How District 95's next superintendent was selected
Lake Zurich Unit District 95's board president says it was no easy chore for Kaine Osburn to be hired as the next superintendent for the 2016-17 academic season.
Doug Goldberg, the District 95 board leader, said Osburn passed muster with an education consulting firm and made it through a rigorous interview process. School board members voted 7-0 in favor of Osburn's hiring last week at a starting salary of $204,500.
Osburn will replace the retiring Michael Egan, who's been superintendent since 2009. Osburn, 46, has been Naperville Unit District 203's deputy superintendent since 2013.
Not long after Egan announced his retirement in April, District 95 hired Highland Park-based School Exec Connect to start the process to find a new boss.
Goldberg said the firm helped to gradually reduce the candidate pool from 54 to a final three.
"The top three candidates went through a very rigorous interview process, including meeting with three different panels which were comprised of staff, administrators and parents," Goldberg said after Osburn's hiring. "And they spent several hours with each candidate and I think rigorously questioned them and were able to rate them for us (board members). And those panels also rated Kaine exceptionally highly." After going before the panels, the three superintendent finalists met the elected officials in a setting outside of school before a decision was made.
"We had an opportunity to have dinner with each of the candidates and spent some time with them," Goldberg said.
"It became very clear to us that Kaine was our right choice as the next superintendent."
Osburn's experience in a unit district, his engaging personality and vision of where he wants to take District 95 were cited by the board as some reasons he was hired. He said he went through "an amazing process" before he was approved as the next superintendent
"I got to really engage with staff members, with community members, in a way that just affirmed what I knew when I applied for this job, that this is an amazing district that I'm coming to," Osburn said. "I'm thrilled, I'm humbled and really excited to build up the good work the community has done, that Dr. Egan's done in his career here and the staff has done."
Before taking the Naperville District 203 post, Osburn was principal for six years at Niles West High School in Skokie. His resume includes a stint in Northwest Suburban High School District 214, where he was a Wheeling High School division head for English and fine arts.
Egan, 64, will begin his retirement June 30, with Osburn taking over the next day. After about 40 years in education, Egan said, he wants to travel, work on his golf game and be with his grandchildren more often