District 303 shuffles administrative deck

Two St. Charles school administrators are being promoted, and two others are moving laterally into new jobs as an overhaul of District 303 leadership continues.

The school board this week approved four administrative changes, including the promotion of Fox Ridge Elementary School Principal Cheryl LaFave to assistant superintendent of learning and teaching. LaFave replaces Brian Harris, who became human resources director last month.

Meanwhile, Anne VanZandt, former assistant principal at Bell-Graham Elementary and Wredling Middle schools, will become principal at Fox Ridge.

In addition, Assistant Superintendent of K-12 Operations John Baird and Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Ron Knapik are changing titles to each become area assistant superintendents.

In their new roles, Baird and Knapik each will oversee operations at about half of the district's 17 schools.

Knapik, in essence, is replacing former chief academic officer Melanie Raczkiewicz, who officials said would have joined Baird in the new area assistant superintendent role had she not resigned this year.

Superintendent Donald Schlomann said the district is interested in promoting someone from within to take Knapik's old post.

"I'm impressed with the amount of intelligence and intellect in the district, so I want to try to promote from within if I can," Schlomann said.

"Secondly, institutional memory is important to me and, in this case, having people who know what happened 10 or 15 years ago helps the organization avoid repeating mistakes."

Schlomann, who became superintendent last month, has pledged to rebuild his administrative cabinet after years of massive turnover. He expects to hire Knapik's replacement -- the final piece of the plan -- next month.

As for the latest changes, only LaFave and VanZandt will receive pay increases; the others are considered lateral moves. LaFave's new salary is $137,000, while VanZandt's is $93,000, officials said.