The Kankakee School District 111 Board voted 5-2 on Monday to approve the hire of James Henderson, interim assistant superintendent of people services, to take on the role in a permanent capacity.

The people services department previously was called human resources. Henderson has held the role in an interim capacity since October 2024.

The former assistant superintendent of human resources, Shameka Fountain, was placed on administrative leave in September 2024 pending an investigation into her job performance.

The board voted to terminate Fountain in January.

Superintendent Teresa Lance confirmed Monday that the district is currently in litigation related to the case.

Henderson’s annual salary in taking the permanent role will be $170,040; his total compensation with Teachers Retirement System benefits will be $186,857.13.

He initially was hired with a $150,000 annual salary plus benefits for the interim role.

Board members voting for his permanent hire included Chris Bohlen, Susan Berrones, Jess Gathing, Susan Lopez and Kathy Yancy-Smith.

Voting against his hire were Darrell Williams and Tracy Verrett.

Williams motioned for the vote to be tabled so that the board could further discuss the salary for the position, but the motion failed.

“I have no problem with the person,” Williams said. “It’s just the salary is a little too high, considering our financial problems we have right now.”

Verrett said that after the board passed a deficit budget earlier this month, she did not believe hiring more top administrators should be a priority, especially if staffing cuts elsewhere are a possibility.

“I truly believe that we need to make an assessment about who we’re hiring from the top on down,” Verrett said. “I think we’ll be doing our students a disservice – the students, the family, the faculty – if we don’t do that.

“If we’re talking about making cuts, we’ve got to talk about making cuts everywhere. So, I can’t in good faith agree to continue to hire and have us top-heavy and not think about the rest of the district.”

District 111 now has four assistant superintendents, including Harrison Neal overseeing business services and Kelly Gilbert overseeing curriculum and instruction.

Additionally, Patricia Gonzalez started in the current 2025-26 school year as assistant superintendent of student services and diverse programs.

She was hired for the newly established role in April to oversee the district’s multilingual program, special education program, student success department and health services.

The change allowed some responsibilities to shift from Gilbert’s office to the new department.

Board President Chris Bohlen said during Monday’s meeting that he was sent a Facebook post regarding a concern about the number of assistant superintendents in the district.

“[The post] said I should ponder the fact that we have four assistant superintendents and a deficit budget,” Bohlen said. “I want to assure you that the seven of us [on the board], we did more than ponder; we have given that a great deal of thought.”

He said that Gonzalez’s hire has allowed for Gilbert to focus on addressing the district’s specific needs related to curriculum and instruction.

“What we learned from before Dr. Lance got here was we only had one assistant superintendent, and you see our scores. We see our scores. That didn’t work,” Bohlen said.

After the meeting, Lance said the assistant superintendent of people services job was posted and attracted more than 20 applicants, but none matched Henderson’s breadth of human resources experience.

Since taking on the interim role for almost the past year, Henderson and his team have helped increase the number of teachers who are licensed or pursuing licensure from less than 70% up to 90%, Lance said.

Henderson also led in the development of seven employee handbooks, which were approved by the board in August.

These included clerical, food service, transportation, custodial, maintenance/skilled workers, paraprofessional/security and certified employee handbooks. The district previously did not have any employee handbooks.

The people services department also ramped up recruitment efforts. As of Monday’s meeting, it was reported that five teacher vacancies remain in the district, including four at Kankakee High School and one at King Middle School.

“Dr. Henderson, he’s been doing the work. He’s earned the position because he’s put in the work,” Lance said. “For me, we need to stabilize the individuals that were charged with helping to lead our district.”

Henderson’s background includes 27 years of administrative experience, including positions as principal, assistant superintendent of human resources, deputy superintendent and superintendent. He also has a master’s degree in educational leadership from Prairie View A&M University and a doctoral degree from St. John’s University, according to board documents.

He was previously the superintendent of Proviso Township High School District 209 in Forest Park.