U-46 picks new Channing principal

Elgin Area School District U-46 has selected Selene Stewart as the next principal of Channing Elementary School in Elgin.

Stewart replaces Ernest Gonzalez, who has asked to be reassigned as a classroom teacher.

Gonzalez, Channing’s leader since 2002, has been on a leave of absence for undisclosed reasons. Former U-46 Principal Greg Schneider has been serving as Channing’s interim chief in his absence.

Stewart is currently assistant principal at Patton and Windsor elementary schools in Arlington Heights Elementary District 25. She has been in that role since 2007.

Before that, Stewart spent seven years in Oak Park District 95, where she was an elementary schoolteacher and worked on the curriculum for language arts and the gifted program.

Stewart received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and earned her master’s degrees in elementary education and educational leadership from National-Louis University in Evanston.

As Channing’s principal, Stewart will make a base salary of $86,070. The district will contribute an additional $8,930 toward her pension annually. U-46 has filled seven principal vacancies so far this year, including those at Elgin and Bartlett high schools. With about six weeks left in the academic year, the district still has to pick principals for Hilltop and Spring Trail elementary schools; officials plan to do so before the school year ends.