Jennifer Hester, director of curriculum, instruction and professional development at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, has resigned to accept a new role as assistant superintendent for curriculum at Oak Park and River Forest High School. Outgoing District 233 Superintendent Scott Wakeley expressed gratitude for Hester’s five years of dedicated leadership, highlighting her[Read More…]
Education
2025 local school retirees
At the end of the school year, as staff take their retirement, we at The Chronicle send our thanks for their years of service.District 161 District 153 Homewood-Flossmoor High
Retirement: PE teacher loved keeping up with her Hart students
Gym teacher Marci Breed can still get down on the floor and do push-ups and other exercises with her students at James Hart School. Despite her agility, she’s retiring after 35 years as a PE teacher, 31 of those at Hart. “I’ve been teaching phys ed and I practice what[Read More…]
Retirement: Carla Evans will remember the kids and their books
As Carla Evans prepares for her retirement from Flossmoor Hills School, she feels like her 25 years there have gone by in a blink of an eye. Evans, who lives in the Flossmoor Hills neighborhood, said she took the job because it would allow her to have free time with[Read More…]
D161 board hires Mario Ford as Western Avenue School principal
The Flossmoor School District 161 Board of Education announced Wednesday, June 11, that it has approved Mario Ford as the next principal at Western Avenue School. He currently serves as assistant principal of Parker Junior High. Out of an initial pool of 65 candidates, the stakeholder committee, comprising 20 individuals[Read More…]
Retirement: Christine Engels closes the book on a 37-year career
Christine Engels is what one could call a fixture. She’s been at Homewood’s Churchill School for 37 years working under seven principals. Engels will walk out of Churchill for the last time in July when she retires from District 153. “I thought I’d go into optometry, but then you just[Read More…]
Retirement: Nilles brought changes to Willow School’s library
Margaret Nilles’ job was reading stories for and introducing books to the children at Homewood’s Willow School. She was happy to find the latest Jory John book for the youngest readers in pre-kindergarten or the chapter books about sports, dinosaurs and adventure characters for the second graders. Classes would come[Read More…]
District 153 awards food service contracts, sets new meal prices
The Homewood District 153 school board approved food service contracts to four food suppliers at the June 9 meeting. According to Eric Trimberger, chief school business official, the grocery and meat products deals have been awarded to the following companies for the 2025-26 school year: These costs total $298,910[Read More…]
Retirement: Counselor Karen Olson assisted hundreds of students
When a change in family dynamics led Karen Olson to retire from her writer/editor job at the Chicago Tribune after 22 years, she pivoted to school counseling. In July she retires after 19 years on the Homewood-Flossmoor High School counseling staff. Before that, she was a school counselor at Marian[Read More…]
Retirement: H-F is last stop in a 35-year career for Scott Wakeley
In the scheme of things, outgoing District 233 Superintendent Scott Wakeley wishes he’d been at Homewood-Flossmoor High School 10 years ago. “I wish I was here longer,” Wakeley, 57, said. He retires June 30. “I wish I was here when I was 47 to move some of the things forward[Read More…]
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