Editor's note: This story was originally published in the .
St. Clair County Regional Superintendent of Schools Mark Eichenlaub, who has a doctorate in educational leadership and administration, is scheduled to retire Nov. 30, 2023 after serving over 36 years in public education.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been an honor to serve the people of St. Clair County and to serve under leadership of the county. I couldn鈥檛 be more humbled to have been asked to do this,鈥� he said.
The St. Clair County Board adopted a resolution Monday night to appoint Waterloo High School Principal Lori Costello to the position starting Jan. 1, 2024 until the general election the following November, when it will be filled by election for the rest of the term. The board will appoint an interim regional superintendent at this month鈥檚 board meeting for December.
Costello said she will be resigning as principal effective December 31, 2023, and the school board will hire her replacement.
On the 2023 Illinois Report Card, Waterloo High School , indicating that it performed in the top 10% of public schools statewide in the 2022-23 school year.
Eichelaub first began at the in July 2018 as assistant superintendent. In Oct. 2020, he became regional superintendent when his predecessor, Susan Sarfaty, retired mid-term. Retirement plans and election cycles don鈥檛 always align for many positions in elected office, according to St. Clair County Clerk Thomas Holbrook.
Eichenlaub ran in the Nov. 2022 general election, becoming elected for a term starting July 2023 through June 2027.
Regional superintendents are the chief administrative officers of the state鈥檚 regional offices of education and the only elected education professional office, according to the .
鈥淲e are there to support the needs, long term and short term, of all of our publics. And we try to do that in the best way we possibly can,鈥� Eichenlaub said.
Those publics include students, parents, teachers, administrators, school board members, and the Illinois State Board of Education, he said.
鈥淎 lot of our work is done behind the scenes and working with people to make sure their needs are met,鈥� he said, which includes working as a group of regional superintendents on legislative issues.
Eichenlaub said as the leader of education of the county, 鈥測ou look at the big picture items of 鈥榃hat really impacts students?鈥欌��
Addressing challenges in education
Among the biggest challenges Eichenlaub worked to address during his tenure were students鈥� learning recovery from COVID-19 and the teacher shortage, he said. Internally, he said they鈥檝e done a lot of work to modernize and streamline the regional office鈥檚 technology to be able to best serve everyone.
鈥淚鈥檓 extremely proud of how our districts have come back from COVID. This has been a huge challenge, and districts and communities have faced things that they鈥檝e never seen before,鈥� Eichenlaub said.
The pandemic recovery has included a much-needed focus on social-emotional support for students and continued high academic expectations 鈥渢o serve the , so to speak,鈥� he said.
Eichenlaub said he鈥檚 also been impressed with how students, parents and teachers responded by bringing in and learning how to use technology to support instruction, which has carried over with teachers integrating technology into students鈥� learning every day now.
鈥淚t鈥檚 probably the biggest and greatest professional development movement that鈥檚 ever happened in the history of education,鈥� he said.
For the teacher shortage, he said one of the biggest things the regional office has done is to help people who don鈥檛 have a teaching degree find pathways to become teachers and then provide them professional development support to ensure their success.
鈥淲e have a tremendous group of educators in both our non-public and our public schools,鈥� he said.
While there are openings in the county, there are still people interested in going into teaching.
鈥淲e have to support that as much as possible,鈥� Eichenlaub said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been very proud of what we鈥檝e done in the county to work as a team to try to help with this very big issue of teacher shortage.鈥�
Veteran Waterloo administrator
Lori Costello, who has been the principal at Waterloo High School for the past 10 years and was assistant principal for the six years before that, will assume the position of regional superintendent in the new year.
She has her superintendent鈥檚 and chief school business official endorsements from the University of Illinois, a master鈥檚 degree in educational leadership as well as her teacher certification in business education from McKendree University, and a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Illinois State University.
鈥淚 welcome this new responsibility in education and look forward to working with the team at the Regional Office,鈥� Costello said in an email.
She said her priorities as regional superintendent will be the teacher shortage and the safety of students, administrators, teachers and staff in schools throughout the county.
鈥淢ost importantly, I will work to ensure all students in St. Clair County have access to a high quality education,鈥� Costello said.
Kelly Smits is a reporter with the , a news partner of 漏 2024 外网天堂.
