After six years of working as Prospect’s Associate Principal for Student Services, Kara Kendrick will leave her office to fulfill a newly created position: District 214 (D214) Associate Superintendent.
Kendrick was interviewed among several other candidates for the position. She said the interviewing process was fairly rigorous and consisted of three rounds of interviews by D214 Superintendent Scott Rowe, four other superintendents, the D214 Director of Community Outreach and Engagement and school board members.
In the most recent board meeting on Feb. 8, it was announced that Kendrick was chosen to fulfill the new associate superintendent position.
Kendrick looks forward to her new role. She has worked administrative jobs within D214 for over 20 years, including as a dean and as overseer of special ed programs at the Academy at Forest View. Due to her experience, she believes her new role will allow her to further expand her administrative knowledge and skills.
“It definitely feels like a great opportunity at this point in my career,” Kendrick said. “I’m really excited to have the chance to get to know people at every other building in the district. I’m proud of the work that we’ve done here [at Prospect], and now I feel like I can do it on a larger scale.”
During her time in Student Services, Kendrick hired many of the faculty who are currently on the Student Services team, including Prospect’s family outreach counselor, five of the nine student counselors, a master scheduler, a data processor, two social workers, two psychologists and a nurse.
“I feel really confident that we have an amazing Student Services team,” Kendrick said. “I’m excited for whoever takes my position to walk into this awesome team.”
As Associate Superintendent, Kendrick will be required to work with every building in the district. In light of this, Kendrick plans to increase the connectivity between the buildings.
“My goal is to provide good resources and support and communication for every building,” Kendrick said. “One of my plans is to [work] in each building one full day a month … because I think it’s really hard when you’re a district leader to make decisions about the schools when you aren’t living in them.”
Kendrick believes D214 provides exceptional career and extracurricular opportunities to all students, so she is excited to expand her support of the district’s mission through her promotion.
“It’s easy to get connected to [Prospect, but] I guess we all have to move on at some point,” Kendrick said. “My goal in life is to never have regrets, and I think it’s really important to take every opportunity you’re fortunate enough to be given.”
Kendrick is not the only faculty member who will leave Prospect after this school year. After going through a similar interview process to Kendrick, Associate Principal for Instruction Joyce Kim is confirmed to be the Associate Principal for Teaching and Learning at Glenbrook South High School next school year.
Kim started her career as a middle school teacher, but after attending a teaching workshop at Glenbrook South High School, she became interested in teaching high school. The workshop experience stands out in her memory as greatly influencing her career decisions.
“The … invigorating collaboration really made an impact on me as an early educator,” Kim said. “[My new role at Glenbrook South] is like returning to my personal and professional home.”
Unlike Kendrick’s new role, Kim’s role was preexisting. She will be replacing a former New Trier High School teacher who is retiring from Kendrick’s new role. Coincidentally, Kim attended New Trier, and the person she is replacing taught at New Trier while Kim was a student.
Nonetheless, Kim’s decision to leave D214 is bittersweet. She has worked as a Prospect Associate Principal for only three years, but she has worked in D214 for over ten years. During the past three years, she has created an English Learner (EL) program for non-English speaking students within Prospect. Kim feels gratified to have positively impacted the education of students of all ethnicities within D214 and plans to continue doing so at Glenbrook South, which has a very diverse student population, according to Kim.
“[D214 is] where I became a mother and became a leader, and the staff and students have been my support all along,” Kim said. “[At Glenbrook South], I hope to contribute my lens of equity to make decisions that are centering those whose voices are often dismissed … It was clear from my interviews that their priority is to make sure that every student feels like they belong.”
