Karen Aylward Appointed Interim Special Ed Director in Huntley School District
Karen Aylward is seen to the left of Stacy O'Deaon in this third in a series of pictures showing the shrinking Special Education Administrators in the Huntley School District found in the story linked to in the first paragraph of this article.
With Cheryl Kalkirtz no longer being Huntley School District 158’s Director of Special Education, the question arises as to who is in charge.
After I asked if Karen Aylward had been appointed Interim Director, Community Relations Coordinator Lori Woods confirmed that she had been.
A relevant question might be whether Aylward is certified to hold the post. If that interests you, then you might be interested in seeing the results of a public search on the Illinois State Board of Education’s web site below (click to enlarge):
The page showing Karen Aylward's educational certifications. Click to enlarge.
Aylward appears to have had her administrator certificate for over one year, but this public record doesn’t show any endorsement to be a Special Education Director.
Renee Erickson was one of the Assistant Special Ed Directors who left Huntley School District 158 at the end of last school year. (Three Special Ed administrators left at the end of the last school year.) Erickson received her endorsement to be a Special Ed Director last June, as evidenced by what is on the ISBE’s web site. She now works for Palatine District 211, according to the State Board of Education web site.
Does anyone in Huntley District 158 have a Special Ed Director administrator endorsement?
If not, wouldn’t that strike you as unusual?
Apparently none of the four top administrators have a Special Education endorsement. That’s what the Illinois State Board of Education web site indicates.
That would include
- Superintendent John Burkey
- Associate Superintendent Terry Awrey
- Chief Academic Officer Mary Olson
- Chief Human Resources Officer Lauren Smith
Controller Mark Altmayer is not listed on the educational certificate data base, although that doesn’t seem terribly important. (I remember voting against the first bill—usually passed as a courtesy—that State Rep. Dick Mulcahey passed after his Watergate victory. In the middle of a recession, it required school business managers to have a master’s degree in education. It was obviously a teachers’ jobs’ bill, but what a waste. Financial talent was being laid off all over the place, but, state law forbid that anyone outside of the educational establishment be hired!)
Huntley had not posted a job opening for a Special Ed Director by Monday noon.
Cal–I think you should be contacting the Regional Superintendent of Schools regarding this matter. Without someone in the administration with special education endorsement as a special education teacher or special education administrator, I question whether the state and federal government should be funding some of the special education programs at District #158. The district could seek outside consulting for such expertise but are they?
1I believe that is why this is an interim position. Either Karen Aylward will be required to get her certification or it will be filled by a qualified candidate come July 1. The state can grant probational status on candidates who do not hold the correct endorsements for a period of 1 year. Which in my guess is what is happening here.
2