Woods Middle School is familiar turf for Mike Kenyon.

The South Elgin resident, farm owner and Kane County Board member previously owned the land where the district's largest middle school was built in 2003.

"I'm a regular here," Kenyon saidwith a laugh, as he strolled the halls Thursday with Principal Sue Welu and South Elgin Village Administrator Larry Jones.

Kenyon and Jones were two of 70 local leaders, ministers, elected officials, business owners and police officers to serve as a "principal for the day" in Elgin Area School District U-46 schools. Honorary principals included Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Christine Bayer, the Rev. Nathaniel Edmond of Elgin's Second Baptist Church, and Judson University Vice President Tory Gum.

From 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Jones and Kenyon toured the school's classrooms, stopping in for an eighth-grade math lesson and listening to students perform historically-themed jingles for a "Westward Idol" competition.

Jones' daughter, Lindsey, is an eighth-grader at the school. At noon, real and honorary principals were treated to lunch at Villa Olivia Country Club in Bartlett, paid for by Nexus Office Systems Inc.

"We love to have you in our schools, to lift the veil up," Superintendent Jose Torres told the group.

Ted Sanders, the former president of Southern Illinois University, a state superintendent of education in Illinois, Ohio and Nevada, and Deputy Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, served as the keynote speaker. Sanders is also the father of U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders.

Now serving on various educational boards and commissions, Ted Sanders said he keeps regular tabs on the U-46.

"I read (Torres') weekly messages and appreciate the level of communication," he said. "A community has precisely the schools it expects and demands."

Sanders applauded Torres for his attempt to ramp up academic achievement in the district as well as the U-46 school board for the manner in which it has made $29.6 million in recent budget cuts, which include more than 1,000 employees.

At a time where remaining teachers across the district are being reassigned into new roles for next year, he also spoke of breaking a "historical pattern" of misassigning teachers into roles simply because of tenure, or lack thereof.

"We need the greatest experience and the greatest talent for those students who require it most," he said.