District 57 hires new superintendent after controversy

Moving quickly to fill an embarrassing vacancy, Mount Prospect Elementary District 57 has hired Elaine Aumiller, an assistant superintendent at Northbrook-Glenview Elementary District 30, to be the district's new superintendent starting July 1.

Board President Joseph Leane said the board is still negotiating Aumiller's contract and salary which will become final on June 4.

"The negotiations are going smoothly and I don't expect any problems," Leane said.

Aumiller will replace Peggy Kaufmann, 52, who was supposed to take the District 57 post on July 1 but resigned last week after news broke of her April 11 drunken driving arrest in Bartlett and of a 2002 DUI charge she pleaded guilty to.

While the school board did not specifically request a criminal-background check on Kaufmann, it had expected one would be conducted by the search firm, but none was.

This time, they made sure a background check was conducted on Aumiller, Leane said.

"We have already completed a preliminary check and a more detailed check will be done before the contract becomes final," he said.

Aumiller was interviewed as a finalist in the previous superintendent search, so the board already was familiar with her qualifications, Leanne said.

Aumiller, 53, lives in Wheaton. She is single with three grown sons.

She said she has no criminal background and the board will find nothing unusual in their background checks.

"No problems whatsoever," she said. "I'm a pretty boring individual."

Before joining Glenview Elementary District 30, Aumiller was an associate principal at Thomas Middle School in Arlington Heights. She's been an assistant superintendent at District 30 since 2005.

District 57 Superintendent Bruce Brown, who is retiring, was unavailable for comment on Friday.