Superintendent, Evanston/Skokie School District 65

About the Opportunity

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 (D65) is seeking a Superintendent whose work will shape the district and its learners for a generation. The D65 Board, working with community and leadership, is designing and implementing a multi-year financial plan to give the district a stable foundation moving forward. The next Superintendent will build on that foundation and lead the work of closing opportunity gaps for Black, Latino, and multilingual students.

D65 serves a culturally diverse student body of approximately 6,000 students across 17 Pre-K-8 schools in Evanston and Skokie, just outside Chicago, IL. With Northwestern University, a world-class research institution, and a strong network of community-based organizations nearby, D65 has partners ready to help the next Superintendent advance the district’s goals. D65 is entering an exciting new era that will recenter academics with investments in learning spaces and resources.

About the Superintendent Role

The locally elected, seven-member District 65 Board of Education is looking for a visionary, generational leader who will drive academic excellence for every student, provide the financial management, strong organizational leadership, operational stability, and consensus-building necessary to position District 65 for a strong and sustainable future.

Operating within a progressive and engaged community that values high-quality, equitable public education, the incoming leader will partner with the board to invest in core programs and services that meet the challenges of 21st-century education. The ideal candidate will foster a collaborative and transparent working relationship with the board, staff and community, and champion instructional excellence across each of our schools.

This is an exciting opportunity to partner with an engaged board seeking to modernize its footprint and programs.

What You’ll Do (Responsibilities)

• Achieve a breakthrough in our student outcomes
• Set and sustain high academic expectations for every student, and bring innovative solutions to close opportunity gaps in reading and math, among Black, Hispanic students, multilingual learners (MLL), and special education.
• Develop a culture of accountability where all stakeholders (students, families, teachers and staff) consistently work together to reach challenging goals.
• Build accountability frameworks to foster instructional leadership that strengthens teaching and learning, with particular attention to Evanston' s historically marginalized communities, multilingual learners and special education.
• Drive improvements in leading indicators, such as attendance, participation, and grades, while rigorously monitoring research and outcome data to track progress toward readiness for high school and beyond, and distinguish inputs from outputs.
• Champion social-emotional growth alongside academic achievement, so students feel respected, encouraged, and have a sense of belonging.
• Advance culturally responsive teaching and learning, especially for the students the system has historically served least well.
• Focus the district on what demonstrably works for students, and stop what doesn't.
• Engage partners, such as municipal governments, the high school district (District 202), parks, libraries, families, community organizations, businesses, and higher education institutions, to extend learning, wrap-around and support services, improve attendance, and increase student achievement.
• Align our community around a common vision for our district
• Articulate a clear, shared vision for District 65 and organize staff, families, the board, and partners around it.
• Serve as the district's chief ambassador with city, state, and regional leaders, and advocate for what students need.
• Help the district shape its own narrative with media.
• Engage families, staff, and community early and often during times of strategic prioritization and decision-making.
• Recognize and build leadership capacity in others, within the district and across the community.
• Set clear goals with each major community partner, review results regularly, and end or reshape partnerships that are not benefiting students.
• Build and retain a data-driven team that executes at a high level
• Execute well and measure progress to ensure that work is achieving stated goals.
• Recruit, train, and retain top performers who share a commitment to excellence, equity and student outcomes.
• Energize and motivate the team, and keep them engaged through periods of change.
• Build the systems, processes, and routines that turn plans into implementation, with clear owners, goals, and review cycles.
• Make disciplined and judicious decisions about programs and investments, prioritizing those with the greatest benefit to students.
• Build constructive relationships with labor partners and bargain in good faith toward sustainable agreements.
• Manage and sustain the financial aspects of the district
• Maintain financial sustainability, meet budgets, provide transparency in all financial decisions.
• Align financial resources with student needs and district priorities through strategic and equitable resource allocation.
• Develop and communicate a clear long-term financial strategy, including planning for major capital investments.
• Establish clear expectations, accountability, and measures of success to ensure district resources and programs deliver meaningful results.
• Navigate the financial implications of declining enrollment and district right-sizing.
• Clearly communicate the district’s financial position, challenges, and decisions to the board and community.
• Work in transparency and partnership with the School Board
• Develop long-range goals and plans, aligned with the board’s vision and priorities, consistent with population trends, community growth, cultural needs, and appropriate use of district resources.
• Act as a thought partner to board members while providing timely, accurate information.
• Shape the board's annual agenda and calendar.

Requirements

What Skills You Need to Be Successful (Competencies)

Student-Centered Leadership and High Expectations

Drives educational outcomes through equitable investments in marginalized populations.

Uses data to make decisions and provide support for all students while elevating academic standards.

Demonstrates instructional excellence, with in-depth experience in multilingual learner (MLL) and special education programming.

Fosters continuous alignment, feedback, and shared learning.

Sets and meets educational goals.

Creates a collaborative, values-driven culture with high achievement and high retention.

Interpersonal Skills

Builds alliances within the organization and navigates informal and formal power structures across local, regional, and national government.

Drives alignment across institutions and organizations that don’t have historical experience collaborating.

Brings leaders together to accomplish challenging initiatives.

Integrates the school system within its larger network including D202, Northwestern University, and community partners for every student to thrive, and openly collaborates with other leaders and institutions.

Finds solutions proactively and resolves conflict while maintaining relationships across multi-matrixed negotiations.

Synthesizes complex issues quickly, bringing insights and experience from similar situations or fact patterns.

Demonstrates a commitment to the communities served and desires to make an outsized impact on children and families.

Coalition Building

Organizes and unifies students, parents, board members, education leaders, and local and state officials around a common vision.

Maintains consistent visibility and accessibility in the district, with a track record of community leadership.

Remains a measured, steady presence under pressure during intense periods of change.

Partners with formal and informal parent networks and leverages community support when possible.

Leads relentlessly from core values.

Innovation and Execution

Takes calculated risks where outdated systems and processes require dismantling.

Demonstrates the ability to innovate and iterate, clearly communicating vision and outcomes to stakeholders.

Implements the right processes and systems that demand accountability and that drive successful implementation of initiatives, with clear owners, timelines, and measures.

Rebuilds systems to deliver high educational attainment for students.

Builds a professional environment where staff are held accountable and supported.

Seeks new, data-backed interventions to improve teaching and learning outcomes.

Equity

Recognizes race and power dynamics at multiple levels of the organization and interrupts inequities through honest, difficult conversations and action.

Demonstrates cultural fluency, sensitivity, and a strong equity lens, fostering a growth mindset around issues of equity to meet the needs of diverse students and staff.

Seeks out, elevates, and values the perspectives of a wide variety of stakeholders, whether through personal experience or empathy.

Builds authentic relationships across lines of difference (race, gender, age, socioeconomic background, LGBTQ status, etc.) through self-reflection, empathy, and a clear personal identity.

Addresses equity, race, and bias in decisions with clarity, confidence, openness, empathy, and historical context.

Minimum Qualifications

• At least 15 years of senior leadership experience at progressive levels of responsibility with evidence of successful organizational outcomes.
• Successful track record of collaboration with labor unions and collective bargaining.
• Experience managing sustainable finances for a large and complex organization.
• Experience working in conjunction with a school board to identify priorities, establish goals, monitor progress, and produce outcomes in service to stakeholders.
• Successful experience working in economically diverse, multicultural, and multilingual communities and environments with student demographics similar to Evanston/Skokie School District 65.
• Understanding of the context and history of Evanston-Skokie and commitment to becoming an engaged and longstanding member of the community.
• Knowledge of Illinois public school policy and law, procedures, and management.
• Demonstrated experience building consensus and trust within an organization.
• Exceptional written, oral, and visual communication skills. Bilingual preferred.
• Eligible for a Superintendent’s license in the State of Illinois.