Retiring Superintendent Lisa Small lauded after 33-year career in District 211

Having always encouraged students to plan for their futures, retiring Superintendent Lisa Small is about to realize her own after a 33-year career with Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211.

Her plans beyond July 1 include working more on the farm she and her husband share with hogs, chickens, turkeys, horses, alpacas, llamas and bees. Thoughts of a veterinarian career were once the only thing that ever rivaled her dream of working in education.

District 211 Board of Education President Steve Rosenblum called it an integral part of the character of the person who was chosen to lead the district five years ago.

“That balance between high-impact leadership and down-to-earth living is part of what has made her so respected and relatable to so many across our district and community,” he said.

At Small’s final meeting Thursday, Rosenblum presented her with a “certificate of honorary graduation” saying that she had earned the title of Superintendent Excellence.

“Lisa, I want to thank you for your years of tireless service, your vision and your heart,” he said. “You have helped shape the future of thousands of students.”

Small is the district’s eighth superintendent and the sixth hired from within. Before her current role, she was associate superintendent for instruction and had been principal of Fremd High School in Palatine for six years.

She began her teaching career at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in January 1992 before coming to District 211 as a math and science teacher at Hoffman Estates High School in August 1992.

But her last two roles allowed for a particular focus on career readiness among the district’s approximately 12,000 students. She said her personal experience reinforced her belief that even the beginning of high school is not too early to think about one's career, whether it involves college first or not.

Upon becoming superintendent in the summer of 2020, she inherited the task of enacting a longer-term plan for instruction under the COVID-19 pandemic, which had suddenly shifted classes to remote learning that spring.

Among the things she was eager to get back on track as soon as possible were the internships in the community that help students consider career plans while still in high school. Making District 211 a leader in providing such help had been among her earlier tasks as associate superintendent.

Serving students was the core responsibility at the core of all her positions within District 211, she said.

“As a teacher, you learn to appreciate the diversity of our community because you see so many students,” Small said. “As an administrator, you learn now to connect to not just the students but their parents. When you're leading a building, all aspects of that building, the student is still the center but other people are involved.”

Small will be succeeded by Judith Campbell, who is completing the transition this month from her prior job as deputy superintendent of Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools.

Small retires with a final salary of $276,875 while Campbell’s initial four-year contract begins with a starting salary of $275,000.