ROGERS PARK — The principal at Sullivan High School is leaving after just a year and a half on the job to lead a city magnet school, officials said.
The principal, Carolyn Eggert, declined to comment on the move, but district officials and Local School Council members confirmed she would be moving to the top job at a magnet school on the Northwest Side, DeVry Advantage Academy High School.
Eggert's departure is another sign of instability at Sullivan, 6631 N. Bosworth Ave., which has had multiple principals over the past few years. The school has been on probation with CPS for low test scores and attendance rates for the past eight years. The news also comes about a month after a series of "serious" gang fights broke out at the school.
Eggert was well-liked by students, faculty and LSC members, some of whom were upset by her departure.
"She's a really good principal," said Devon Fedrick, a 15-year-old sophomore at the school. "No other principal stands outside every morning and greets the students."
"I don't feel good about it," said Denise Hutchison, a parent member of the Local School Council. "She gave her heart and her skills [to Sullivan]. She gave all she had. Now we have the system kick her out."
Her move was first announced at an LSC meeting Tuesday by Leslie Boozer, chief of the CPS North-Northwest High School Network. Immediately after the announcement, Boozer reviewed district statistics that showed Sullivan was one of the worst-performing high schools in the area.
Boozer cautioned LSC members that the "school district right now is looking very closely at failing schools."
She declined to say why Eggert was leaving or where she was going.
But on Thursday, district officials emphasized that "Eggert made the decision to leave and move to the position at DeVry." They said the gang activity at the school also had no bearing on the move.
LSC member Terry Moran said the council was bothered by the move coming so soon after Eggert came to Sullivan, but he said she doesn't believe Eggert was forced out.
"We had a lot of concerns that we had just selected her a year and a half ago," Moran said. But "it's a decision she had input on and was comfortable with."
District officials said Eggert would remain principal of Sullivan until the end of January, when an interim principal will be appointed.
The district and school council has already begun a search for a new fulltime principal.
