Search ramps up for new superintendent of Glenbard District 87

Glenbard High School District 87 families can weigh in on the search for a new superintendent during a community forum Thursday night.

Retiring Superintendent David Larson is set to step down at the end of the current school year after more than a dozen years in charge of one of the largest high school districts in the state.

School board members have hired BWP & Associates, a Libertyville-based search firm, to help find Larson’s successor. BWP consultants will lead the forum at 6:30 p.m. in the district administrative center in Glen Ellyn. A virtual option also will be available via Zoom.

Feedback from the forum and an ongoing online survey will be included in a leadership profile that consultants will review with school board members when they meet on Oct. 14.

“This will articulate the specific characteristics that are necessary for an individual to come in here and be a successful superintendent for Glenbard high school district,” Sheila Harrison-Williams, a BWP partner, told the school board in May, shortly after Larson announced his retirement plans.

The board anticipates approving a contract with the new superintendent by the end of December. According to the job posting, a “regionally competitive compensation package” will be offered to the successful candidate.

The district has encouraged families, students, employees and residents to take the survey at glenbard87.org/superintendent-search.

The anonymous survey — offered in six languages — launched Monday and should be completed by midnight Sept. 21.

One part of the survey asks district stakeholders to rank the importance of the next schools chief having experience as a superintendent in a district of similar size, as a principal and as a classroom teacher, among other roles. In addition, respondents are asked to identify the three most important issues or concerns facing the district in the next five years.

Larson, who was previously the superintendent of a suburban Detroit school system, took the helm of District 87 in 2012.

The four-school district enrolls students from Glen Ellyn, Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Lombard and parts of other surrounding towns.