Schools’ Chief Wants Only the Best for Kids Dist. 62′s New Superintendent Says She Welcomes Input, Especially From Students

By Erin Holmes Daily Herald Staff Writer

When her daughter was young, Jane Westerhold – a stickler for family dinners -would sit at the table with her, sharing stories about her day as a teacher and asking for input.

“I’d say, ‘What do you think about this?’” the longtime educator said, recalling how she valued her daughter’s perspective even when she was a toddler.

The way Westerhold figures it, she wants to treat the kids at school just like her own child would want to be treated. And, though her daughter is grown now, that hasn’t changed.

“I have learned so much about education from my own daughter. And I want the same things for the kids in Des Plaines that my own daughter had,” said Westerhold, the new superintendent of Des Plaines Elementary District 62. “It’s like I’m their mom. I want to make sure everything is perfect.”

A lofty goal? Perhaps.

But Westerhold, who took over District 62′s top seat in early July, has a solid plan.

Over the course of her career, she’s worked with eight different superintendents, watching how they ran the show and coming away with a firm grasp of what’s good and what’s not.

She wants to be an accessible and approachable leader, she says; not aloof. She wants to spend time in the schools and with the kids, though she admits doing so every day could be impossible. And she wants to take no one for granted.

“I value every single employee in this district,” she said during a recent interview in her office. “No matter what they do, they all have a very important role in the education of children.”

Born in a small town

You could chalk up her attitude to being a small-town girl.

“You grow up in a small town, and you have a different style about you,” said Westerhold, who spent her childhood in downstate Staunton, population 5,000 in 2000. “I don’t have ego issues. I always say I’m folksy. People laugh.”

Her parents weren’t involved in education, but her sister is now a teacher, and “when you grow up in a small town, the school is really the focus of everything,” Westerhold said. “We lived by the school. My family was very active in all the things. I loved going there and just walking around the grounds.”

As a young teacher, she stuck close to home. Her first jobs were spent teaching fourth-grade and kindergarten in Edwardsville, about a 20-minute drive from her hometown.

At age 26, she became principal in tiny Worden, Ill. She still has a souvenir from that gig: an old hand bell that – believe it or not – she had to ring every school day morning.

The bell now sits on a ledge in her District 62 office, a reminder of how far she’s come.

Moving on up

The transition from classroom to central office was more or less a natural one – because, Westerhold says simply, “I have always loved being in leadership positions.”

As a college student at Illinois State University in Normal, Westerhold was president of her sorority, president of her dorm floor and president of the Panhellenic Society.

With education, “I think it (leadership) is the place where I can make the biggest difference – not only for children, but for families and for teachers,” she said. “You never know where your influence is going to start or stop.”

Westerhold interned as a superintendent in Edwardsville while getting her doctorate; afterward, she spent time as an assistant principal and a grade-school principal in that system.

She moved to the Chicago area when her daughter was in first grade, accepting a job as principal at Nerge School in Schaumburg. She spent nine years in Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 – at Nerge and then in the central office – before spending time in a Wauconda school system as director of curriculum and an assistant superintendent in Romeoville-based District 365.

She had her eyes fixed on the District 62 job for awhile, she said.

She knew the former leader, Robert Willis, was approaching retirement – and said she knew the district had a “great reputation” despite the financial woes made public because of a failed tax- increase request.

“When you’re looking for a position as a superintendent, you want to be in a place where they really care about kids,” Westerhold said. “I saw that in this district.”

District 62, she added, also is a good size. With about 5,000 kids, the K-8 system is a fraction of the size of the 17,000- student district she just left.

There, she said, “You tend to get a little bit lost.” In District 62, “You can still know people. You can get your arms around it, and have relationships.”

Getting acquainted

Westerhold’s chance at the District 62 seat came sooner than expected when Willis, an 11-year veteran superintendent, resigned in 2004 amid rampant rumors about his past and his future with the school system.

Willis’ sudden departure came just months before the public shot down a request for more tax money for the system.

District 62′s future seems rosier now. Westerhold was selected for her new job in February; two months later, the taxpayers gave a thumbs-up to a second tax-increase request.

Today, “the financial piece is probably my biggest worry,” Westerhold acknowledged. “Even though we’re in a better situation than we were in (before), the cuts were significant – and have run very deep.”

She plans to take a close look at the finances to ensure the cuts haven’t sliced too deeply. “I don’t believe that’s true,” she said, “but ultimately, things do trickle down.”

She said she’ll “pay very close attention” to any cost-cutting measures pitched in the future.

She’s also spent time meeting with community members, principals and others for input on how the district is perceived by the public.

That compilation “will be the guiding light to me on where I think we need to move,” she said. “That will give me a pretty good understanding” of District 62.

She’ll get added information from test scores – the schools are doing a good job meeting No Child Left Behind’s standards, she said – and use that for direction.

As the bar gets higher every year, she said, the district will have to work harder at making sure every child, as required by the law, is hitting the mark.

But she promises not to make any sweeping changes.

“A very big mistake people make is coming in and trying to change everything,” she said. “You really need to keep the things that are good and special. You just need to spend the first year getting to know the district, inside and out.”

GRAPHIC: Jane Westerhold at a glance

Originally from: Staunton, Ill., 60 miles south of Springfield

Now lives in: Schaumburg

College: Illinois State (undergraduate) Southern Illinois University (elementary education degree and master’s in educational leadership); Loyola University (doctorate).

First teaching job: Taught kindergarten and fourth grade in the Edwardsville school district

Career goal: To become a superintendent

Family: Husband (also a superintendent) and daughter; two adult stepchildren

Biggest concern facing Dist. 62: The finances. Despite a successful tax-rate hike referendum, “the cuts have been significant,” she said.

Hobbies: Boating, reading, listening to music, cooking.

Interesting tidbit: She played the French horn and trumpet in high school; still plays piano