D300 announces two new hires, and D301 getting new principals
By Emily McFarlan emcfarlan@stmedianetwork.com May 15, 2012 11:10AM
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Updated: June 17, 2012 8:11AM
Community Unit School District 300 announced two new administrators to fill recently vacated positions in the Carpentersville-area school district.
And two schools in Burlington-based District 301 will get new principals this summer.
The District 300 school board approved Craig Zieleniewski as principal of Gilberts Elementary School, as well as a structural shift in the district’s central office to take on the responsibilities of departing Director of Human Resources John Light.
Zieleniewski has been principal of Perry Elementary School in Carpentersville for the past six years, according to District 300.
Zieleniewski will replace Jeff King, who is becoming principal at District 301’s Country Trails Elementary School in Elgin. Current Country Trails Principal Carie Walter is becoming principal at Central Middle School near Burlington, replacing Lloyd Stover who is retiring.
Zieleniewski earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and master’s from Aurora University, the district said. He began his career as an educator in 1997 as a sixth-grade teacher at Westfield Community School in Algonquin before becoming assistant principal at Perry in 2004.
The principal “truly was the frontrunner” among 52 applicants through three rounds of interviews with the district, according to Kristin Corriveau, assistant superintendent for elementary school teaching and learning.
Light will leave District 300 at the end of the month to take a position in county government in Michigan, where his family lives, according to the district. Previously, he had been employed by McHenry County and joined District 300 in 2006.
Colleen O’Keefe will take on Light’s responsibilities as HR chief legal counsel of District 300 in June. That is a new position within the district that also will provide the district with a full-time, in-house attorney.
“Colleen’s new role will be primarily targeted toward designing and maintaining educational structures and supports that attract, retain and develop our most important resource: human talent,” Superintendent Michael Bregy said.
“Her exemplary post-secondary work — combined with her school law experience in traditional labor matters, contract interpretation and unfair labor practice procedures — will enhance the effectiveness of our leadership team.”
O’Keefe earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame and law degree from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. She has advised District 300 for the past few years as an attorney for Franczek Radelet of Chicago.
