Jacksonville School District 117 has begun putting its next generation of leadership in place as Superintendent Steve Ptacek prepares to retire at the end of the school year.
The district has moved former Jacksonville Middle School Principal Celeste Lashmett into the central office this school year, where she is working alongside Ptacek and Assistant Superintendent Matt Moore.
Moore says the move is designed to give Lashmett a year to learn the assistant superintendent’s position before he succeeds Ptacek next year.
“She’s working with Steve and I, and then yes, the idea is that she will then replace me when I move into the superintendency next year. And so the idea—it’s not costing us any more money to do so. We were able to make some moves to make sure that we’re not spending any more money to bring her up.”
Moore says having Lashmett in the central office now should allow the district to make the leadership transition without losing momentum when Ptacek retires.
“The idea, just for the transition and for the district moving forward, we thought it was the best to have someone in place so that when Steve retires at the end of this year, we’ll be able to keep moving and keep moving in a positive direction. So we’re excited that we’re able to move her up this year.”
Ptacek confirmed Lashmett’s move during a WLDS interview earlier this month. Her promotion also led to a change at Jacksonville Middle School, where former assistant principal Tim Roberts has taken over as principal.
Lashmett had served as principal at Jacksonville Middle School since the 2018-19 school year. She previously served as an assistant principal at the school under former principal Gary Barlow.
The changes are part of a succession plan for a superintendent’s office that has had relatively little turnover for more than a decade.
The Jacksonville School Board hired Ptacek in December 2012. He initially was scheduled to begin his duties in July 2013, but an agreement with his former district allowed him to arrive early and take over in April of that year.
Ptacek came to Jacksonville after serving as superintendent of the Joppa-Maple Grove School District in southern Illinois. Before that, he had served as principal at Richwoods High School in Peoria.
That Peoria connection eventually helped bring Moore to Jacksonville. Moore previously taught at Richwoods and had worked with Ptacek before joining District 117 following the retirement of former Assistant Superintendent Mike McGiles at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
Moore will now move into the superintendent’s position following Ptacek’s retirement, while Lashmett is expected to succeed Moore as assistant superintendent.
The result gives District 117 an entire school year to transition all three positions rather than replacing the superintendent and assistant superintendent at the same time.
Ptacek’s retirement will bring to a close a tenure of more than 14 years leading Jacksonville School District 117.