Schools

Principals hired for Jacobs, Dundee Middle School, Liberty

Ami Engel, currently the associate principal for curriculum & instruction at Jacobs, was chosen as the new principal at Jacobs.

The D300 school board hired new principals last month for three of its largest schools: Jacobs High School (Algonquin), Dundee Middle School (West Dundee), and Liberty Elementary School (Carpentersville). 

The vacancies were created earlier this year when the current principals at these schools were promoted to D300 assistant superintendent positions, effective July 1, 2011.

  • Ami Engel, currently the associate principal for curriculum & instruction at Jacobs, was chosen as the new principal at Jacobs. 
  • Dr. Joe Schumacher, an assistant principal at DMS, was selected as principal for DMS. 
  • Amanda Edwards, an assistant principal at D300's Westfield Community School, was tapped to lead Liberty, which at about 825 students is the district's largest elementary school.  

About 15 internal applicants and over 100 external applicants went through an exceptionally demanding interview process to find the most promising instructional leaders. 

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Superintendent Elect Michael Bregy had invited staff members from Jacobs, DMS, and Liberty to apply to serve on the interview teams, and he made a point to inform all D300 staff about the interview process. 

The interview teams ultimately included a mix of teachers, support staff, parents, and other D300 principals.  The process was led by the new D300 Teaching & Learning Leadership Team, which includes Bregy along with the incoming assistant superintendent for education services (primarily being special education) and the three incoming grade-level assistant superintendents, who together closely collaborate on teaching and learning at the preschool/elementary, middle and high school levels.

Find out what's happening in Algonquin-Lake In The Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Signaling a shift in the principal selection process, the final of three rounds of interviews required the applicants to demonstrate their knowledge through data analysis, goal setting, presentations, and classroom visits. 

The top candidates were provided with several sets of data about the school and given 24 hours to develop a presentation that summarized the data, with a clear focus on setting goals and strategies for school improvement.  They also visited multiple classrooms with the Teaching & Learning Leadership Team and were required to report their observations on the instructional strategies taking place.

"As part of my goals, I wanted to create a new way to hire administrators and evaluate building principals," Bregy said. "This was a very rigorous process that included three rounds of interviews, all with high expectations.  I believe the outcome will be a tremendous service to our students, our staff and our community."


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