A Warren County native and longtime Galesburg District 205 educator will be the new superintendent at United District 304.
Tom Hawkins, principal at Galesburg Junior-Senior High School, will take over for Jeff Whitsitt as United District 304 superintendent of schools on July 1. Hawkins was approved as the new superintendent at special board meeting Thursday.
Whitsitt is retiring at the end of the current school year.
A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Kinesiology, Hawkins began his educational career in the Galesburg 205 school district as a middle school PE teacher at Lombard Junior High. Hawkins has spent his entire career to date in the Galesburg school district holding such positions as dean of students, assistant principal, junior high principal, and most recently the Jr.-Sr. High principal of the newly formed Galesburg Junior-Senior High School.
He is a 1989 Galesburg High School graduate, but a lifelong resident of Warren County, residing in Gerlaw.
Hawkins completed his masters degree in Education and his Education Specialist license at Western Illinois University in Macomb.
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity the Board of Education has provided me to become the next superintendent of United CUSD No. 304,” Hawkins said. “I look forward to meeting the students and staff of this great district
“Warren County has always been my home, and I look forward to being a proud member of the United Community.”
D205 aims for expedited hire of new principal
District 205 Superintendent of Schools John Asplund said, “Tom has been with us for a long time, and we’re going to miss him. But at the same time, we’re very proud of him.
“United is getting a very good superintendent who will replace another very good superintendent in Jeff Whitsitt.”
Asplund said in anticipation of Hawkins’ departure the district already has posted the opening for principal at Galesburg Jr.-Sr. High School. He said he does not anticipate any internal D205 candidates, but would consider anyone with the proper credentials.
Input from a committee of students, parents and staff will be used to assist D205 administration of finding the next principal.
Asplund said he would like to have a principal candidate to present to the D205 Board of Education by the April school board meeting.
“We’d like to get it done in a pretty expeditious manner,” Asplund said. “I don’t like to draw these things out.
“Ideally, we’d like to have this done so Tom can work with the new principal and smooth the transition into next school years.
“Obviously, we just need to find one, but it’s definitely a challenging market right now.”
Asplund said he believes the position of principal at Galesburg Jr.-Sr. High is an attractive one.
“There are a lot of attractive qualities to coming here,” Asplund said. “We are a diverse school with many offerings. We have a remodeled building and the pay will be good. There is community support for the schools. And we have experienced assistants and staff to work with.”
