A pair of principals

A new principal was welcomed to Saratoga School District 60C this year.

She shares her position with someone else, though.

Shannon Hamm and Saratoga’s previous assistant principal, Joe Zweeres, are Saratoga’s new co-principals.

When Zweeres was hired at Saratoga three years ago, the idea for co-principals was introduced to him and the previous principal, Liz Peterson. Zweeres said he and Peterson never talked about it again after the initial conversation, however.

The district began brainstorming the idea for the second time when Peterson left at the end of last school year and her position became available again.

“I knew it would give me my best partner possible probably, to (advertise it) as a principal position,” Zweeres said.

Because Saratoga houses kindergarten through eighth grade, having two principals just made sense.

“Are we going to split the building up and one of us do K-4 and one of us do 5-8?” Zweeres remembers thinking. “We kind of went against that. We really wanted to keep the family, K-8 feeling.”

So Hamm was “welcomed to the family.”

Before coming to the Morris school, Hamm taught at Valley View School District in Romeoville, Ill., for nine years. She then became the assistant principal at Troy Crossroads Elementary School in Shorewood, Ill., where she served for two years.

Hamm quickly learned that she and her new partner, Zweeres, have similar backgrounds and know many of the same people.

Zweeres also worked at Valley View and Troy school districts, but in the opposite order.

He taught fifth grade at Troy for five years, then went to Humphrey Middle School in Bolingbrook with Valley View. His time with Valley View ended at Lukancic Middle School in Romeoville, where he was dean of students and athletic director.

“Our backgrounds intertwined and we never knew it until we met,” Zweeres said.

Hamm decided to apply for the co-principal position because her nearly hour-long commute to Shorewood from her Gardner home was becoming a nuisance.

“I am really looking forward to working where I can see the kids and parents in the stores or the restaurants and actually know some of my (students),” she said.

Hamm was already familiar with Saratoga before she applied for the principal position because her junior-high children compete against the school in sporting events.

“My biggest challenge (now) is deciding where to sit at games,” Hamm said, laughing. “Do I sit on Saratoga’s side?”

As co-principals, Zweeres and Hamm have shared responsibilities, as well as tasks they take care of on their own.

“We both had different areas of strength,” Zweeres said. “She has a lot of background in one thing and I have a lot of background in another. So we took those right away and said for now she’ll concentrate on this and I’ll concentrate on that.”

Zweeres takes the lead on the school’s athletics, transportation and Power School, the school’s computer system, while Hamm is in charge of the curriculum, the English Language Learner program and the lunch staff.

“I’m learning from his strengths and he’s learning from my strengths,” Hamm said.

Zweeres estimates that he and Hamm work on about 50 percent of the position together.

For example, “even though curriculum is under my name, we both went and talked to the fourth-grade team and answered curriculum questions together,” Hamm said.

The pair both do approvals throughout the school, attend athletic boosters, teacher and RTI meetings, discipline students, evaluate staff, and work on professional development, as well as other responsibilities.

Zweeres’ office is located on the K-4 side of the building and Hamm is stationed on the 5-8 end. They see their opposite locations as a benefit for the students and the teachers.

“The kids know that there is someone on this side of the building for them, keeping an eye on things,” Hamm said about being on the junior high side of the building. “Teachers from this side used to have to walk all the way to that side, now they know there is a principal on any side that they can go to.”

There are always concerns that come with change like this, but Zweeres and Hamm are optimistic about their future together.

“It’s really worked out the way I thought it would. I thought it was a positive thing from the beginning, and we have heard nothing but good things from staff, and parents are excited about it,” Zweeres said.