Former Burbank Superintendent Appointed as D135 Super for 1 Year (Live Blog Transcript)

Updated, 1:20 a.m., Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Orland School District 135 board members expressed confidence in their choice for superintendent before unanimously approving a one-year contract for Carol Kunst, the outgoing Burbank School District 111 superintendent.

Kunst, from Hickory Hills, will take over duties of D135's superintendent on July 1.

"We all met with Carol, and we have a high level of confidence in her," said board president John Carmody. 

Board members Mary Bragg and Tom Cunningham interviewed Kunst to serve as a full-time superintendent for one year, after the D135 board did not pick a permanent superintendent in April. Current interim superintendent Dennis Soustek was only able to serve for 100 days.

"Dennis has been so gracious to fill in as interim superintendent," Bragg said. "But with the upcoming year and changes with Common Core (standards), we could not let Dennis be effective by him working with his hands tied to 100 days. We did not feel it was fair to the district. We did not feel it was fair to the staff and community."

Cunningham praised Soustek for the trust he felt in working with him on the hire, and through several other situations. He also complimented Kunst on her willingness to work under a one year contract.

"That takes a lot of guts to take the one year contract and put yourself out there," Cunningham said. "We talked about a split, with another superintendent working another 100 days (after Soustek). But I think it’s better for the district to have someone here full time."

Kunst thanked the district board for the comments.

"And like the other recently assigned administrators, I too look very forward to the challenge of working as the educational leader for Orland District 135," Kunst said. "I appreciate your confidence you’ve expressed in me and I promise I will not disappoint."

The other administrators Kunst referred to are Dave Kennedy and Colleen Joyce, who were appointed by the board as assistant principals at and respectively. 

Updated, 3:15 p.m., Monday, June 11, 2012

apparently won’t have to wait until fall to find out who the next official superintendent will be, though the district’s top administrator will only be on contract for a single school year.

Dr. Carol A. Kunst, superintendent for Burbank School District 111, is scheduled to be appointed as the new interim superintendent for D135 at Monday night’s board meeting. Kunst has worked in education for over 30 years, also serving as superintendent in Cook County School District 154 in Thorton, assistant superintendent for student services in Cicero School District 99, and served as principal as well as other school administrator roles, according to a release from D135.

If the board approves, Kunst will serve starting in July until the end of June 2013. Starting in the fall, a new search will commence for a permanent superintendent, current interim D135 Superintendent Dennis Soustek said.  Kunst is likely to apply for the permanent position, Soustek said.

District 135 has been without a permanent superintendent since January, when Paul Howell returned to the curriculum department, and former super Dennis Soustek took over . A search , but the board .

“I gave the board four different scenarios after they chose not to hire any of the IASB (Illinois Association of School Boards), and one was to hire a full-time interim for the whole school year,” Soustek said Monday. “I think this will give the parents, students and community the most out of the options, with an administrator who can serve all 260 days of the school year.”

Soustek was limited to only 100 workdays he could serve in the interim, as part of his retirement conditions.

“She’s been superintendent of a district with 8 buildings, and while that’s not 10 like ours, it’s still close in size,” Soustek said. “I think this is somebody who can do a nice job filling in.”

New Community Relations Coordinator will be presenting during the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night before the full board meet.

Attached are the two agendas for tonight’s meetings.

Orland Park Patch’s live blog through Cover It Live will provide minute-by-minute updates from the meeting on this page starting at 6:30 p.m. Look in the Cover It Live window, and you’ll see an area where you can join in and offer your comments and questions. The same rules apply as on finished articles on the site.

Leading up to the meeting, let me know if there's anything you particularly want to know about in the comments.

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