Board of Education hires new superintendentBoard of Education hires new superintendent

The East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education has named Dr. Jennifer Norrell as superintendent of schools.

Norrell, who is currently assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, assessments and grants for Bloom Township High School District 206, will start in her new role on July 1. The selection was the result of national search that produced 46 qualified applicants from diverse geographic and professional backgrounds.

“We are extremely happy with the outcome of this search process. Our board reached consensus that Dr. Norrell proved herself as the best fit for our District,” said Annette Johnson, president of the Board of Education. “Her leadership in helping districts increase student academic achievement is just one of many areas which demonstrate her capability to succeed in leading District 131.

In her role as assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, assessments and grants for Bloom Township High School District 206, Dr. Norrell led all district and state partnerships under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Waiver and ESSA, including activities for both Priority and Focus status schools, district wide. She also served as the district’s Title 1 director and bilingual education director.

Dr. Norrell also served as transformation office leader for the federal School Improvement Grant, and led the board of education’s curriculum committee. She created an annual parenting conference for the district’s Parent University, and quarterly parent engagement series.

Dr. Norrell has led the development and implementation of the teacher Performance Evaluation Act student growth components, evaluated district principals, including PERA student growth model component, and evaluated district coordinators for all major content areas and ELL program.

Norrell spent part of her career in higher education as an adjunct professor for assessment, curriculum, educational psychology, leadership and research design/development at Governor’s State University in University Park, IL and Saint Xavier University in Chicago, from 2005 to 2012. From 2010 to 2013, Dr. Norrell served as assistant superintendent for student learning and accountability at Rich Township High School District 127.

Over her 20 year career, Dr. Norrell has had experience teaching science at the middle school and high school levels, as well as serving as director of middle and secondary curriculum. She has led content based curriculum teams through vertical and horizontal alignment and articulation for grades K-12 science, 6-12 math, English, social studies and physical education.   

From 2013 to 2014, Dr. Norrell served as district liaison of priority districts for the Illinois Center for School Improvement.

Dr. Norrell holds a bachelor of science degree (biology) from Hampton University in Virginia; a master of arts in education (secondary science education) from Saint Xavier University in Chicago; a doctorate in education (curriculum, instruction and educational psychology). Dr. Norrell earned her superintendent endorsement in 2017 from Loyola University in Chicago.   

Dr. Norrell and her family currently reside in Chicago, and Dr. Norrell plans to also take residence in district beginning this summer.  

The search for a new superintendent began in November of 2017 when the school board retained Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates as the community input facilitator. For over a month the firm led with community engagement portion of the search, by hosting focus groups and facilitating on online survey for community input on the next superintendent.

Data from the community and staff input was used to develop the desired characteristics for the superintendent of schools.

In February, 2018, the school board retained Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates for the search portion of the process.

A first round of interviews was conducted the week of April 2, with a second round of interviews with three finalists taking place the week of May 7. The board considered input from the community and staff members in selecting Dr. Norrell from a strong pool of candidates.

The district has been led for the past two years by two interim superintendents, and is currently led by Dr. Mark McDonald and Mr. Steve Megazzini.