New District 103 superintendent already at work

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Superintendent-elect Scott Warren in the halls of Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire on Monday. Warren will replace retiring superintendent Larry Fleming this June. | Michael Sean Comerford~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:46AM

Scott Warren is a superintendent the likes of which District 103 hasn’t seen before.

He’s the son of a superintendent. He’s a backpacker, jogger and canoeing enthusiast. And he’s also a superintendent-elect for the Lincolnshire-Prairie View school district until the end of the school year.

Barely three weeks on the job, Warren will act as a kind of co-superintendent until the end of the year. Superintendent Larry Fleming will retire in June after eight years with the district.

“We’ve been paralleling at board meetings, but beginning this month, he will be more of the point man,” Fleming said Monday. “I think he’s off to a great start.”

Warren, 42, is also a young superintendent and he’ll face some immediate hurdles as he takes the reigns of the high-performing school district.

“The board wanted to bring me in a little early so I can hire a business manager and an assistant superintendent,” Warren said in his sparsely decorated and cramped temporary office at the district headquarters at Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire.

Business Manager Darryl Handcock and Assistant Superintendent Katrina Bruley have resigned to retire and 12 teachers have said they will retire at the end of the year. Between 18 and 20 key staffers will leave and must be replaced, an exodus Fleming calls “a very high turnover.”

He’ll also deal with a teacher’s contract up for renewal next year. The roof and air conditioning need replacing at Laura B. Sprague Elementary School this summer. The district is in the second year of its five-year strategic plan, called Vision 2015

The district’s finances are in order, Warren said, but state legislators have mandated a new system of evaluating schools. Common Core Standards this year will emphasize math proficiency.

Warren said he’ll stress curriculum and instruction, including language and technology skills using measurable milestones.

Communication and collaboration are also a big part of the Vision 2015 plan and fit well into what Warren said is his management style.

“I’m very collaborative,” Warren said. “I rely on my experts to provide a lot of the input to take care of their areas. I think you do best when you give freedom to people to make decisions, but I also believe in accountability.”

Warren will also keep a close eye on facilities, including updating classrooms at Sprague and Half Day School.

He knows of the district’s Blue Ribbon awards and test scores, which consistently rank in the top 5 to 10 percent in the state. Warren said he inherits a district already working at a high level.

“We can continue on these goals,” Warren said. “We’ll be a more open, collaborative model … That’s not a ding on the last administration. That’s just what we’re going to try to do.”

The School Board hired Warren with the expectation he would lead them into a new era, Board President David Panitch said.

“We have expectations of higher things for the district,” Panitch said Monday. “We’re not a district that rests on its laurels. There are new and exciting things going on these days in education and we want to be part of them.”

Although young for a superintendent, Warren’s resume is one of a seasoned veteran with strong local ties.

Raised in Matteson and, since eighth grade, in Deerfield, he’s the son of the late Jim Warren, who served more than a decade as superintendent of Township High School District 113, overseeing Deerfield and Highland Park high schools.

He’s an assistant scout master for Troop 150 in Deerfield, where he still lives. He describes himself as a family man, with a 16-year-old and a 13-year-old.

At home, he likes reading and is in the middle of “Mindset” by Carol Dweck, which teaches “a growth mindset” creating “motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education and sports,” according to the book cover.

He has graduated from University of Illinois, National Louis University and Loyola University.

His education career began as a fourth grade teacher and technology coordinator in Deerfield. He rose to become principal of both East Prairie School in Skokie and Meadowbrook School in Northbrook. Most recently, he was director of technology and personnel at Northbrook School District 28.

Warren was chosen from a pool of 40 candidates supplied by Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. His contract calls for a salary of $182,000 and a vehicle stipend. Selected in June, he has attended School Board meetings since his hiring. But he didn’t sit down in his office and start performing some of the tasks of a superintendent-elect until this month.

District 103 draws its 1,600 students from Lincolnshire and Prairie View and parts of Buffalo Grove, Lake Forest, Mettawa, Riverwoods and Vernon Hills.

What worries Warren most about the new job?

“I just don’t want to let people down,” he said.