D. 202 superintendent Lane Abrell to retire

Lane Abrell, superintendent of schools for Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202, will retire in June 2022.

Glenn Wood, the district’s current superintendent and 29-year education veteran, will replace Abrell in 2022-23.

The District 202 Board of Education approved the change Monday night at its regular meeting. The board then also extended Wood’s contract through 2025.

Wood came to District 202 in 2009 as the director for high school curriculum and instruction. He was named assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in 2012.

The decision “follows an extensive 18-month review process during which the board named Wood associate superintendent and increased his leadership responsibilities,” according to a news release from District 202.

“Dr. Wood has been a leader in many areas including our efforts to expand cultural competency as well as implementing a program for foreign language at the middle school level, increasing dual credit and advanced placement courses at the high school level, and the planning for all day kindergarten,” Abrell said in the release.

Wood will shadow Abrell over the next year while still continuing his regular duties. Abrell had a similar transitioning process when he replaced former superintendent of schools John Harper in 2013-14.

Harper retired in 2014.

In the news release, the board’s president Kevin Kirberg said Wood has the “requisite skills and abilities” for the position and praised a number of Wood’s achievements, including his “strategic direction, curricular leadership, and guidance in developing the district’s remote learning plans and programs this past year,” the release said.

Wood started his education career in 1992 as a math teacher at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Heights. Before coming to District 202, he had served for three years as principal of Victor Andrew High School in Tinley Park.

In the release, Wood said he always wanted to work in education.

Some of the initiatives District 2020 implemented under Wood’s leadership include creating a student ambassador program, the Technology Trailblazer program, full-day kindergarten for all eligible students; a Chinese immersion program, a student growth component for teacher and administrator evaluation, a standards-based elementary report card, a Common Core State Standards community engagement plan, a district-wide accountability processes with customized data reports created for schools, practical models for district and school-wide reform and improvement, increased dual credit and Advanced Placement offerings, a high school Seal of Bi-literacy program, the district’s Cultural Competency Committee, practical models for district and school-wide reform and improvement, and a data analysis process for local, state, and federal accountability measures; and

Wood also participated in and helped lead district-wide teacher contract negotiations.