West Aurora School District 129 is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Valerie McCall as the director of educational equity for the district. Her appointment is for the 2020-2021 school year and was approved by the board of education on September 8, 2020.

The new position was designed to promote and sustain equity, inclusiveness, and diversity in all facets of the district, from teaching methods to hiring practices. McCall is the first individual to be named to the role within School District 129, after an extensive process that included video screenings and three rounds of in-person interviews.

McCall comes to District 129 from Cary Community Consolidated School District 26, where she worked as the associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction. Over the course of the past nine years in that role, she has been responsible for the oversight of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for students in kindergarten through grade eight. As part of the executive leadership team, she represented the district during media interviews and often lead communication with stakeholders with the intent of promoting inclusion and respect. McCall has also been an active member of Huntley Community School District’s Equity Task Force and has conducted and presented her own classroom research on multicultural literature.

Previous to her time in Cary, McCall served as the director of reading in Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401 for five years. It was there that she oversaw the reading programs for students in kindergarten through grade 12 and was responsible for restructuring the middle and high school service delivery models to devote more class time to reading. McCall also implemented clear criteria for assessment with a focus on raising outcomes for low achievers. Her classroom experience includes having been a kindergarten, first, and third grade teacher as well as a reading interventionist in places such as Rondout School District 72 (Lake Forest, IL), Peoria Public School System 150 (Peoria, IL), and Gahanna Jefferson Public Schools (Gahanna, OH).

McCall received a Bachelor of Science in elementary education from the University of Dayton, a Master of Arts in educational administration from Bradley University, and a Doctorate in educational leadership administration from Aurora University.

“I am truly excited to join such a remarkably talented team,” stated McCall. “I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues, with students, and with families as we work together to ‘foster an environment of equity and opportunity’ for all of the West Aurora community.”