A former Lyons Township High School District 204 administrator with an extraordinary name who left town 2-1/2 years ago to pursue the superintendency of Oak Park/River Forest High School District 200 has announced his retirement.
The 36-year career educator, Attila Josef Weninger, the former director of human resources and director of curriculum and instruction at District 204 -- hired by OPRF, a one-school district, in May 2007 namely to address the district's widening achievement gap between white and black students -- will retire at the end of the school year.
A native of Salzburg, Austria who often finds himself at the start of any new job answering questions about his surname, he has been credited for totally restructuring OPRF's administration and had recently embarked on a controversial plan to create new division (subject) heads to serve their respective departments and dual administrative roles by the fall of 2010.
Weninger, according to the Oak Park-based community newspaper the Wednesday Journal, had been negotiating with his School Board since Aug. 24 on a new contract extension, but those talks did not lead to a new pact.
First hired at a salary of $200,000 per year with increments based on his progress on certain specified goals such as closing the achievement gap, the 11-year LT veteran administrator just began the final year of his initial three-year contract.
On Oct. 15, he told reporters he resigned for unspecified personal reasons.
In May 2008, he survived a flap over not attributing a story he recited at a Memorial Day ceremony to a speech used on the campaign trail by then-Republican presidential hopeful
Arizona Sen. John McCain about a Vietnam-era veteran prisoner-of-war.
Contending the same story was originally told to him by his Vietnam veteran brother, he was still accused of plagiarism but was never penalized by his board. Instead, they issued a statement saying he "showed poor judgement" in his actions.
Just this week, the 58-year-old educator embarked on plans to soon begin a districtwide internal operations review to assess how OPRF conducts its business and delivers services.
Within the next year, he also has had plans to change the district's leadership culture -- something also unsuccessfully attempted by a former superintendent who served in his position from 1988 to 1991.
Weninger, who received both his masters degree in 1979 and his doctorate in 1992 from Northwestern University, was a former English teacher and principal in Roselle and Wheaton as well.
In announcing Weninger's retirement, board President Dietra Millard -- the only member to initially vote against his hiring in 2007 -- stated the district will soon begin discussing a search for his successor and seek input on "the qualities key to future school leadership."
