Meet District 41's New Superintendent: Letter to the Community

Glen Ellyn District 41's new Superintendent Paul Gordon sent out a message to community members through e-mail Thursday. Here is that e-mail message in its entirety.

Dear community member,

I'm writing today to send you my greetings as the new superintendent for Glen Ellyn School District 41, and to let you know a little about myself and my family. I also want say how happy I am to be here, and how much I'm enjoying meeting members of the community.

I'm 46 and have been married to my wife Marianne for 18 years. Our son Matthew is 17 and will be a senior at Wheaton Warrenville South High School, and our daughter Gabriella is 16 and will be a junior. We've just moved into a beautiful little home in Wheaton and have been enjoying the pleasures of the Prairie Path, the charming western suburbs and excursions into the city.

A Colorado native, I worked construction as a young man, but very soon started to feel a need to contribute in a different way and turned to education, building a career in a K-12 district of about 43,000 students just outside Denver called Adams 12. In my 23 years there, I was a reading teacher, assistant principal, principal and executive director of schools. Most recently I was the chief academic officer, responsible for the quality of the education and services we provided students.

I loved my time in Adams 12, but the more I learned about District 41 the more I was drawn to it. I was impressed by the philosophy expressed in the district Vision Statement, Long-Range Plan and Learner Characteristics, and I was attracted by the systemic and forward-looking initiatives the district is taking to help students succeed in the 21st century. I will work hard to continue that commitment to the community's children.

In the short time I've been here, everyone I've met has gone out of their way to be friendly and helpful to me and to my family; consequently, we are starting to feel at home much more quickly than I had expected. Please keep an eye out for an invitation to a short, informal "meet and greet" here at the district offices at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 26 preceding the board meeting--there will be some light refreshments and a chance for us to connect and put names to faces.  

Sincerely,

Paul Gordon

Superintendent of Glen Ellyn School District 41