Meeting via the Zoom online conferencing system, members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday night to hire veteran Middle School Principal Jill Rosentreter as High School Principal for the coming school year.
Board members, all seven of whom participated in the special meeting remotely, met in executive session for 90 minutes before returning to open session and quickly taking action to hire Rosentreter on a motion by Bill Carter, seconded by Becky Hatlee. The board met via Zoom because of social distancing precautions mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The board also voted unanimously to accept Rosentreter’s resignation as the middle school principal and to post the position as vacant.
The action is the latest in a series of personnel decisions triggered by the unexpected resignation last month of CUSD 7 Superintendent Joe Tieman. A week after accepting Tieman’s resignation for purposes of retirement, the board met in special session to elevate Shane Owsley from his position as high school principal to the superintendent’s position. Owsley, a Carlinville resident formerly employed as Dean of Students by the North Mac School District, has been employed as the high school principal for two years.
Rosentreter’s hiring Wednesday night fills the spot vacated by Owsley.
Tieman’s resignation and both new hires are effective at the end of the current academic year on June 30.
A Gillespie native, Rosentreter has served as Gillespie Middle School Principal for six years. She has been employed by the school district for more than 20 years, serving as an eighth-grade science teacher before being hired as principal.
There was no discussion in open session regarding how the board plans to proceed with filling Rosentreter’s principal’s position prior to the start of the 2020-21 school year.