By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post
ELMWOOD – Chad Wagner will leave his job as Superintendent of Elmwood CUSD 322 at the end of this school year.
Wagner on Nov. 30 accepted a job as superintendent of Genoa-Kingston CUSD 424 in northern Illinois after approval by that district’s school board.
He will start at Genoa-Kingston on July 1.
“It’s exciting but bittersweet, all at the same time,” said Wagner, who spent the past 10 years leading the Elmwood district. “I’ll have 45 minutes from my office to my fiancee’s front door. It’s a good move for us. The timing is right. Both my kids will be in college. It makes a lot of sense.”
Wagner, 48, is engaged to Kristin Koopman, a Wisconsin native who owns an interior-design business in Janesville, Wis.
“Kristin, to no fault of her own, was born and raised a Packers fan and has called Wisconsin home her entire life,” Wagner wrote to the Elmwood staff. “The time is now to look to a new challenge that will allow us to get closer to where she is from, while continuing my career as a superintendent.”
The Elmwood School Board will meet Dec. 18 and hopes to have a job description ready to post after that meeting, according to Board President Mark Davis.
“The sooner the better,” Davis said. “We’d like to have the job posted for 30 days so we have as many applications as possible.”
Davis said the tentative plan is to have Wagner’s replacement hired in January or February.
“As you get farther into the calendar, it can get harder and harder to find superintendents,” Davis said.
Still to be determined is which recruiting service, if any, the board will retain to help find candidates. A representative from the Illinois Association of School Boards will attend the Elmwood board’s Dec. 18 meeting.
“We’re going to decide whether we use someone to help us, or whether we beat the bushes ourselves,” Davis said. “I think some people have already approached Chad (about the Elmwood job). He said that’s a good sign.”
Wagner will become the fourth superintendent at Genoa-Kingston in the past year. Wagner has more than 25 years of experience in education with 14 years as a superintendent. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Northern Iowa and a master’s degree at Northwest Missouri State. He earned his superintendent certification at Illinois State University and a doctorate at Aurora University.
Brent O’Daniell left Genoa-Kingston in June 2023 to take a job as superintendent at Beardstown. His interim replacement, Griffin Powell, stepped down Oct. 9 due to health issues.
Powell was replaced on an interim basis by Matt Cascio, the Genoa-Kingston High School principal.
At Elmwood, Wagner oversaw five major construction projects that totaled about $18 million, including a new junior-high building, a main commons addition, remodeling of the high school gym and locker rooms, a grade school HVAC replacement and the new Claude Keefer Industrial Arts Building.
Wagner also helped navigate the district through the COVID pandemic with fairly minimal angst compared to that experienced at some neighboring districts.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot at Elmwood and it’s time to move on to a new challenge,” Wagner said.
The district has also reduced the tax rate in all but one of Wagner’s years.
“He’s good at lots of things, but his financial acumen … I’ve never seen anybody better,” said Davis, who was part of the board that hired Wagner. “He’s going to be missed. He’s done good things for our students and our academic programs.”
Wagner sent a letter to staff and parents, writing “I will be handing over the reins of this wonderful district knowing that it is in a terrific place.”
