LHS Superintendent Sandra Doebert Announces Upcoming Retirement

Superintendent Sandra Doebert will retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year after leading the district for the past decade.

The announcement was made Monday during the school's Teacher Institute Day, which was the last time Lemont High School's faculty and staff will all gather together this year.

"This is a decision that I have discussed with the Board of Education for several years," Doebert said in a press release. "Our Institute Day is the last time this year that all of our faculty and staff will be together at one time, and I wanted to personally make them aware of my decision before any public discussion began."

Doebert has served as the superintendent of District 210 since 2002, making her the first female superintendent in the school's history and one of only four superintendents to have served at least a decade. She came to the school in 1994 as an assistant principal, a role she filled for seven years before serving as the assistant superintendent in the 2001-02 school year.

Before working at Lemont High School, she served 15 years at Downers Grove South High School as a dean of students and English/speech teacher.

The District 210 Board of Education has been aware of Doebert's plans for some time, she said, and will begin searching for a new superintendent this summer.

"I knew I would be eligible for retirement (in June 2012), so it's something I've thought about for a long time," she said in an interview with Patch. "The decision isn't tied to anything crazy, and I'm only announcing it now because I wanted my staff to know before the search process begins this summer."

Doebert, a longtime resident of Lemont whose two sons recently graduated from Lemont High School, said one of the biggest factors in her decision was the death of her husband, Edward, in June 2009.

"Life is short, and I think I knew it was time," she said. "It doesn't mean I'm going anywhere. I lived in Lemont before, and will continue to be here after."

During Doebert's tenure as superintendent, Lemont High School has made strides in several areas—including academics, extracurriculars and improved facilities—all while enrollment has grown by 33 percent to more than 1,500 students.

Lemont students have ranked among the state's best on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, and recently the Class of 2010 posted a school-best 22.7 composite on the ACT.

The graduation rate has also improved. In Doebert's first year, 91.3 percent of students graduated, while 96.6 percent graduated in 2010.

In 2006, District 210 voters approved a $29.6 million referendum to provide new facilities for Lemont High School. Improvements included a new classroom addition, a facility for the industrial technology program, a new Performing Arts Center and renovations to the school's on-site stadium.

Though Doebert has been involved in a number of activities to improve the district, perhaps most important has been her involvement with due to the presence of Argonne National Laboratories in its boundaries. She is a past president of the National 8002 Impacted School Organization, and was recently appointed as Secretary of the Board for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools.

Doebert said she plans to continue her support of Lemont High School beyond her retirement.

"I will be ready and willing to assist them in any way they need, but more behind the scenes," she said. "I think the new superintendent will be more than capable of leading the district."

In closing her announcement Monday afternoon, Doebert called the district's faculty and staff her "family," and thanked them for the years she has served with them.