When Harry Rossi took over as school superintendent in Northbrook nearly two decades ago, he was well-known for his bushy black hair and riding to work on a motorcycle.
His hair now white and his passion fishing, Rossi retires Wednesday with a much broader legacy, put together over 18 years as head of District 30, three times the national average for superintendents.
He negotiated the state’s first five-year teachers contract, only to break the record by negotiating two six-year contracts in a row. He became a well-established force outside the district as well, regularly traveling to Springfield and Washington to lobby for education funding, and he was a strong advocate for special-needs pupils in the north suburbs.
His focus never wavered from pupils and the community. He read books to every kindergarten class–as they sat on the floor in his office. He worked as a Salvation Army bell-ringer each Christmas season, fulfilling a pledge he made to himself after seeing the organization help people in his neighborhood as a child.
Rossi, 59, attended concerts and plays and umpired softball games. Every January, he sent a Happy New Year note to teachers, asking them to invite him to their classrooms. Above all, he wanted everyone in the district–from the kindergartner to the custodian–to feel like part of a family, so he brought them together several times a year for celebrations.
“He is the most involved and active superintendent for whom I’ve ever had the privilege of working. He gets to know the family and the staff and the students,” said Wescott Elementary School Principal Terri Carman. “He is not a guy that stays back in his office working on paperwork.”
The Glenview/Northbrook district includes 1,100 pupils in two elementary schools and a middle school and ranks among the top in academic performance, with about 90 percent of pupils passing last year’s state tests.
Rossi, retiring with a $221,000 salary, started in the district as a teacher 33 years ago after working as a special-education instructor in Chicago. He was promoted to an administrative position when he took over as assistant principal at Willowbrook Elementary and then at Maple Middle School. In 1977, Rossi became Wescott’s principal, a position he held for 10 years.
His jump to the superintendent job began about 10 p.m. July 3, 1987, when the district’s business manager called to ask whether Rossi could meet with the board president at 7 a.m. the next morning–a holiday. The superintendent was ill, and she needed him to fill the job.
“Basically overnight I started doing the job of superintendent,” Rossi said, but he stuck with it. “Rather than just jumping from place to place, what I wanted to do was try to change the culture here and stay long enough to ensure it was going to be sustained.”
One of the first changes involved teachers contract negotiations. When Rossi started as superintendent, the procedure, like most school employee negotiations, called for a school board lawyer and a teachers union representative to contentiously hammer out a contract. But after a lot of persuading, Rossi brought the two sides together to discuss common interests and try to work out a deal.
During the most recent negotiation, both the school board and the teachers union asked Rossi to facilitate for them.
Another Rossi priority was instilling a positive culture throughout the district, starting with a poem he read to teachers as each school year began. The poem, “A Prayer for Children” by Ina J. Hughes, tells about accepting responsibility for all children, including those who “shove dirty clothes under the bed,” “who sneak Popsicles before supper” and “who live in an X-rated world.”
“When I did it the first year, I wasn’t quite sure if people were going to think it was hokey,” Rossi said. Instead, it’s been incorporated in the district’s motto: “We accept responsibility for all our children.”
He also started a series of ceremonies to bring pupils and staff together. There’s one to kick off the school year and another the day before the holiday break in December. At the end of the year, there’s a staff dinner to recognize retirements, special achievements and other accomplishments.
This year there was an additional event. On May 20 more than 1,500 people gathered for an assembly to honor Rossi. Eight pupils dressed in outfits from different decades to characterize Rossi over the years. One dressed in motorcycle gear as pupils sang “Born to be Wild,” showcasing the time when Rossi rode a motorcycle to work.
“A lot of the children think of him as the superintendent who stands there and waves, who goes to all the events,” said Katie Artemas, 14, of Northbrook, who recently graduated from Maple. “It was nice to know he was there, that he cared to fit us into his busy schedule.”
Advocating for special-education pupils has been a hallmark of Rossi’s tenure. Since 1992, he has been an executive committee member of the 20-district North Suburban Special Education District. When pupils with physical disabilities needed a place to go to school a few years ago, Rossi started a program for them in District 30.
Rossi, who lives in Park Ridge with his wife, Carol, also took time to remember those who helped him. Every holiday season, he volunteers as a Salvation Army bell-ringer. Rossi remembers watching the organization help after the 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, which killed three nuns and 92 children, including several of Rossi’s neighborhood friends. While Rossi attended a nearby public school, he rushed to Our Lady of the Angels when he saw the fire.
“What I remember is that it was cold and we were there from the time school was out until dark. Salvation Army people were so kind to us. They kept bringing us hot chocolate and doughnuts and all the stuff they do. I never forgot that kind of thing, and I decided that when I had the opportunity, I was going to try to help them out,” he said.
Rossi said he hopes to help the Salvation Army even more in retirement, one of the many projects he plans to pursue. He also will continue working for the district as school board secretary and policy consultant, a job that will bring him to the administration building–now named after him–about three days a week for $15,000 a year.
He also has formed the organization Fed-Ed to lobby federally for suburban education. It will fight for special-education funding and grants for suburban schools.
If anyone is well-suited for that job, it’s Rossi, said Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based American Association of School Administrators.
“Harry is well-known and widely respected,” Hunter said. “Harry has distinguished himself in all kinds of ways. He will do a great job.”
And nobody knows that better than the District 30 teachers and pupils. On the last day of school at Wescott earlier this month, 400 pupils gathered outside for the annual “closing ceremony,” a tradition Rossi started a quarter-century ago, when some of the pupils’ parents were in elementary school.
For the last time as superintendent, Rossi watched as pupils collected awards and sang a medley of songs as their parents and grandparents took pictures.
“Let the beauty and tradition of the closing ceremony be a testament to all the great traditions you have started,” Principal Carman said.
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jscohen@tribune.com
