This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

District 124 Votes in New Principal for Southwest Elementary

Board members voted in Patricia Bogdan, Mokena Intermediate School District 159 assistant principal, as the new principal of Southwest Elementary School.

Updated at 11:40 a.m.

While the attention was on municipal election results in the village, current members of the Evergreen Park Elementary School District 124 Board of Education voted in a new principal for effective July, 2011.

Patricia Bogdan, a current assistant principal at Mokena Intermediate School District 154, said she's been in education for 12 years—six of them as a teacher and the other six as an assistant principal in the Mokena school district. She also has experience as a district mentor coordinator.

Find out what's happening in Evergreen Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bogdan received her BA in Elementary Education, with a minor in special education, and her MA in Educational Administration, both from Governor’s State University.

"I'm really excited and look forward to getting to know the staff, getting to know the kids, and the community," Bogdan said Tuesday evening at a special meeting of the Board of Education. "I'm ready."

Find out what's happening in Evergreen Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Her decision, she said, was largely based on the "community" feel of the school.

"I always had my eye on Evergreen for any changes in administration and when this one opened up, I was very excited, because of the community," Bogdan said. "I manage a much larger school, so the whole neighborhood school was really appealing to me."

Staff and parents had a hand in choosing the new principal.

"I appreciated that the staff was involved in the process," said Sherrie Sabbath, a sixth-grade teacher at Southwest Elementary School. "We weren't just there as a formality. We were there participating in the process until the very end."

A parent said she felt like the community "had ownership in the process."

Superintendent Diane Cody said nine people helped choose the new principal—six staff members from Southwest Elementary School and three parents. According to her, the school had more than 70 applicants, and the selection group narrowed it down to 13 candidates for the job. Bogdan was chosen from a smaller group of four.

Southwest Elementary School first-grader Maureen Bradley attended the meeting with her mother, , and gave her new principal a bouquet of flowers.

Former Principal Denise Thomas announced in January . She had been on a leave of absence since October. During that time, retired principal Sandy Truax had served as the interim principal. Citing privacy concerns, district officials would not disclose the reasons behind Thomas' departure.

Bogdan said she'll spend time learning the ropes at Southwest Elementary School during her spring break at the end of April.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Evergreen Park