Announcement of Lisa Taylor as the new Decatur Public Schools

Kendall K. Briscoe
Community Engagement
101 W. Cerro Gordo
Decatur IL 62523
Phone: 217.424.3400 Fax: 217.424.3009 [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2014
District 61 Names New Superintendent
Lisa Taylor chosen as leader of Decatur Public Schools
Decatur, IL – The Decatur Public Schools Board of Education voted to approve the contract of Lisa Taylor as the
new superintendent of Decatur Public Schools. Mrs. Taylor will be replacing retiring superintendent Gloria J. Davis
and will immediately begin her duties as superintendent.
Mrs. Taylor has extensive educational experience working on behalf of Decatur Public Schools for the past 12 years
as a teacher, building level administrator and central office administrator. Since 2010 she has held the position of
assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent where she has represented the Board of Education as the chair of
collective bargaining and co-chaired the Dennis Lab School task force. She also held the position of director of
research and information where she spearheaded all district level data collection, analysis and reporting.
“I am very excited to lead Decatur Public Schools into the future. I think we have great students, teachers and staff
and I am truly humbled to be given this opportunity,” Taylor said.
Board President Brian Hodges says that Taylor emerged from a very thorough search process as the right candidate
to lead the District. “I feel very fortunate to have Mrs. Taylor leading Decatur Public Schools and feel confident in
her abilities. She knows our successes and our challenges. Her history with the district will allows her to hit the
ground running,” says Hodges.
President Hodges explained that the extensive community input, including the focus groups, individual interviews
and online survey was the key to a successful superintendent search process. “The input from the community was
the driver that created the leadership profile report. That document outlined exactly what the community wanted to
see in the next Decatur Public Schools superintendent and that is what the search firm used to find our candidates,”
stated Hodges.
Search firm Hazard, Young & Attea (HYA) formally evaluated 45 applicants to see if they could meet the expected
characteristic’s that had been outlined by the community. From those 45 candidates, six candidates were
interviewed. The candidates represented Illinois, Ohio, Maryland and Tennessee. They consisted of two females,
four males, three African-Americans and three Caucasians. After the initial interviews were completed, the Board
selected two candidates as finalists. On Sunday, February 16, 2014 the Board of Education identified their preferred
candidate and started the lengthy completion process including the implementation of necessary paperwork, contract
negotiations, timeline development, health evaluation and contract signing.
Mrs. Taylor currently serves on the Decatur Family YMCA board of directors and is a member of the
Decatur/Macon County Education Coalition. She also serves on the Education Committee for Grow Decatur. She is
a member of the American Association of School Administrators and the Illinois Principals Association.
Mrs. Taylor is married to Rich Taylor, and together they have three children.
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