Martha Ryan-Toye, the superintendent of Riverside Elementary School District 96, has reported that she will be retiring in three years.
Last week, the Riverside Elementary School District 96 Board of Education unanimously approved a new three-year contract for Ryan-Toye and disclosed that she will retire when her new contract expires June 30, 2027.
“I think this is a well-deserved contract,” said school board president Wesley Muirheid before the vote to approve the contract.
Ryan-Toye, 60, came to District 96 in 2016 and has led the district with a steady hand. Her administrative team has mostly remained the same. Every principal in place when Ryan-Toye started is still in place. She has hired three district-level administrators: Director of Finance and Operations Jim Fitton, Director of Teaching and Learning Angela Dolezal and Director of Special Education and Student Services Nora Geraghty.
Ryan-Toye has accomplished much in her eight years at District 96. The district built additions at Ames, Blythe Park and Hollywood Schools, as well as a new multipurpose room at Central School. To open space for the new multipurpose room at Central, the district purchased an office building on Harlem Avenue for its district office. New playgrounds were built at Ames and Hollywood School and are coming for Central and Hauser. The auditorium at Hauser has been upgraded. In the summer, the play and parking area behind the Hauser-Central campus will be transformed.
The district also has implemented full day kindergarten, which is now in its second year. This year, the district began serving hot lunches in all of its elementary schools. It also completed a new strategic plan.
Muirheid praised the stability that Ryan-Toye brought to the district.
“It’s been a world of improvement,” Muirheid said.
Ryan-Toye thanked the school board and the community after her new contract, which will take effect July 1, was approved.
“I just want to say thank you to this board and really to the whole community,” Ryan-Toye said. “It’s been eight years that’s gone by in a blink of an eye, three years more and I want to. clear about that I remain just very, very committed to the improvements that are already in place.”
Ryan-Toye’s new contract gives her 5% annual raises, larger than she has received in the past. It is common for school administrators to get larger raises in their last contract. Doing so boosts pensions, which are based on the average of an educator’s four highest paid annual salaries. The Illinois Teacher Retirement System will only allow a maximum of 6% raises to count for pension purposes without requiring an additional contribution from the school district.
Ryan-Toye will be paid $231,802 next year. With the new raises, she will earn $243,392 during the 2025-26 fiscal year and make $255,562 in her final year.
During her final three years, Ryan-Toye and the school board will begin a new strategic planning process. Ryan-Toye said that she will remain focused on her guide star, making things better for all kids.
“I feel like we’ve had just had a lot of transparency and integrity and keeping students at the center of all of our work here,” Ryan-Toye said.
