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* This was released late yesterday afternoon, just hours before today’s ISBE board meeting…
Gov. Pritzker Appoints New Members of Illinois State Board of Education
Springfield, Ill. — Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced his appointments serve on the Illinois State Board of Education:
Darren Reisberg will serve as chair of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Reisberg currently serves as the vice president for strategic initiatives and deputy provost at the University of Chicago. He served the university as vice president and secretary, and the first executive director of the university’s Institute of Politics, where he currently serves on the Institute’s Board of Advisors. Prior, Reisberg served as general counsel and deputy superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education. In those roles, he counseled the State Superintendent of Education and State Board of Education on legal, policy, and operational matters. He also was an employment and labor attorney at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin LLP and worked as a judicial law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer. Reisberg received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School and his Bachelor of Arts in political science at Duke University.
Christine Benson will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Benson has 35 years of teaching and administrative experience in Illinois public schools ranging from elementary, middle and high school. She served as central office administrator for seven years, focusing on budget management, curriculum development and grants. Benson served as superintendent for six years at Mendota High School, five years at Ottawa Elementary School District and six years at Streator Elementary School District. She received her Doctor of Education from Northern Illinois University and her Master of Science in education administration and Bachelor of Music Education from Illinois State University.
Cynthia Latimer will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Latimer has over 33 years of administrative and classroom experience in Aurora school districts. Beginning her career as a special education teacher at East Aurora District 131 and later West Aurora School District 129 for 10 years, Latimer went on to serve as principal of W.S. Beaupre Elementary School from 1990 to 1993 and Abraham Lincoln Elementary School from 1993 to 2000. She then served as chief officer for special populations at District 129, working closely with social workers, psychologists, speech and language pathologists, teachers and nurses throughout the district. In 2006, Latimer was promoted to Assistant Superintendent in the Division of Student Services, and in 2008, she became the Assistant Superintendent in the Division of Teaching & Learning, which included oversight of all aspects of PK-12 instruction including those of the former Student Services Division. She held this role until her retirement in 2014. Latimer received her Master of Science in educational leadership and policy study from Northern Illinois University and her Bachelor of Science in special education from Illinois State University.
Donna Simpson Leak will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Leak currently serves as superintendent of Community Consolidated Schools District 168. She has trained thousands of teachers and presented at more than 200 conferences worldwide. Previously, Leak served as assistant superintendent and superintendent of schools in Rich Township High School District 227, where she oversaw all functions of the district including curriculum and instruction, federal and state grants, district improvement, and campus restructuring initiatives. During her tenure in Rich Township, the district’s high schools received the distinction of Best High Schools in America from U.S. News & World Report. Leak has been a member of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics Board for several years and is a lead instructor with the Professional Learning Community academies. Leak has also been an active member of the American Association of School Administrators for the past decade, recently receiving her National Certification Certificate. Leak received her PhD in administration and supervision from Loyola University, Master of Arts in educational administration from Governor’s State University and Bachelor of Science in mathematics from University of Illinois at Chicago.
David Lett will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Lett has spent more than 35 years teaching and leading K-12 school and in higher education. He currently is an adjunct professor on the Education Leadership Department at the University of Illinois at Springfield. From 2001 to 2017, Lett served as superintendent for Pana Community Unit School District 8. Prior, he serves as the middle school principal at Seneca Grade School and assistant principal at Ottawa Township High School. He taught social sciences at Seneca, Morrison High School and Reddick Junior High/High School at the beginning of his career. Lett received his Doctor of Education and Master of Education Administration from Illinois State University and his Bachelor of Science in economics from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Susan Morrison will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Morrison has worked as an Illinois educator and advocate for children for almost 40 years. She began her career as a social studies teacher, working for 10 years in Homer and Girard. Morrison taught middle and high school social studies and had administrative experience as a building principal and director of curriculum and instruction. She was also selected as the first state director for AdvancED at the University of Illinois. Morrison’s statewide leadership responsibilities have included positions as state director of School Improvement, state director of Gifted Education, state director of Education to Careers, and program director for many state and federal programs. She had oversight for state accountability, standards and assessment, teaching and learning, educator effectiveness, special education, early childhood education, bilingual education, and career and technical education prior to retiring as deputy superintendent/chief education officer at ISBE in June 2015. Morrison received her Master of Arts in educational administration from the University of Illinois Springfield, her bachelor’s degree from Cornell College, and a specialist degree in superintendency from Eastern Illinois University. She holds a Professional Educator License endorsed for teacher, principal and superintendent. Two of Morrison’s four children are public school teachers in Illinois. Morrison was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Education in July 2017 by Governor Bruce Rauner.
Cristina Pacione-Zayas will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Pacione-Zayas currently serves as the director of policy at Erikson Institute where she generates systemic solutions leading to equitable opportunities and positive outcomes for young children, families, and communities. Her work is informed by over a decade of experience leading education policy and community education initiatives in Illinois’s Latinx communities. Previously, Pacione-Zayas led the Latino Policy Forum’s Education Department with a focus on improving education policy in the birth-to-third-grade continuum that will produce positive outcomes for Latinx and immigrant children. During her two years as the culture of calm coordinator for Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a public high school in Chicago, she cultivated a 29 percent reduction in serious disciplinary infractions. As the community schools director at Enlace Chicago, she managed a network of eight community schools in the Little Village neighborhood, representing more than 1,500 youths and 650 adults. She received her doctorate in educational policy studies, Master of Education in educational policy studies and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in sociology and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jane Quinlan will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Quinlan currently is regional superintendent for the Champaign-Ford Regional Office of Education 9, where she previously was the assistant regional superintendent. She served as the vice president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools from 2011-13. She previously served as director of ROE SchoolWorks, the professional development division of Champaign-Ford ROE and Vermilion ROE. Quinlan also has worked as a reading and language arts specialist at Education Service Center 13, where she later became assistant director and director. She received her Ph.D. in educational organization and leadership and her M.Ed. in reading from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her B.S.Ed. in elementary education from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
Jacqueline Robbins will serve as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.* Robbins served as UniServ Director for Region 53 and 35 at Illinois Education Association from 2007 to 2017. She previously taught at Dunlap High School, served as community relations manager and instructor of 28 programs at Hult Health Education Center and as program coordinator and instructor at Illinois Central College. She received her Master of Arts from Bradley University and Bachelor of Arts from Millikin University.
All appointments are pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:32 am
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All teachers…hmmm, I wonder what the taxpayers can expect from this group?
Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:40 am
Meeks had been on the milk carton, anyway, what with Rauner’s so-called Secretary of Education redundant stashed on the DHS payroll.
I can’t recall Meeks having any public role in the education-funding formula rewrite. He certainly wasn’t pushing vouchers or open enrollment.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:41 am
“All teachers…hmmm, I wonder what the taxpayers can expect from this group?”
Perhaps real world experience about our educational system and what it takes to provide a quality education to all students in Illinois?
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:42 am
==I wonder what the taxpayers can expect from this group?==
Since you seem to have a thought about it why don’t you tell us what that is? I can guess what your “beef” is but don’t hide it under a bushel.
And they aren’t all teachers. Reisberg was not.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:43 am
And heaven forbid we would have people on the State Board of Education who have had both administrator and teaching experience making education policy. I mean, why would we want such an inept group doing that? /s
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 10:48 am
Demo, I don’t have any critcism for any of these choices. I know 2 of them and know they’ll be outstanding. I still think it wouldn’t hurt to have 1 with strong expertise in finance there.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:00 am
Demoralized 10:48,
Exactly. Hmmm. I wonder why there aren’t more academic historians in corporate boardrooms around the country. Oh that’s right. We don’t know anything about the businesses in question.
The arrogance of any business person assuming he or she is called to “reform” education would be akin to me “straightening out” your oil company. And yet look no further than our intrepid U.S. Sec. of Ed. in her vanity hobby job.
Good intentions aside, “business mindedness” is destroying education in America in several ways. Destroying the pay and professional status of teachers has insured that only the most idealistic or the weakest of students seek a career in education. This has been crushing. I’ve seen it with my own kids. There are two kinds of teachers. Seldom talked about is the reduction of education to worker training. Nifty trick, suckering your workforce into into going into debt to pay for their on the job training. The decline in American education coincides with the rise of “business-mindedness” in education.
Find another hobby!
Comment by histprof Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:03 am
Taxpayers already made their voices heard in November. The answer was clear.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:05 am
A Guy:
All of those who served as administrators would have experience in the area of school finance. And I had the opportunity to work with Darren Reisberg and can tell you that he is extremely smart and understands finances very well. But I take your point.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:05 am
That’s right. Not a penny for education, right?
Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:08 am
The most qualified State Board of Education in my 40 years of experience.
Comment by Grandpa2 Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:08 am
Good riddance to Meeks. I suppose he didn’t do anything actively harmful, but he sure wasn’t actively helpful from what I saw.
These seem to be excellent selections. I’ll be really interested to see where this takes ISBE.
Comment by Chicago_Downstater Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:08 am
=All teachers…hmmm, I wonder what the taxpayers can expect from this group?=
Deep institutional knowledge and professionalism as opposed to a bunch of amateur know-it-alls.
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:30 am
How hard was it to find Chairman Meeks to inform him he was being replaced? He’s been MIA for almost four years.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:38 am
Are the inmates in charge of the asylum? Anyone to reign in the excesses of the professional educators? our local school boards are generally “laymen.”
Comment by Simple mind Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:40 am
Good-bye to the ever absent Meeks.
Comment by Flynn's Mom Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:47 am
Is it me or is there any other local politician who has played his cars as badly as Meeks? I don’t mean anyone who went to jail or had a scandal - Blago, Ryan, Schock, etc. But anyone who looked like they might have been something and ended up like Meeks.
Comment by Paddyrollingstone Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 11:50 am
=All teachers…hmmm, I wonder what the taxpayers can expect from this group?=
So, when leading an industry like say, medicine for example, maybe we should appoint a panel of airline pilots?
=I still think it wouldn’t hurt to have 1 with strong expertise in finance there.=
Lett and Benson have school finance chops in spades. And you need someone with a knowledge of Illinois School Finance because it isn’t the same as say a CPA or investment banking.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:16 pm
=all teachers…I wonder what taxpayers can expect=
Aren’t teachers taxpayers too?
Comment by A 400lb. Guy on a bed Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:21 pm
==Are the inmates in charge of the asylum?==
The equivalent to “inmates” would be the students. So, no.
==Anyone to reign in the excesses of the professional educators?==
What so you mean by “excesses”? If you are referring to a focus on giving students an education based on what the evidence shows works the best, I would not see that as excess.
==our local school boards are generally “laymen.”==
Because of that, school boards are directed by laws passed by the GA and rules and regulations from ISBE. The system works best when there are knowledgeable people at the top.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 12:52 pm
Teachers should always be nice to their C & D students. They will be the school board members of the future.
Comment by Blockedmore Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 1:04 pm
I understand that the incoming governor has the power to appoint the chairman and four members (thus setting a majority of the board); however, it appears that Governor Pritzker is appointing the entire board (with one Rauner holdover, whose appointment expired in January 2019, according to the biography on the ISBE web page). So, did the remaining members then resign of their own free will, or were they “gently encouraged” to leave the board?
Comment by Silent Budgeteer Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:02 pm
Silent Budgeteer, it appears that the last four appointments by Governor Rauner were never confirmed by the Senate; thus, Governor Pritzker had the power to withdraw their nominations and substitute in new people.
Comment by DER Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:22 pm
@DER - Thank you very much; I had not thought about that.
Comment by Silent Budgeteer Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 2:31 pm
Are board members full-time positions?
Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 3:18 pm
City Zen, no, they’re not. They’re unpaid and meet once a month, although historically board members have been active in attending meetings and doing other outreach beyond the monthly meeting.
Comment by DER Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 3:36 pm
==Are board members full-time positions?==
No. They get expenses and I think $50 a meeting.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 3:58 pm
@silent budgeteer
I believe the other board members were never actually confirmed.
Comment by no name Tuesday, Feb 26, 19 @ 4:51 pm
All solid people - no questions about that. Does it not seem counter-intuitive for the state board of education not to have at least one, if not more, experienced school board members that have the experience of overseeing a a school district from the vantage point of a community member, selected by the community? Just saying…..
Comment by local school board member N.Cook Thursday, Feb 28, 19 @ 2:13 pm