U-46 schools get new leaders — for a day

They have gone into burning buildings, faced down political opponents, guided congregants through spiritual crises.

None of that could quite prepare them, though, for life as a principal, a whirlwind of meetings with students, administrators and parents over 14-hour, stress-filled days.

To give community leaders a small taste of what it is like to run a school, Elgin Area School District U-46 invited more than 65 community leaders into schools across the district Thursday for the third annual Principal for a Day.

The program started soon after Jose Torres became superintendent. Torres had witnessed a similar program as an administrator in Chicago Public Schools and wanted to do something similar in U-46.

“The whole point is to shadow the principal and to learn how to run a school,” said Karla Guzman, who organizes the program. “It's also to try to increase partnerships with the community.”

But the program also benefits the students, said Dave Smiley, outgoing principal of Elgin High School.

“These are really successful people who have aspired to high-level positions and they've succeeded,” said Smiley, who retires in June. “What did it take?”

Robert Siljestrom, a retired employee of Bell Telephone, spent the day shadowing Principal Randall Hodges at Larsen Middle School in Elgin.

“I was particularly impressed with the sheer complexity of the job as well as the sheer number of constituents” Hodges has to deal with, said Siljestrom, a member of U-46's Business Advisory Council. “There are a number of serious-minded young people that have a lot of promise for the future.”

Hodges said that's exactly the message he was hoping to impart.

“I hope they took away that students are learning and focused, and our teachers are passionate about what they do,” Hodges said.

Every school in U-46 participated in the program, Guzman said, although some will host their visitor at a later date.