Three West Central Illinois school districts are moving administrators. Jacksonville High School Principal Andrea Lee has accepted the superintendent position at Calhoun School District #40. Lee is replacing Dr. Kate Sievers who has taken the superintendent position at Jerseyville School District #100, replacing Brad Tuttle, who is moving on after 3 years with the Jersey School District.
Jacksonville District 117 Superintendent says that plans were already in place two years ago to replace Lee if she were to leave. “Knowing that when Mrs. Lee came in that she has her superintendent endorsement and knowing that when somebody has a superintendent endorsement and as much of a talent that she is, the could make that jump into the superintendency. We placed Joey Dion as the associate principal two years ago when she came to work more closely with her, and hopefully prepare him to be the principal in the event that she did decide to go into the superintendency. We’ve been preparing Joey Dion for that, and we would have gone with him most likely anyway; but given the fact that this happened in June and we have to get that ball moving, we made the decision that we’re not even going to go through a posting it. We are just going to move forward with Joey as principal.”
Ptacek says he looks forward to working with Lee in her new position at Calhoun. Calhoun is one of the schools in the Four Rivers Special Education Cooperative which Jacksonville School District is also a part of. Ptacek says she will be missed in the district but won’t be too far away.
Ptacek says that the Jacksonville community will have an easy transition with Joey Dion’s official appointment coming at the June 17th School Board meeting. “It’s a very quick transition, but the fact that he has been working in his role at the school for years before being the associate principal and as the athletic director, our community, our student body and our staff know Mr. Dion very well. I think it’s going to be a very smooth transition. The most challenging for us right now is finding an assistant principal to replace him. That will be the most challenging part.”
Ptacek says that the district is now preparing for several options for what the Fall may bring for instructing students. He says its been an unprecedented summer break so far.