District 200 Superintendent To Retire At End Of School Year

OAK PARK, IL — District 200 Superintendent Dr. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams will retire at the end of the school year. The news was announced during Thursday's District 200 Board of meeting, during which board members voted to approve Dr. Pruitt-Adam's retirement, effect July 1, 2021.

According to a news release from school officials, the superintendent's current contract extends only one more year, through June 2022, but Dr. Pruitt-Adams cited a variety of reasons that now is the right time for this decision.

Dr. Pruitt-Adams' time as superintendent for District 200 began as interim superintendent for the 2016-2017 school year, according to the news release. The board hired her as the permanent superintendent in December 2016, after a national search.

“What started out as a one-year interim agreement in 2016 has grown into a five-year commitment and labor of love,” Dr. Pruitt-Adams said, in the news release. “Being a superintendent is an extraordinarily intense job in the best of times. Doing this job while my husband and family have remained in St. Louis has been doubly hard. The toll has been tremendous, both personally and professionally. It’s bittersweet for me, but I know it’s time for me to return home.”

Calling her tenure at Oak Park and River Forest High School "the most amazing and challenging" of her 44 years as an educator, Dr. Pruitt-Adams also thanks all who have worked in partnership, according to the news release.

This spring, there will be four District 200 Board of Education seats up for election.

“Delivering this message to you now will give this Board, who knows the district so intimately, the opportunity to identify my successor,” Dr. Pruitt-Adams said.

More:

• OPRF Seniors Named 2021 National Merit Semifinalists
  
• District 97 Adaptive Pause Extended To Nov. 30

In the news release, Board President Sara Dixon Spivy said it has been a pleasure working with Dr. Pruitt-Adams, who has led the district with quiet grace and confidence, and someone who has championed racial and gender equity.

Don't miss updates about precautions in the Oak Park-River Forest area as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

"While the Board is very sorry to see her go, she is leaving us well-equipped to meet the challenges ahead, and we are grateful for her service to the District,” Spivy stated, in the news release.

According to school officials, significant milestones during Dr. Pruitt-Adam's tenure with the district include:

• Creating a strategic plan that gives the district the direction to become an exemplary school district.
• Navigating the controversy of America to Me and the walkouts and sit-ins that followed, which resulted in giving OPRF students voice at all levels of the organization.
• Eliminating barriers that exist for Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ students through policies and procedures.
• Detracking the freshman curriculum so that all students have access to honors-level classes.
• Making the first major facility changes in 50 years, enhancements that students have said they want and need.

>> For complete statement and updates on a successor