After working at Libertyville High School for 17 years, Athletic Director Briant Kelly will become the associate superintendent for District 128 after this school year.
Mr. Kelly has worked for 10 years as the athletic director of LHS. Prior to that, he worked as a math teacher for seven years. While he was a math teacher, he was the coach of boys track and boys and girls basketball.
Dr. Al Fleming, the current associate superintendent, will be retiring at the end of this year.
The job entails working with principals, assistant principals, athletic directors and district administrators. Mr. Kelly will also be working on personnel and with the board policy. Simply put, Mr. Kelly will be working on day-to-day operations of D128.
Chris Davis, assistant athletic director, worked closely with Mr. Kelly in the athletic office for two years. He expressed in an email interview, “I enjoy coming to work every day in the Athletic Office with Mr. Kelly and Ms. [Kim] Kirk. No day in our office is ever the same and while sometimes it can be challenging, my favorite memories are all of us working together to address the unique challenges that arise on a daily basis.”
Mr. Kelly went through an extensive screening process in order to get this job, the district has said on its website. He had to go through a screening process with an outside company, followed by an interview with people from Vernon Hills, Libertyville and the district office.
There was then a follow up with the superintendent, Dr. Prentiss Lea. Dr. Lea then made a recommendation to the board of education. From there, the board hired him as the associate superintendent.
At the April 24 board meeting and after, there was some controversy about the hiring process for the position of associate superintendent. Some of the complaints that the board received included those of the hiring process being rushed, whether the decision met legal requirements, and a lack of transparency. The district responded to these accusations with a full explanation about the process they went through to hire the associate superintendent, which was posted on the district’s website and Facebook page.
The now-open position for athletic director has been posted to the district website and was sent to the Illinois Athletic Director Association. The position will be closed to applicants on May 5. From there, some applicants will be interviewed. The new principal, Dr. Tom Koulentes, and the district administration will then choose who the next athletic director will be.
“I think we all have a common goal and that’s to put together an athletic program that people can participate in and a sport that they enjoy doing,” Mr. Kelly said. “It’s an opportunity to be with their friends, be on a team, and compete. One of the joys is just working with [students] and working with our coaches and seeing [athletes] practice every day and work towards a common goal.”
He added: “I’m excited about the new challenges of the position. At the same time, I’m a little sad. Libertyville High School and Libertyville High School athletics has been a big part of my life, not just for the past 10 years but for the past 17 years. I think the support I’ve gotten from the community, the parents, the student athletes, coaches and administration over the years has been phenomenal. I’m going to miss a lot of that.”
