District 127 Leader Named as Lake Co. Superintendent of Year

The Grayslake Community High School District 127 superintendent has been named as the 2014 Lake County Superintendent of the Year. 

Catherine Finger was presented with the award and honored on May 21 at the Lake County Superintendent’s meeting in Gurnee.

Finger will be the county’s nominee for the Illinois State Superintendent of the Year Award, which will be determined by IASA at its annual November meeting in Chicago, according to the Grayslake Community High School District 127 press release. 

Dr. Finger has been superintendent of Grayslake High School District 127 since 2005. She previously served as Associate Superintendent in District 128.

Finger began her career as a foreign language teacher in the Chicago Public Schools and she also taught at Evanston Township High School. 

She spent five years in Naperville District 203 as a Curriculum Director and High School Administrator and then served as a Middle School Principal in North Shore School District 112 for three years. 

She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and master’s and doctoral degrees from National Louis University. Currently she teaches in the doctoral program at Concordia University.

The Lake County Superintendent of the Year finalists are measured against the following criteria:

• Leadership for learning: creativity in successfully meeting the needs of students in his or her school system.
• Communication: strength in both personal and organizational communication.
• Professionalism: constant improvement of administrative knowledge and skills, while providing professional development opportunities and motivation to others on the education team.
• Community involvement: active participation in local community activities and an understanding of regional, national and international issues.