The new superintendent for DeKalb School District 428, Jim Briscoe, sees a bright future for the DeKalb community.

The Northern Star had an opportunity to sit down with him to discuss his plans for the district.

Northern Star: Where did you get your education from?

Jim Briscoe: I have a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, and I earned my master’s in education administration from Northern Illinois and my educational doctorate from Northern Illinois also.

NS: What classes have you taught, and do you have any other administrative experience?

JB: I started my career here in Northern Illinois in Johnsburg, Illinois, which is a K-12 system, and started as a sixth grade social science, math and reading teacher, and then I became dean of students at a middle school. After that, I spent five years as an assistant principal at a high school, and then I spent three years as principal at Round Lake High School, and then I ended up in Brookfield, Wisconsin, which is right outside Milwaukee, as a high school principal for six years. The last six years I’ve spent as a Superintendent of schools at Oak Lawn Community High School District 229. I’ve been in DeKalb now for approximately two months.

NS: What do you plan to do for District 428 as Superintendent?

JB: …There are a lot of positive things happening in DeKalb. Just one big example is the new building referendums…The teachers in the community and the principals have worked very, very hard to get the district at a certain level. So what I’m going to do initially is learn as much as I can and try to really develop a deep appreciation for what’s happened here…Before I accepted the position I went around to the schools, all 12 of the schools in the district, and I was really impressed with what was happening in the district…There are a lot of good things going on. With that in mind, after two months…we’ve reached a five-year agreement with our teachers which I think is huge for DeKalb as a school district, and it’s very important to the community. It fits in to this whole “Re:New DeKalb” concept. We’ve got five years to work together to improve student learning and to raise the standards for our students…

NS: What do you see in the future for District 428?

JB: …I think that the community has recognized that it’s time for us to step up and really rebuild the infrastructure of this community and provide the best schools we can for our kids…I feel like there’s a synergy going on with the people in the community and they really want to move this community forward and I feel that I’m coming in on the baseline of this…I think there are some great opportunities here for us and I think the people in the community are feeling that. I’m excited to be part of it, it’s going to be a lot of work…but it’s really possible to move us forward in a pretty good timely manner.