AT CLARK STREET Xavier Botana, a former administrator with the Illinois State Board of Education, has been appointed director of teacher accountability. Botana replaces Sandra A. Givens, who retired. …Carlos Rosa, previously director of school quality assurance in the Office of Accountability, has been appointed deputy chief accountability officer. Rosa replaces Alice Perez-Peters, who retired. Joseph Atria will take over Rosa’s former post. …Joseph Hahn is now director of assessment and compliance, a new title. Responsibility for research, which Hahn previously managed, was shifted to the department of research and program evaluation.
MOVING IN/MOVING ON Effective June 1, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot has been named chair of the board of directors at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Lawrence-Lightfoot, the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at Harvard University, has been a board member since 1991. She succeeds outgoing chair John E. Corbally. … Former Chicago Tribune writer John McCarron left his post as communications director at the Metropolitan Planning Council in January. Kim Grimshaw Bolton is replacing him.
PRINCIPAL RETIREMENTS The following principals have retired: Sheila Schlaggar, Edison Regional Gifted Center; Charlotte Ann Blackman, Chalmers; Gloria Rice-Woolfolk, Faraday; Curtis Murphy, Carver Military Academy. Saundra Gray, previously assistant principal, is acting principal at Edison. Patricia Vaughn-Dossiea, previously assistant principal, is contract principal at Chalmers. Victoria Ford, former principal at Calhoun North, is acting principal at Faraday. Cynthia Hannah is acting principal at Calhoun North. Dr. William Johnson, former assistant principal, is acting principal at Carver.
PRINCIPAL CONTRACTS Phyliss Crombie-Brown, previously desegregation coordinator for Region 5, has been named contract principal at Ron Brown Elementary. Arey DeSadier, former assistant principal at Lewis, is now contract principal at Fort Dearborn. He replaces Nina Cook, who retired.
LSC AWARDS Six schools were honored at the Union League Club with “Gold Star” awards, which recognize exemplary councils for their work. The winners include: Lake View High, Nash Elementary, Galileo Elementary, Telpochcalli Elementary, Dawes Elementary and Mireles Academy. The competition was sponsored by the Chicago Successful Schools Project and a committee of civic and community leaders.
BRIDGE OF BOOKS PROJECT Sue Hepker, a consultant for the Illinois Resource Center, will head up Bridge of Books, a project that pairs four public elementary schools in Chicago with four schools in Gauteng, South Africa. Fifth-graders from both schools will use the Internet and e-mail to teach each other about their respective cultures. Hepker, who was educated in South Africa, emigrated to Chicago in 1996 and has been working with the Bridge of Books project for the Illinois Resource Center since 1997. Hepker also serves as co-director of Hug-A-Book, an inner-city literacy program used by Head Start and day care centers.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
The Chicago Assistant Principals Association is hosting a seminar Saturday, April 6, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Quality Inn at 1 S. Halsted. Michael Mahone, chief investigator for the department of school and community relations, is the guest speaker. The free seminar is open to non-members and carries a unit of professional development credit. For more information, call (773) 553-2406.
Compiled by Leah Kerkman