MOUNT GREENWOOD — The stalemate over the next principal at George F. Cassell Fine Arts School in Mount Greenwood continued Friday afternoon.
The Local School Council voted 6 to 4 in favor of Eileen Scanlan, the former assistant principal of the school at 11314 S. Spaulding Ave. and current principal at Kate S. Kellogg Elementary School in North Beverly.
She's vying for the job against Cory Overstreet, who has been serving as interim principal since Denise Esposito retired mid-year in an effort to save the school from budget cuts. Overstreet served assistant principal for 3½ years before being asked to fill the sudden vacancy.
A decision was originally to be made May 3, but the LSC adjourned without a vote. The heated meeting included passionate pleas from both parents and teachers at the school serving 397 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
A vote was taken at the next scheduled LSC meeting on June 7. That 6-5 vote also favored Scanlan but without the seven votes needed to win the job, according to a Chicago Public Schools' official then in attendance.
The latest vote was cast with one fewer member of the LSC, as Dennis Riordan is no longer eligible to be on the council after his only child graduated from Cassell June 16.
The next meeting will be held at 4 p.m. July 6th.
Mike Hein will be joining the council at the next meeting. Hein's wife, Jenny, was at the meeting on Friday. She refused to comment on her husband's leanings. The couple has two students at Cassell and other student at the Keller Regional Gifted Center in Mount Greenwood.
Jenny Hein did thank the LSC for their diligence Friday. She also pointed to the mudslinging on Facebook that has occurred throughout the principal selection process and hoped for healing in the wake of a decision.
"We are a strong community in Mount Greenwood," she said. "I hope we can move forward on this."
Cheryl Eberle has two students at Cassell and spoke openly in favor of Overstreet. She said the often heated debates on the topic of principal have spilled over onto the youth baseball field and elsewhere in the community.
"I don't know where a lot of this stuff is coming from, but it is appalling," Eberle said.
Erin Murphy also has two students at Cassell and teaches at nearby Mount Greenwood Elementary School. She spoke in favor of Scanlan at the meeting, saying she worked with her both as a parent and as a co-worker at combined CPS functions.
Shannon Mayer has three children at Cassell. She spoke in support of the teachers at the school, and hoped that the LSC would make a decision quickly.
"I want it to be done so we can prepare for next year," Mayer said.
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