A Message From The D124 Board of Education Dr. Robert Machak has submitted his resignation, and will conclude his tenure as the superintendent of Evergreen Park School District 124 at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. The Board of Education thanks Dr. Machak for his eight outstanding years of service to the school district and the community of Evergreen Park. The Board will meet next week to begin developing a succession plan.
Below, please find a letter to the community written by Dr. Machak:
Dear District 124 Community and Family Members,
It is with a heavy heart and a great deal of ambivalence that I share with you news that I will not be returning to District 124 for the 2020-21 school year. My last day as your Superintendent will officially be June 30, 2020.
The past eight years have sped by. It feels like it was yesterday that I sat in the office at Northeast School on a snowy evening in February of 2012 waiting to interview with the Board for this position. Our little girl, Amanda, was only five months old back then. Now, as a very active 8 year-old in 2nd grade, Amanda is involved in lots of different after-school and weekend activities ranging from swimming to dance to religious education.
As your Superintendent, I have seen firsthand how much the parents in our community love and support their children. You’re at all the concerts, all the plays, all the sporting events. As you have undoubtedly found out for yourselves at some point, it’s hard to do that from the other end of a cell phone; you have to be there. My need to provide that same type of love and support for our daughter as she gets involved in more activities after school was my singular motivation in pursuing and accepting an administrative position in a school district closer to our home in Lake County.
My new position in Woodland School District 50 (Gurnee) will cut my daily commute substantially. Working within such a close proximity to home will create opportunities to support my family and our daughter in ways that I simply can’t right now.
There is so much about District 124 and Evergreen Park that I will miss: during the interview process for this position, I was moved by the connection between the teachers, schools, and community. I loved the neighborhood school concept. I loved that the District was such a vital part of the village. I thought it was special and unique and wanted very much to be part of a school district like that. As close-knit of a community that EP is, it meant so much that you all took me in as an honorary “Southsider”. I am grateful to have had the chance to laugh with you, and even more grateful to have been able to lean on you as we mourned the loss of students, parents, and colleagues together.
I am grateful to the members of the Board of Education who took a chance on me in 2012 and to all those who have challenged me, supported me, encouraged me, questioned me, and believed in me in the eight years that have followed. I have learned something about myself and school leadership from every single one of them: John Kennedy, Terry MacDonald, Kathy Rohan, Beth Amado, Dawn McNamara, Bob McDonald, Gina Canon, Julie Egan, Mary Pniewski, Ray Richter, Sean Hynes, Robert Kelly, Colleen Klimczak, Kathryn Fontaine, Claudia Parker, Dan Malloy, Kevin O’Connor, and especially our current Board President Kimberly Leonard, who has served on the Board and as my unofficial mentor during all eight years that I have been Superintendent.
I am grateful to my District colleagues - the teachers, staff, administration, and particularly to our five incredible building principals: Kathleen, Patti, Jackie, Matt, and Tim - who take all of the District goals, plans, and initiatives and turn them into meaningful action in our schools each day. They are amazing instructional leaders and we are lucky to have them in D124.
Most of all, however, I will miss your children. D124 students are kind. They are generous. They are tough. They are resilient. They are polite and respectful. I have loved every minute of every interaction I’ve had with them. Visiting with them in our classrooms is, hands down, the highlight of any school day for me.
Thank you all once again for allowing me to serve this incredible community as your Superintendent. I look forward to doing everything I can over the next five months to move our District’s vision forward, including helping chart the course for the District’s next three years through the upcoming long-range strategic planning process. So this is not goodbye yet. There’s still a lot of work we need to do together!
In the meantime, please know that I will never forget what this school district, and the wonderful people in it, have meant and will continue to mean to my family and me.
Sincerely, Dr. Robert Machak |