Disney II's Founding Principal Leaving For Central Office Job

OLD IRVING PARK — For the first time since its founding in 2008, Disney II Magnet's Local School Council will be conducting a principal search, 

Bogdana Chkoumbova, who's been at the school's helm for its entire existence, has been named a network chief within Chicago Public Schools central office, CPS chief education officer Janice Jackson announced last week.

In a statement, Jackson praised Chkoumbova for taking "a brand new school to Level 1."

Chkoumbova will oversee more than 30 schools in Network 10 on the city's Far South and Southwest Sides.

A native of Bulgaria, Chkoumbova joined CPS in 2001 as a special education instructor at Chopin Elementary.

She was appointed to the Disney II post in January 2008 by CPS. The school initially operated under an Interim Advisory Council, electing its first LSC in 2012. The LSC then hired Chkoumbova outright in 2013, offering her a four-year contract.

Disney II Magnet encompasses two campuses, with elementary students at 3815 N. Kedvale Ave. and high school students at 3900 N. Lawndale Ave.

In 2015, Chkoumbova was one of two dozen administrators chosen for the Independent School Principals program, which granted greater independence and flexibility to high performing principals.

Disney II now joins dozens of CPS schools scrambling to hire a principal for the 2016-17 school year, after scores of administrators resigned or retired in 2016.

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