Jessica Lombard graduated from Huntley High School in 1990, when the superintendent of District 158 was – as had always been the case since its creation in 1920 – a man.
On her return to Huntley in 2002 to become assistant principal of Leggee Elementary School, the superintendent was a man.
And as Lombard continued to climb the professional ladder, first as a building principal and then through various administrative roles at District 158 headquarters, the superintendent was a man.
Now, two decades later, she is not only the superintendent of her hometown school system but also the first woman to hold that title.
The Feb. 8 vote came 10 months after Lombard was appointed to the job with an interim status.
“It’s a great district to be in,” says Lombard, who earned her B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education (1994) and M.S.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction (1999) from the NIU College of Education, “and it was an honor and a privilege to be offered the permanent position with high expectations and high standards. I’m going to carry those moving forward.”
District 158 Board of Education President Andy Bittman shares that confidence, calling Lombard “student-focused and student-driven.”
“She has an inherent ability to connect with others, listen to all sides while problem-solving and drive a diverse group to the best decision,” Bittman says. “These gifts have allowed her to effectively lead Huntley 158 to the benefit of students, staff and the community at large. She is exactly what Huntley 158 needs right now.”
For daughters Kylie, Kaitlyn and Kelsie, who are 21, 16 and 14, respectively, their mother’s success is big news and inspirational.
“When I was placed in the interim position, it was funny because my middle daughter loves all the arts and crafts, and she made me a water bottle with ‘Boss Lady,’ cricuted on it,” Lombard says.
“My oldest daughter really understood the impact of, ‘Wow, you went for something you wanted, you were able to get it – that is a BIG DEAL!’ My younger one, when it became official, she came to the board meeting with my husband and had a little card – again, think of the middle school mindset – and she wrote in the card ‘Yay, mom!’ So very much the cheerleader,” she adds. “We’ve instilled in them that education is important, and if you have a goal, you just need to work hard, and you can achieve it.”
Lombard understands.
“Having been in the district for so long, both as a student and an educator – an administrator – I knew I had all the skillsets, qualifications and experiences for the position. It did not hit me until our communications director said, ‘Jessica, this is the first time the role is being given to a female. You’ll be the first.’ I had to sit back and look at that component, and at first I said, ‘To me, if we’re getting the right person for the job, that’s who we should go for. If it’s a female, or if it’s a male, then that’s OK,’ ” she says.
“But, upon further reflection, it is as my daughter said: ‘A Big Deal, for many,’ ” she adds. “I think the message, or the takeaway, of me being the first female superintendent is that I can be a role model for other females and young adolescents. One student came up to me and said, ‘Wow, Miss Lombard, if you work hard, you can do what you want to do.’ And I say, ‘So can you.’ ”
She’s already had confirmation.
Lombard was invited to speak March 9 at a Huntley High School event of the district’s Recognizing American Diversity (RAD) committee, which strives to recognize, celebrate and discover diverse perspectives and identities that have historically been underrepresented.
RAD works “from the assumption that everyone benefits and grows from knowing more about one another,” the website states. “Our Huntley community, and our country, is a collection of identities and beliefs, and we know that any one person rarely identifies with only a single group or identity.”
“The high school students reached out to me, because RAD is a student-led organization, and asked, ‘Would you be willing to come in and speak, because this month is all about women and leadership?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely, because if that helps inspire others to know that you can do this someday, then it’s all worth it.’ ”
GROWING UP, LOMBARD found her calling early.
“I liked education. I liked to go to school,” she says.
“My mom was an educator. She worked with early childhood. So, when I was thinking about that profession, or what I wanted to do all day for the rest of my life, it was natural that it was going to be education,” she adds.
“For a long time, I thought I would be a kindergarten teacher, but through my experiences at Northern – they really make sure you learn a variety of different settings and different ages – I found my passion was middle school. From there, it was just wanting to make an impact in the way teachers had made an impact on my life.”
As part of that process, her first clinical took place in a kindergarten classroom in St. Charles.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, exactly what I wanted.’ It was a three-week block,” she says. “And then, through other observations and experiences, I was in a second-grade classroom, and I said, ‘I love that, too.’ Every grade level was something that I loved for different reasons.”
Lombard wanted to stay in that area for her student-teaching, hoping also that she would continue in elementary classrooms.
“I was hoping my placement would be in a grade level that I had experience with; however, I was glad that NIU wanted to challenge me. My placement was not one of my first choices – it was sixth-grade – and I went in thinking, ‘Oh no, some of these kids are going to be bigger than me,’ ” she says.
“But I got in there and had a fantastic cooperating teacher and a great field supervisor from Northern, and you find that there are positives and strengths and challenges in each grade level,” she adds. “It was my opportunity to be able to educate and help mold the next generation.”
Middle schools became her first professional home as a sixth-grade teacher in DeKalb, the city where she met her husband, Jeff, a DeKalb native. She says she would return to middle schools now if she chose to teach again.
“Many people will say that middle schoolers are a very challenging age group, but they’re exploring. They’re trying to figure out themselves,” Lombard says, “and to be a part of that and to help them start to think about their future – even though a lot of that doesn’t happen until high school, they do start asking questions then about different careers or experiences – became a natural fit.”
Eight years later, so did administration.
After serving as principal of Mackeben Elementary School from 2005 to 2006, following a short return to DeKalb District 428 as principal of Tyler Elementary School, she then led Leggee Elementary School from 2006 to 2008.
Her roles at district HQ since July 2008 include director of Curriculum and Instruction, assistant superintendent of Human Resources and associate superintendent.
“Leaving the classrooms was little scary going forward. I don’t know many people growing up saying, ‘I’m going to be a principal’ or ‘I’m going to be a superintendent.’ For me, it was always, ‘I’m going to be a teacher,’ but it’s been rewarding because I was able to come back to the district that helped shape me and mold me and provide me with that foundation,” she says. “
“The difference now is that you’re not in that single classroom teaching 25 to 30 kiddos,” she adds. “There are other tasks you have to deal with as an administrator that you don’t as a teacher, and those were the biggest changes, but you’re still in a building impacting students. You’re still working with other educators, and the thing I never wanted to lose contact with was what was happening in the classroom.”
During her time as an assistant principal, she routinely asked teachers if she could visit their classrooms.
Sometimes, she says, it was to co-teach. Sometimes it was to make sure the children knew who she was. Sometimes it was to demonstrate to teachers that she was in their corner.
“Teachers are the people who have the biggest impact on our students, and so my role was, to support them. I needed to see what was happening in the classrooms so I knew what I could do better to provide them with the tools they needed. Effective administrators stay connected to the classrooms.”
Then, no matter her title at the central office, she again told teachers – this time throughout the district – of her desire to spend time in their classrooms: It’s not to come and judge you. It’s really to help me do my job well. We need to know what it’s like today to be a teacher because teaching has shifted drastically.
“It keeps you remembering your ‘why,’ ” Lombard says. “You can always grow. You can always get better.”
AS SUPERINTENDENT, LOMBARD is dedicated to listening to her top stakeholders.
“Our No. 1 customer is the student, so how do we provide more opportunities for the student voice to be heard on a regular basis?” she says. “At our school board meetings, we have a lot of different presentations or reports that come from the board, from a variety of administrators and from myself, so I recently added what’s called ‘The Student Scoop.’ ”
Building administrators will choose their young representatives, and then Lombard meets them in advance.
She reassures them that the adults want to hear what they have to say. What’s going well? What could go better? What are some of your traditions? What has positively impacted you? What would you change if you were principal for a day?
“The first group focused on our new math program. They like the change. It’s more hands-on and engaging. They were able to problem-solve and talk with each other. I thought, ‘Wow, these are third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students, in a board meeting setting, giving us that,’ ” Lombard says.
“We definitely want the educators’ input. We want the parents’ input, but we need to bring the students’ voice to the table,” she adds, “and maybe in the future, we’ll be looking at having a student ambassador as part of the board.”
Doing so supports her beliefs that “all students deserve to be welcomed and included,” “students must feel safe in our learning environments” and “each student can learn; we just need to meet them where they are.”
Lombard formed some of those beliefs in the NIU College of Education, where she has taught as an adjunct and has served on committees.
“NIU definitely prepared me to not only understand my role as a teacher,” she says, “but it then prepared me to understand what was the role of an administrator. It was more than just ‘sitting in’ in classrooms. It was very hands-on. I walked into all of my positions knowing I was equipped to do the job well.”
Since her graduation, she’s remained impressed with how the college remains current while preparing future educators.
That includes her past invitations to provide input on the Middle Level Teaching and Learning program, joining a group that meets annually and includes faculty, recent alumni and representatives from school districts.
Meanwhile, one of Lombard’s administrative team is currently enrolled in an NIU College of Education doctoral program.
“She’s one of our assistant principals, and so I’m working with her on all of her internship hours. It’s neat for me to stay connected with how NIU is preparing future superintendents and administrators,” Lombard says.
“She and I work together regularly, and then we have regular check-ins from her field supervisor, so it’s neat to see that lots of changes have happened in the College of Education,” she adds, “and it’s because education has changed. What I appreciate is that NIU wants feedback and that they really listen. They are preparing future educators quite well.”
Lombard is equally confident in the students being produced by Huntley 158.
Huntley was designated last year as a “Lighthouse” school system by ASA, The School Superintendents Association, in partnership with the Successful Practices Network. It puts Huntley among school districts across the country “that are transforming education” and can model effective practices for their counterparts near and far.
“It means that we are, and will continue to stay, on top of the ever-changing needs of our students and to make sure that we are providing them opportunities to be future-ready,” she says.
“Something that I’ve been most proud of, in all the roles that I’ve been in here in the district, is that we’re constantly looking at what we can do to meet the needs of the new learner who comes in. When you think about social media, technology and the way that individuals – including children – can receive information, it’s changed what has to happen in our classrooms.”
And, she says, Huntley is evolving.
“We are continually staying abreast of the best practices. We are truly changing and being flexible to meet the needs of students so that as kids graduate from here, they’re ready for whatever their world might look like. Is it the military? Is it the trades? Is it college? We are preparing students for a world, or some jobs, that don’t even exist yet,” she says.
“I hope that’s what people see when they see District 158. I’m pretty proud of this district, and I’m excited to carry through those things that so many people before me have laid.”
