Fremd principal to leave for administrator job at District 128
Fremd High School Principal Marina Scott will leave at end of the school year for an associate superintendent job at Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128.
The District 128 board voted unanimously Monday to hire Scott, who has been Fremd principal since 2003 and has spent her entire career in Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211.
Scott, 47, said she was torn leaving Fremd, where she got her first teaching job in 1982 as a family and consumer sciences educator. She said taking the District 128 job was part of her goal of continued learning.
"Fremd will always be a part of me," Scott said through tears. "It's so hard."
Scott said she sees similarities between the districts in academic success. She said she never imagined becoming a principal, let along a districtwide administrator. She'll handle personnel issues in her new job.
"We are very excited to have Dr. Scott join our team," District 128 Associate Superintendent Prentiss Lea said in a prepared statement.
Scott will replace Lea as associate superintendent when Lea becomes superintendent in July. Scott's salary will be $163,000, district spokeswoman Mary Todoric said.
In District 211, Scott served as Fremd's assistant for eight years before a stint in the same job at Palatine High School. She eventually rejoined Fremd as principal.
Her departure means District 211 will lose 26 years of institutional knowledge, and that will be missed, Superintendent Roger Thornton said.
"Dr. Scott is an outstanding school leader -- very capable, highly effective, the kind of person that makes an impact on a school and a school district," he said. "That is appreciated by everyone."
Scott was born in Germany and came to the U.S. when she was 3. She grew up in Franklin Park and said the immigrant's experience showed her the value of education.
Scott also has coached girls gymnastics and boys and girls tennis at Fremd. And she's an adjunct professor at Loyola University's Chicago School of Education, where she earned her doctor of education in curriculum and instruction in 2003.
She graduated in 1982 from Illinois State University with a degree in family-consumer sciences and education. She also earned a master's degree in textiles and fashion design in 1991 from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Five years later, she received a master's in educational administration from NIU.
Thornton noted District 128's two high schools have about the same total enrollment as Fremd, saying Scott would be comfortable in her job. He also praised her leadership, in particular helping to establish Fremd's Freshmen Acceleration Support Team Program.
Thornton said Scott has been targeted in the past by other school districts wanting to hire her away.
Scott added she was proud of establishing Fremd's tutoring program.
She also had a message for her students: "I'll miss them, and I want to tell them never to be afraid to step out of their comfort zones, as I am. Take it as an example how we need to continue to grow."
Thornton also wouldn't rule out Scott returning to District 211.
"Who know what the future might bring in a few years?" Thornton said. "You just never know."