High appointed regional superintendent of schools

The Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education didn’t have to go far to find its successor to Frank Petkunas as the regional superintendent of schools.

At Tuesday’s Kankakee County Board meeting, Patricia High was unanimously approved as the new superintendent, effective Feb. 28, when Petkunas officially retires. High has served as the assistant superintendent since 2022.

“I‘m excited to continue the traditions at I-KAN Regional Office, supporting our communities,” High said after the meeting.

High’s appointment was recommended and authorized by the committee of the chairmen of the county boards in Iroquois and Kankakee counties.

“I think our schools have a great handle on the current conditions,” High said. “Both Iroquois and Kankakee county schools support each other. It’s truly a community.”

Before becoming assistant superintendent, High was an administrator of professional development at I-KAN since 2015. She also has 17 years experience as a special education teacher in Kankakee County at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School and Herscher school districts.

High, of Herscher, is part of an education-oriented family. Her husband, Alan High, teaches at Herscher and has been a longtime soccer coach. Alan stepped away from coaching boys soccer, but he still coaches the girls team.

“So we’re definitely community-oriented,” she said. “With me taking on a new role, it’s going to be [hectic].”

Patricia and Alan are the parents of two children in the Herscher district; daughter, Gianna, is 15, and son, Dominic, is 11.

High, 45, was sworn in as the new superintendent at the board meeting by Kankakee County Clerk Dan Hendrickson.

In its resolution, the board honored Petkunas, who “has had a long and honorable term of service to the people, children and schools of Iroquois and Kankakee Counties, in Illinois, as educator and Regional Superintendent of Schools.”