Summit School Inc. names Steve Baldwin as president/CEO

Summit School Inc. in Elgin announced plans to appoint Steve Baldwin as its new president/CEO as Karen Romano retires from the position as a result of the current pandemic.

Romano will remain on staff to assist with the transition through February 2021.

Baldwin joins Summit School Inc. with more than 15 years of experience in non-profit and business management. With a portfolio that includes work with healthcare, arts, social services and animal welfare organizations, he also brings financial and administrative leadership expertise from his work in Catholic education and other endeavors.

While for the last 52 years, Summit School Inc.'s leaders have traditionally come from a special education background, Summit's board of directors wanted to build on the added knowledge of mental health and early learning that Romano brought to the president/CEO position.

"Karen Romano's leadership over the last year and a half opened tremendous possibilities for our organization," said Mike Polchopek, Summit School Inc. board chair. "As we looked to 2021 and all of the changes the pandemic has brought to how we serve our students, we felt confident that Steve's educational expertise and strategic business acumen would position Summit School, Inc. solidly into the future."

As Baldwin begins his work as president/CEO in difficult times with all Summit students learning remotely, he is certain of one thing. "It is evident that the entire Summit family has one main priority," said Baldwin. "To be the best and bring out the best in our students."

For Karen Romano, while no time is a good time to leave the Summit family, the timing of this transition is particularly difficult.

"It's been such an honor to work on the local, regional and state levels with such amazing partners to better the early childhood opportunities available to our area's youngest learners," Romano said. "It's hard to walk away at a time when our preschoolers and special education students are so vulnerable to the pandemic, but I know my Summit colleagues will continue to work alongside our students, families and the community to repair the damage."

Romano, the former Director of Educational Services for the Easter Seals Jayne Shover Center, joined the Summit leadership team as its new Early Learning Center's founding director from 2003 to 2019.

During her time with Summit Center, she grew the preschool program to three classrooms serving 130 at-risk children per year.

Under Romano's guidance, Summit Center attained ExceleRate accreditation as a Gold Circle of Quality program in fall 2017 which was renewed again in summer 2020.

Summit's Early Learning Center is a premiere program for children at risk of developmental delays because of the foundation Karen set," said Polchopek. "She added critical programming and supports, like speech and language enrichment and the Parent Engagement Program, to ensure that preschoolers and their families left Summit positioned for long-term success as they entered school."

As Romano embraces retirement, she noted, "It's heartening to know that so many at-risk young people and the community as a whole will continue to benefit from Summit School, Inc.'s programs and their dedicated staff." Her colleagues are grateful to Romano as well.

"Karen was the type of early learning leader in the community that pulled you in with her kind demeanor, warm welcome and huge passionate heart for children and their families," said Amber Peters, executive director of the Elgin Partnership for Early Learning. "I was blessed to have worked side-by-side with Karen on strategic thinking through what is best for children."

Strategic planning will be a key component of Summit School Inc.'s future as the organization moves into 2021 with its new leader at the helm.

"I look forward to a bright future at Summit and will do my best to continue Summit School, Inc.'s educational excellence and the tremendous impact that so many folks crafted over the past 52 years," Baldwin said.

Summit School Inc.'s programs include Summit School, a private therapeutic day program for students with learning differences, and Summit Early Learning Center, a preschool program for at-risk 3- to 5-year-old children. Both programs are state-accredited as exemplary learning programs for more than 200 children each year.

To learn more about Summit School Inc. and its two programs, visit www.summitelgin.org.