| Friday, March 28, 2008 9:22 AM CDT |
After two years, youth prison schools get superintendent
By Kenneth Lowe
Kenneth.lowe@lee.net
SPRINGFIELD -- The state department that oversees youth prisons in Illinois, named a superintendent for its schools Friday after leaving the position vacant for more than a year.
Lanée Walls will take the position in the Department of Juvenile Justice. The youth prison school district has not had a superintendent since acting superintendent Roger Williams retired a few months after the formation of the department in 2006.
Kurt Friedenauer, the department’s interim director, said he is pleased to have Walls on board.
“She brings a great deal of experience, dedication and compassion for children and the necessary leadership to help the department reach its goal of providing the best education services possible for youth in our system and assist them in becoming responsible young adults,” Friedenauer said in a statement.
Walls holds education degrees from Loyola University, Governor’s State University and Eastern Illinois University, and has worked as the principal of Wilson School in Chicago Heights since 2004. Walls previously was a school psychologist for the Department of Corrections from 1995 to 1998.
A department spokeswoman said Walls will receive an annual salary of $105,000 to oversee eight institutions and over 1,000 incarcerated youths.
“I am optimistic about leading an educational system that serves students for whom solutions are urgent and critical,” Walls said in a press release Thursday.
Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, said it has taken far too long for the department to name a superintendent. But he said Walls’ appointment is a good first step after the state’s lengthy delay in getting someone hired.
“Will she make her first priority to fight for the authority and the funding to hire substantial numbers of teachers?” Lindall said. “If so, she’ll have the teachers themselves and our union behind her.”
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