The Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Board of Education quickly turned to familiar faces to fill the superintendent’s role in the district after superintendent Ushma Shah suddenly resigned, effectively immediately, on Aug. 15.
At a special meeting on Aug. 18 the School Board voted 6-0 to appoint current assistant superintendent Patrick Robinson to be acting superintendent until Sept. 15. At that time retired superintendents Griff Powell and Patricia Wernet will take over as co-interim superintendents for the remainder of the 2025-26 school while the board searches for a new leader.
Powell and Wernet are familiar with District 97 having served as co-interim superintendents in District 97 in the 2021-2022 school year before Shah was hired in 2022.
“We are excited to welcome back Dr. Powell and Dr. Wernet, who bring both deep experience and a strong connection to Oak Park,” said Cheree Moore, president of the District 97 Board of Education in a news release issued by the district after the special meeting. “Alongside our dedicated administrative team, they will help guide the district with stability and care. We are also grateful for Mr. Robinson’s steady leadership during this transition. With this team in place, we are confident District 97 will continue moving forward for our students, staff, and families.”
Powell and Wernet have also worked together as interim superintendents in Glenview School District 34 and both have served as interim superintendents and superintendents in a number of school districts. Because they are both retired and receiving pensions from the Illinois Teacher Retirement System, they can only work a certain number of days to continue receiving their pension benefits so they will share the superintendent job in District 97 and neither will work full time. Their pay from District 97 was not disclosed because their contracts still must be negotiated.
Powell, 79, has been a permanent superintendent in five school districts. This will be his 14th interim superintendent assignment since he retired from his last permanent superintendent position at Niles Township High School District 219 in 2002.
I know I’m the most experienced interim (superintendent) in the state,” Powell told Pioneer Press. “I’m probably the most experienced superintendent in the state.”
When a school district calls him and asks him to fill in, Powell can’t resist answering the call.
“I love the work and I’m not a person that has a lot of hobbies,” Powell said. “I don’t play golf, I don’t fish, I don’t play a musical instrument and I really do love working and I love the field of education. I’ve spent my whole life dedicated to it.”
Wernet has been superintendent in Berwyn South School District 100 and Lisle Community Unit School District 202 as well as serving as an interim superintendent in a number of districts.
“Our job as co-interim superintendents is to provide the teaching staff, most importantly, and the support staff all the resources and support necessary to give maximum services to our students,” Powell said. “We want to allow the board to focus on hiring their new leader on a more permanent basis.”
Robinson has been assistant superintendent for elementary schools in District 97 since 2023. Prior to that he was the principal of Whittier School in Oak Park for five years.
At the Aug. 18 board meeting, members also, without any discussion, voted 6-0 to accept Shah’s resignation. After the meeting they shed little light on why Shah resigned, referring to a joint statement the school board and Shah released announcing Shah’s immediate resignation. That statement did not give a reason for Shah’s resignation and did not include a comment from Shah. In response to a specific question Moore did say that Shah was not asked to resign.
“She voluntarily resigned,” Moore said.
Shah was at the Aug. 12 School Board meeting, just three days before she resigned, and gave no hint in open session that she was going to be resigning.
Moore declined to say when she learned that Shah was resigning.
Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Bob Skolnik
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