The Decatur school board appointed its next superintendent on Tuesday.
Nicole Nash Moody is currently the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at Springfield School District 186. She told the Decatur Public Schools District 61 Board of Education Tuesday that she appreciates what Decatur is already doing and the challenges it is facing.
“The genius is in the room,” Moody said. “We have work to do, and we’ll do it together.”
Moody will take over leadership of Decatur Public Schools in July after Superintendent Rochelle Clark retires. Her starting salary will be $237,500.
Moody has a doctorate in education from Illinois State University, in addition to a post-master’s certificate and master’s degree in educational leadership from University of Illinois Springfield and a bachelor’s in education from ISU.
Board of Education President Bill Clevenger said in a statement that Moody has the experience and steady vision needed to stabilize the district, increase literacy scores and foster trust with staff and families.
Moody said that she and her husband have two children in elementary school, two in middle and two in high school (including one of this year’s winners of Springfield’s Black History Bowl). Moody told the board that “the Moody bunch” will be moving to Decatur with her.
Three of east central Illinois’ largest school districts have new superintendents this year. Danville‘s school board hired from within in June. Champaign recruited an administrator from the Washington, D.C. area as superintendent in early February. Both school boards ousted their sitting superintendents, in contrast to Clark’s planned retirement from Decatur.