DANVILLE — The Danville School District 118 board has selected one of the district’s own administrators to be the next superintendent.
Westville native John Hart is now officially the head of District 118. He has been with the district for over 20 years, and he has been interim superintendent since February.
“This job has not been easy, but it only gets easier. Everybody is moving in the same direction, which makes a huge difference for the school district,” Hart said.
Hart’s predecessor, Alicia Geddis, was removed in February for not working on-site throughout the fall and winter. She said she was working remotely, because she received threats from white supremacists that led her to fear for her safety.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the board also promoted Markesha Parker from assistant director of human resources to associate superintendent.
Three of the four largest school districts in east-central Illinois are changing superintendents this year. In addition to Danville’s changeover, voters in Champaign elected a majority school board this year that promised to remove Shelia Boozer from the superintendent role and did so in May.
The superintendent of Decatur Public Schools, Rochelle Clark, is retiring this summer. The changes end a period when all of the four largest school districts were run by Black women.