PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The Peoria Public Schools is having a discussion about residency requirements for the Superintendent’s Cabinet. At Monday’s board meeting, it was decided to defer the matter to the Policy Committee.
The original proposal, presented by board members Chase Klaus and Dr. Anni Reinking, would impact cabinet members making $100,000 or more. It indicated requiring newly hired members to live within the district beginning in August. By August 2025 current cabinet members would have to live within the district. The alternative is a cabinet member would not have to live within the district if they had 10 or more years of classroom teaching experience in the district.
Reinking said she wants the community to see that the conversation is being had.
“We were pretty certain that it wouldn’t pass tonight. But at least to get this conversation started around making sure that people who work for the district who make six figures or more and who make a lot of decisions for the district are within the district bounds,” said Reinking.
Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat said a residency policy would decrease the hiring pool for the district.
“It would put us at a huge disadvantage with the workforce challenges that everyone is experiencing. I would highly recommend that we don’t go down that road,” said Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat.
The board will have the first hearing of the policy committee’s proposal at the board’s next meeting on March 13. The final vote will come at a later date.