Patrick Hardy, principal, Proviso East High School, Maywood
Nominated by NIU Vice Provost Anne Birberick and Marilyn Bellert, director of the Northern Illinois Regional P-20 Network, Hardy was hired at Proviso East in 2015 as a “turnaround principal” to counter “decades of mounting challenges related to school culture, climate, organization and academic performance.”
The results so far are impressive.
Hardy led the development of a school transformation plan that has lowered by 77 percent the number of incidents resulting in out-of-school suspension, reduced by 48 percent the number of days of out-of-school suspension and trimmed by 69 percent the number of unique students committing offenses that could result in out-of-school suspension.
Named Principal of the Year for 2017 by the West Cook Regional Office, Hardy is now in the running for Illinois Principal of the Year.
