During her report to the Sycamore Board of Education on Tuesday, Superintendent Kristen Campbell recommended the creation of five new administrative positions that she suggested have combined yearly salaries worth more than $400,000.

During the Sycamore School District 427 school board meeting, Campbell provided school board members with a memo as part of her 60-day job report.

In her memo, Campbell wrote that since starting with the district on March 1, she has focused her time on conducting a “comprehensive diagnostic assessment of our district’s systems.”

“This transition period has allowed for deep observation of our operational and academic workflows,” Campbell wrote. “To ensure we move from a state of functional stability to organizational excellence, I am proposing a strategic reorganization for the 2026-2027 school year.”

Documents show the reorganization would create five new administrative jobs: a chief academic officer, a chief operating officer, a special education administrator and two new elementary school-level assistant principal jobs.

The minimum sum of the salaries of those new positions, based on Campbell’s suggested salary ranges, is $444,000.

The proposed roles would be as follows:

• $139,000 – $165,000 for Chief Academic Officer
• $165,000 – $190,000 for Chief Operating Officer
• $70,000 to $80,000 for assistant principal jobs at West & North Grove elementary schools

The school board did not take action regarding the proposed new positions on Tuesday night. But School Board President Michael DeVito wrote positively when asked about his thoughts on the proposed new roles.

“The dollars spent on these positions will have large, positive impacts on our students,” DeVito wrote. ”The assistant principals are designed to support not just their home buildings, which house large portions of our special education program, but to provide flexibility for principals at other buildings, reducing administrative overhead so they can better serve their students."

The assistant principal roles, which DeVito wrote would have “high, direct involvement with students,” were recommended by the district’s parent-teacher advisory committee.

DeVito wrote that he thinks new positions near the top of the district’s organizational chart will allow more of the district’s team to focus on “helping teachers help students.”

“A Chief Academic Officer and a clear reporting structure will coordinate our current team so several key positions will be able to spend a much greater portion of their time focusing on student outcomes and supporting teachers, rather than managing calendars,” DeVito wrote.

He said he believes a chief operating officer would streamline the district’s day-to-day logistics.

“By consolidating oversight, we can better protect taxpayer dollars and ensure that our academic leaders remain entirely focused on education,” DeVito said.

Campbell also suggested creating a special education administrator position, with a suggested salary between $75,000 to $90,000. Campbell wrote that the job is not a new position, however. Instead, she wants to transition the teacher from a special assignment role into a district administrator role.

“This change allows the position to provide formal staff supervision and essential administrative oversight for special education services across the district,” Campbell wrote. “By providing timely, building-level support to staff, this role ensures equitable access and high-quality instruction for all diverse learners.

The 60-day review and strategic recommendations for the future that Campbell presented to the school board this week came after a little more than two months on the job.

She started as Sycamore’s superintendent on March 1 after a nationwide search for an administrator to replace former Superintendent Steve Wilder. That search began after Wilder and school board members signed a mutual separation agreement.

When asked what he thought of Campbell’s report as a whole, DeVito said he thinks her “memo outlines a clear vision for how the Sycamore School District can best serve students while honoring our commitments to taxpayers.”