When Thomas Moore, superintendent of District 219, announced his district restructuring plan, administrators, teachers, students, and department heads alike shared a wide range of feelings. 

One of the causes behind this change was the student-to-administrator and staff ratio. During the pandemic, the district introduced additional deans. But now, with student numbers declining nationwide, including within District 219, surplus administrators may no longer fit the present needs of the district.

“You want to solve problems, so sometimes you add people, which I understand, but it’s not sustainable,” Moore said in an interview with North Star News. 

The plan would remove various administrative positions. Currently, Niles North and Niles West each have their own curriculum director for each department. In Moore’s new plan, the schools will share traveling directors, consolidating the position so that there is one director per department for both schools. 

One reason for this change, Moore says, is for consistency of curriculum for both schools. 

“Having two [directors] isn’t the problem,” Moore said. “It’s not like this is wrong to have it that way. I do think that having one can lead to one voice and some consistency and expectations across the board.”

Some teachers believe this consistency is potentially beneficial to the curriculum.

“When I first heard that Superintendent Tom Moore had this plan, my initial response was ‘Great, at least it’s a direction. At least it’s a plan,’” social studies teacher Aaron Minkus said, expressing his preference for a straightforward and structured plan. “I really like when my leaders have a vision for what they want to implement. I may not always agree with it, but I would much rather operate in a system where there is a plan in place as opposed to operating in a space where there’s no seeming direction, where there’s no captain at the steering wheel.”

“[North teachers] used to get together with [West teachers] pretty regularly and compare notes and talk about curriculum together, and we’ve sort of gotten away from that in the recent years,” English teacher Laura Wright said. “So this might facilitate more times when we can get together and talk about curricular decisions and what we’re doing.”

Minkus believes that Moore’s new structure will strengthen departments, and in turn, strengthen teachers.

“Some departments have greater micromanagement than others, and some departments do not,” Minkus said. “I think [Moore’s plan] is going to allow for a bit more teacher autonomy. I have complete and total faith in the quality and character of our teachers.” 

Niles North’s Social Studies Department Director Priya Amin sees the benefits of having one director per department and remains positive about the changes. One concern that arises for her, however, is the effect on morale and relationships.

“I have relationships all over the building, and at North,” Amin said. “At West, I don’t know as many people. It can be disconcerting at first to figure out, making sure you spend quality time and build those relationships.”

Others expressed concern over a possible delay in relationship-building that this restructuring may expose.

“Building relationships again with a whole new set of people, in addition to maintaining relationships you already have here, may be a challenge,” Niles North English Department Director Sara Klos said. “You want both departments to feel like they know you, they can trust you, they can rely on you.” 

The district has seen a variety of different administration structures throughout the years. A similar model to Moore’s proposed plan of traveling directors was in place about 15 years ago, Wright recalls.

“I do believe that we’ve had a traveling director before, and it was sort of tricky because the person’s not there all the time,” Wright said. “And so, it’s just a lot for them to juggle two departments at the same time. So that was the main downside, just that the person was not available as much as you might need them.”

In response to concerns of this nature, Moore says communication won’t be much of an issue.

“In terms of  ‘When can I access my curriculum director?’ the most you’re ever going to have to wait until [the next day],” Moore said. “The schedule would be every other day at each building, typically. So I think that [concern] maybe gets a little overstated.”

Though traveling is new to the majority of those in the district, the director of the Engineering, Computer Science, & Business Education Department, Christopher Powell, has never known anything different. Powell has been a director for 22 years and has served as the North and West director. Powell sees the advantages to working at both schools, including improving curriculum consistency.

“I get to see what the teachers at West are doing,” Powell said. “Working with both [schools] and getting them to collaborate, it’s going to make it better. Once you get more heads, more people working together, you typically will come up with better solutions or newer solutions.”

Niles North English teacher Stephanie Salem, on the other hand, compares the issue to her sophomore English classes, arguing that the two schools have their respective needs.

“My sixth period class and my eighth period class are both sophomore English, but I don’t do the exact same thing every day because I want to meet those students’ needs, and they’re not exactly the same,” Salem said. “I think the same thing is true across [North and West]. The students aren’t exactly the same people, and so we don’t need to be doing the exact same thing to serve them appropriately.”

Another reason for these administrative changes, Moore says, is to strengthen the relationships between students and administrators. Deans are currently responsible for discipline within their student’s courses and workloads. The position will be replaced with the new “associate principal” role. (North Star News reached out to the current deans at Niles North, but all declined to comment.) Each associate principal will be assigned a class of students to follow for four years. The associate principal is responsible for discipline, major events for each grade (freshman orientation, prom, graduation, etc.), and career and college preparation, among other responsibilities.

“[Associate principals] get to meet them when [students are] in eighth grade,” Moore said. “And then [they’ll shake] their hands as they walk across the stage [at graduation], and they’ve been your kids for those four years. I’m really excited about that, because it was my favorite thing about when I was a principal.”

Some students, however, have built relationships with the current administrators in the building. Senior Aaqib Shareef works in the tutoring center, alongside Amin. Amin, he says, has been integral to the success of the program, offering constant improvements. Shareef, like other students, appreciates the work of directors.

“[Amin] is very important in the building,” Shareef said. “[Science director Dianna Yu also] has a [large] amount of relationships with a lot of students in the school that I feel like a lot of students appreciate.”

The district is currently in the midst of the hiring process for the new role descriptions, and selections are set to be announced in April. Moore remains optimistic about the plan.

“Do we challenge and look at the way things are?” Moore said. “Or do we just say, ‘Oh, let’s keep going.’ And this [plan] is a way that I think we can change things for adults, that I think can have a positive impact on kids without disrupting them.”