Dupage Policy Journal

Members of the Addison school district were excited to make several changes and approvals for positions within the district’s administration at their April 26 board of education meeting, including the naming of a new principal at Indian Trails Middle School. 

Superintendent Dr. Nick Sutton gave the board and community an overview of the process, including posting the position, interviewing 17 total applicants and narrowing it down to eight, then three before making a final decision. The committee used to evaluate the candidates included district office administrators, building principals, and staff from Indian Trails. 

The board was thrilled to approve the contract for Francesca Capp as the new principal, with an approved starting annual salary of $122,500.

"It is my pleasure to recommend Mrs. Francesca Capp as the next principal of Indian Trail Junior High School. She holds a master's degree in educational leadership and an undergraduate degree in communication sciences and disorders. She began her career as a speech pathologist before becoming a student resource team leader and then an assistant director of student services," Sutton said during the meeting.

Moving forward, the board pushed to approve the creation of new positions in administration, as well as approval of the job descriptions and posting for the new openings. Among the motions, Assistant Superintendent Kim Lohse directed the board to approve a job description for an assistant director of biliteracy. While the district had hired a director of biliteracy last year to better address the district’s changing population and students’ bilingual and English learner needs, they felt they still needed some additional administrative support in the area. 

The board approved the description and posting. The district will review potential candidates for the position that will report to the director of biliteracy.

A new job description, set for an assistant director of student support services, was also approved during the Wednesday meeting. 

"The percentage of students requiring unique support through special education has continued to increase as well," Loose said during the meeting. "In addition, we are twice the state average of the volume of time students with IEP spend outside of a general education setting.” 

Because of the high level of needs and time spent in special education, 

The board approved the posting of two of these positions, hoping to gain additional employees to ease the pressure of IEP planning and reporting work from teachers' shoulders amid a high level of need and time spent in special education.