Dist. 204 appoints two new principals

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 appointed two new middle school principals Thursday.

Darrell Echols is the new principal of Hill Middle School. Echols will be in a familiar setting, having previously taught seventh-grade language arts at Hill from 1998-2005. He later served as dean of students at Waubonsie Valley High School before leaving the district to become principal at William B. Orenic Intermediate School in Troy School District 30C in Plainfield.

While working at Indian Prairie, Echols was named the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation's Most Influential Educator for six consecutive years. He was a "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" award winner from 2003-2005 and was the NALCO Teacher of the Year in 1999.

Echols received his bachelor's degree in theater arts from Ohio Wesleyan University and a master's from Aurora University. He is in the doctoral program at Aurora University.

Echols is replacing Allan Davenport, who is moving to Crone Middle School.

Davenport has served as principal of Hill Middle School since 2007. He previously was an assistant principal at Hill from 2004 to 2007. Before joining Indian Prairie, he was an assistant principal at East Richland Middle School in Olney, where he began his career teaching seventh-grade social studies and eighth-grade language arts and reading.

He received his bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in educational administration from Eastern Illinois University. While attending graduate school at Eastern, he was named the 2003 Distinguished Graduate Student Award Winner. In 2002, he was the East Richland Foundation for Academic Excellence Teacher of the Year Crystal Apple Recipient. He was nominated for Disney Teacher of the Year in 2002 and was the 2001 Walmart Teacher of the Year.

Davenport is replacing Stan Gorbatkin, who was recently appointed director of technology services for Indian Prairie.