Dr. Chris Sullens sees significant progress the Kewanee School District made during his tenure as the district’s superintendent. Sullens, who became superintendent for Kewanee Community Unit School District #229 in 2006, announced this week that he will retire at the end of the 2023-24 school year.
Positive changes during that time, he said, include the extensive new construction at the district’s school buildings; the progression to high-tech learning methods; coordination of curriculum among the district’s buildings; and development of new programs to meet students’ needs. The biggest potential downside Sullens sees is the increase in students’ use of social media.
Sullens began his career in education as the industrial arts teacher at Galva High School in 1986, a job he held for 12 years. In 1998 he became principal at Neponset High School; he moved to the grade school the next year, when Neponset High was deactivated. Two years later Sullens became principal and superintendent at Neponset, and in 2006 he became superintendent of both Kewanee and Neponset. In 2011, Neponset was annexed to the Kewanee district and Sullens remained as Kewanee superintendent.
He said his primary reason for retiring at age 62 is a buyout offered by the state’s teacher retirement system, which will affect his pension. Sullens pointed to the excellence of his building principals and a dedicated school board as reasons for the district’s success.
One of the first jobs Sullens tackled as Kewanee superintendent was the transition of the district’s elementary schools from neighborhood schools to grade-level schools. That switch had been made a couple of years before Sullens took over, but there still was a need for curriculum alignment among the schools, and for professional development for faculty and staff.
Building projects carried out during Sullens’s time as superintendent included new weight and wrestling rooms at KHS, additions to KHS for expanded science classrooms and ag classes, Sullens Gym at Central (named for Chris’s father, Ken, a longtime principal at the school); and major expansions of Belle Alexander and Neponset grade schools.
While the construction is the most visible change to the school system, “We have done so much on the academic side, it’s incredible,” Sullens said.
For example, there is now enough space for physics and chemistry students to do experiments in the classroom instead of in the hallway as was done before. Every student now has access to his and her own Chromebook computer, and high-tech learning equipment is available throughout the district.
The challenge posed by social media is one of Sullens’ chief concerns. A dispute between students that once might not have amounted to anything, now can be shared to Instagram or Snapchat and circulate throughout the school, for example. Counseling staff has been increased throughout the district, which should help students deal with these problems, Sullens said,
