Grayslake High School District 127 board candidates address superintendent search

Candidates for a Grayslake High School District 127 board seat are offering ideas on what they'd like in a new superintendent to replace Catherine Finger when she retires.

Five candidates are competing for four seats on the April 7 ballot. In the hunt for the 4-year terms are incumbents Ann Dingman, Ken Witkowski and Edwin Brown, plus newcomers Kathleen Conlon Wasik and Hal Sloan.

All of the candidates participated in a Daily Herald editorial board endorsement interview. Among the issues they addressed is longtime District 127 boss Finger's planned retirement after the 2016-17 academic season.

Sloan, who works in sales, said he'd want a superintendent with "some administrative background, but not necessarily a ton of that."

"And a very strong leader," Sloan added. "That's kind of a prerequisite."

Wasik, an editor, said she would push for a schools boss who is perceived as inspirational. She said she also would want District 127's superintendent to take a more hands-on approach to lead teachers and students to a higher level.

"I also think we need a superintendent who isn't afraid to get out into the community and talk with people, engage people, especially our minority families," Wasik said. "They have a different culture and they have a different way of thinking about education."

Dingman, an insurance company service representative who's been a District 127 board member for about 10½ years, said she would want the new superintendent to have a high level of passion for the job, similar to Finger. She said it would be important to find someone with good regional and state connections as well.

"Along with that is student focused, community focused," said Dingman, who noted her experience of being on the board when Finger was hired in 2005. "Again, our current superintendent is not only involved in our community, but in our state and with political issues. And I'd like to see somebody who would continue that, because it is becoming more and more important to be at the state as they bring up these bills that can harm us financially."

Elected to his first 4-year term in 2011, Brown said Grayslake High doesn't need to be fixed, so he'd want the new leader to have top administrative experience with an ability to sustain success.

"I think we're going to be looking for candidates that have had superintendent or associate superintendent experience," said Brown, who works in risk management. "And there can be some principals out there that might also present a good resume that would be worth looking at."

Witkowski, a financial services professional, said Finger provides a model of whom District 127 should seek as her replacement.

"Somebody who's got a wide breadth of knowledge and a lot of connections throughout the state," Witkowski said. "Someone who has got a good resume, strong resume coming up through the administrative ranks as well as a teaching resume, too."

Incumbent Jon Cokefair, elected to the board in 2007, is not seeking re-election.