Mark Kuzniewski thought his office days were behind him for good. Little did he know what awaited him.
Kuzniewski, 55, retired this summer from his job as the superintendent of school District 95, a job he had held for 16 years, nearly half of his 33-year career in education. When he walked out of the administrative headquarters of Brookfield LaGrange Park last June, his mind was on fishing.
Over the summer Kuzniewski, who is a licensed U.S. Coast Guard captain who has his own fishing guide business, did in fact take a fishing trip to Alaska’s Admiralty Island and also spent a lot of time on a boat fishing in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
But then in August, Kuzniewski got a call from Martha Ryan-Toye, the superintendent of Riverside Elementary School District 96. Would he be interested in a one-year interim job to replace Jim Fitton, District 96’s director of Finance and Operations, who was departing?
Rather than do a rushed search for permanent replacement, Ryan-Toye reached out to Kuzniewski who she knew from their years as neighboring school superintendents.
She knew that Kuzniewski held the chief school business official role throughout his time as superintendent at District 95 and handled the district’s high level financial work so he seemed like a great fit to hold down the fort this while the district conducts a search for permanent finance director.
“Jim didn’t make a determination about his change in employment until a bit later than is typical of an administrator resigning so we knew that it would be challenging to hire somebody of high quality so late in our school year so I think it’s not an unusual decision to make an interim decision when the hiring is late,” Ryan-Toye said. “I will also say that the particular role of a certified school business official, business manager, director of finance is certainly a hard to replace, hard to find area right now in our field so going to an interim made the most sense to us.”
Since Kuznetsky’s wife, who is a middle school physical education teacher, had one more year to go to retirement Kuzniewski decided he would help his former colleague out and work for one more year. The job was good fit for Kuzniewski who never had a finance director at District 95. And he was comfortable with Ryan-Toye.
“It was just the right place and the right work,” said Kuzniewski who said that he wouldn’t have gone back to work for any other job.
So, Kuzniewski agreed to put down his fishing pole and start looking at spreadsheets again.
“We’re really thrilled that Mark was willing to do it,” Ryan-Toye said.
Kuzniewski has been working at District 96 since Sept. 2 even though he wasn’t officially hired until the District 96 school board voted 6-0 to hire him as the interim director of Finance and Operations at the Sept. 17 school board meeting.
“I’m glad to be here and help out,” Kuzniewski told the school board after it voted to hire him. “I’ve had a good relationship with Martha over the last 10 years or so being a neighboring superintendent so I’m excited to be here and again thank you.”
In his 16 years heading District 95, Kuzniewski led the district with a steady hand and had many accomplishments. He spearheaded the renovation and expansion the district’s two schools, Brook Park Elementary School and SE Gross Middle School, he improved and stabilized the district’s financial condition, he instituted full day kindergarten and, perhaps most important of all, he presided over remarkable stability in the district’s leadership team with now superintendent Ryan Evans, Brook Park Principal Mike Sorensen and Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Cathy Cannon in key roles. The stability of the district’s leadership team is what he is most proud of.
“That has created an excellent culture at 95,” Kuzniewski said adding that parents in District 95 have faith that their children will receive an excellent education in District 95.
Kuzniewski said that he won’t miss not being the top dog at his new job. He said it’s nice not to have worry about everything but it does take a bit of an adjustment.
“I definitely do not miss that job or that role and there are parts of me that hears Martha dealing with something and I feel myself getting up (and then I think) like oh not my job and I sit back down and go back to looking at numbers,” Kuzniewski said.
Ryan-Toye said that it’s great having a former superintendent in the district’s headquarters on Harlem Ave.
“I am enjoying that part,” Ryan-Toye said. “It’s nice to be able to share ideas and know that he fully understands what it is that we are trying to sort out and figure out and work on.”
Because he has begun to get his pension payments from the Illinois Teacher Retirement System Kuzniewski can work no more than 120 days this year so he will typically work 12 days a month or roughly three days a week.
Kuzniewski, who will be receiving a six- figure annual pension will be paid $1,200 a day at District 96.
Kuzniewski is not the only new face among District 96’s top administrators this year. Molly Marquardt replaced Don Tufano as District 96’s technology director this summer after former technology director Don Tufano retired. Prior to coming to District 96 this summer Marquardt worked for six years at Elmhurst School District 205 starting as a technology support specialist before rising to be a learning technology supervisor.
