Washington district picks District 41 superintendent

Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 Superintendent Paul Gordon is likely heading to Washington state this summer for a new job with a school district in Wenatchee.

Wenatchee school board President Sunny Hemphill said officials there expected to have a signed contract on Wednesday and to approve the pact at its March 12 meeting.

"We are excited to work with Dr. Gordon. His commitment to high levels of excellence and achievement for all children matches the goals of our district," Hemphill said in an email.

The District 41 school board voted 4-3 in January to start a national search to replace Gordon, who previously served as a chief academic officer in a suburban Denver district with roughly 42,000 students.

The board members who want a new superintendent have had long-simmering issues with programming evaluations and a curriculum overhaul first developed by Gordon's predecessor.

The board's decision to part ways with Gordon has riled teacher union leaders, high school administrators, three school board candidates in the April 2 election and parents who started an online petition and staged a rally calling for him to remain at the helm of the five-school district.

Gordon has said he has a record in District 41 of reducing achievement gaps at the district level and at Churchill Elementary, taking steps to make the district more inclusive, building "model programs" of daily foreign language and dual-language and negotiating two teacher contracts that were "resolved with great expediency."