North Cook News

The Barrington Board of Education named Dr. Craig Winkelman, a longtime administrator in the district, as superintendent at a special meeting held on Feb. 14.

Winkelman has been in education for 27 years, and 24 of those have been in the Barrington school district. 

Board members were excited for him to step into this new position and said they were glad to have someone who has proven themselves to be so dedicated to the district already take a leadership role. They all spoke very highly of him and gave him some encouraging words before voting their approval.

"I think that the fact that all seven of us are excited to welcome you just says so much about who you are," board member Erin Chan Ding said. "And it speaks to how we believe that you can continue to move us forward as a district. And some of the things that stood out to me, Craig, when we were interviewing you is that you just know our referendum. You're quite literally in charge of our Build 220 efforts, and you know our Framework 220, our strategic plan that we developed with so much input from our community and with Dr. Hunt, you know that so well."

Winkelman went on to thank the board. 

"I know firsthand how special Barrington 220 is," Winkelman said. "And in my opinion, what we have here, it is not the norm it is not found everywhere. It is not typical. And with that belief in mind, I am truly honored and appreciative of this opportunity. Thank you for that."

In January, current superintendent Dr. Robert Hunt announced that he would be resigning as superintendent effective June 30. He stressed that the decision to leave and move his family back to Ohio was purely for personal reasons and did not reflect upon his experience at the district at all. 

The board of education began its search for a new superintendent in January.