Why Winfield Dist. 34 superintendent captured state honors
Strange, isn't it, how in a lifetime made of countless moments, a couple always seem to stick with you?
Gwynne Kell understands.
Here she is, for example, being honored this week in Springfield by the Illinois Association of School Administrators as a Superintendent of Distinction.
It's a big deal, you know, recognizing her work over the past eight years leading Winfield Elementary District 34, and coming just two months before her retirement after 35 years in education.
Tony Smith, the state superintendent of education, is the speaker and he's praising the 25 superintendents and principals being honored this day for their "outsized and inspirational commitment to students and to their communities."
Heady stuff for anyone, and for Kell it's even more special, with the ceremony serving as kind of a capstone to a lengthy career.
It's the type of moment when a hundred thoughts, a thousand emotions, race through you like a runaway train.
And then it happens. Her husband, Greg, reaches over and gently touches her.
"It was pretty neat to have him share that with me," she says. "It was a nice, intimate moment. It was pretty cool."
On a day of celebration, it is the moment she will always remember.
Nice way to go out
This is how you become a Superintendent of Distinction. Every fall, colleagues from each of the Illinois Association of School Administrators' 21 regions nominate someone based on their leadership in learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement.
Last fall, her peers in DuPage County picked Kell, who joined a list of honorees that this year also featured David Schuler of High School District 214 in Arlington Heights and Julie Schmidt of Kildeer-Countryside District 96 in Buffalo Grove.
Kell has known about the honor since last fall, but it still felt special this week to be feted as one of the best of the best.
"It's a very nice way to go out," she says. "Nobody goes into education expecting anything other than trying to do what's best for kids. In the end, when you get an honor like this, it's like, 'Wow, thank you.'"
Becoming a teacher
This is how you decide to devote your professional life to education.
One day your sixth-grade teacher walks into a classroom in south suburban Park Forest and says she's looking for volunteers to work with her in a Head Start program to help children in need. Part of the gig, it turns out, involves helping youngsters with special needs back in the day before special needs programs were a thing.
So Gwynne raises her hand and pretty soon she and some friends are spending time with kids who aren't anything like them, and the darnedest thing happens: the sixth-grader finds her calling.
In a childhood of endless possibilities, Gwynne decides she wants to be a teacher. It is the moment she will always remember.
What's best for kids
This is how you pursue a career in education that will span 35 years and take you across the Chicago suburbs in too many roles to count.
You start as a special-education teacher and you spend 19 years in that role, always pushing for more inclusive programs, always striving to bring all types of kids together.
After a while, you look for ways to expand your influence, to have an even greater impact on kids' lives. You keep asking yourself, "How can I make a bigger difference?"
After nearly two decades in the classroom, you decide to take the leap into administration. Once you're there, you discover that the higher you go, the wider your reach becomes.
"All I intended to do was make decisions that are best for kids," Kell says now.
Ask her about the accomplishments that make her most proud, and she points to two.
"Wherever I've worked, I feel I've been successful in leading the charge toward inclusive programming for all kids," she says.
And, she says, wherever she's gone she's stressed the importance of collaborative decision making and getting input from every corner of the organization and the community it serves.
"You have to make sure you hear the voices," she says. "You have to get input from everyone."
Dawn Reinke has seen that firsthand. As principal of District 34's two schools, she's worked closely with Kell for six years. She sees her as a strong advocate for students and teachers who's respected both in DuPage and Springfield. She sees her as a leader, a boss and a partner.
Mostly, though, "she has the heart of a teacher," Reinke says. "She was a teacher and will always be a teacher."
Kell is the type of leader who isn't afraid to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty - literally.
A couple years ago, for example, when floodwaters were threatening a school, Kell was first in line getting ready to fill the sandbags.
And then there's the now famous story about the time a teacher spilled a cup of coffee and Kell hustled off to the janitor's closet to find a mop.
Wait a minute, staff members told her, you're the superintendent.
"And I know how to use a mop," she said.
There's no one person who makes a school district, or any organization, great, Kell will tell you. It's a team thing.
Ready to go
Strange, isn't it, how in a lifetime made of countless moments, a couple always seem to stick with you?
Six years ago Gwynne and Greg were vacationing in Asheville, North Carolina, and they looked around and decided this might be the perfect place to retire. They visited several more times and decided to build a house. When Kell's tenure ends this summer in Winfield, they plan to move there.
"I think I'm ready to go," Kell says. "I have no regrets. I think I've done a lot in the field."
Her staff has been "wonderful and supportive," she says, and she feels "just a lot of love and gratitude for everyone I've ever worked with."
But there's one more moment she's likely to remember, one more that will define her when reality sets in and she walks out the door for the last time as the Superintendent of Distinction and, after 35 years, becomes just plain Gwynne.
She knows it's coming, and for the first time, she sounds just a little wistful.
"I will always miss the kids," she says. "Always. Always."