Riverside Brookfield High School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Skinkis was named Superintendent of Distinction by peers in the West Cook County region of superintendents. Skinkis, who has served as superintendent of District 208 for the past 14 years, will be formally recognized at an award ceremony in May hosted by the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA).

The West Cook County region of superintendents includes over 50 superintendents from around the region. Skinkis was nominated and voted on by his peers to be honored in this role. Skinkis, who previously served as principal of Bartlett High School before becoming superintendent at RB, reflects on the hard work and dedication he has upheld during his career in education.

“It’s great to receive that type of acknowledgement from your peers,” Skinkis said. “As I’ve stated on a couple other occasions, none of this would be possible without my administrative team, the great faculty and staff that we have at RB, and the students and families that feed into RB. It’s really a joint effort, and so while I’m humble to be nominated by my peers, I am also appreciative to have such a great supporting cast and community and students and staff to help me.”

Skinkis, who was initially nominated by one of his peers in the West Cook County region, describes his reaction to being acknowledged by other administrators in the region. 

“I’m not going to lie, it was a pretty cool experience,” Skinkis said. “It’s not why we do what we do, but it feels good every once in a while when you get somebody that recognizes that and nominates you for something like this.”

Back in 2011, during the beginning of Skinkis’ career in District 208, he was faced with a variety of issues including the district’s failure with a tax referendum. He credits much of the work to get the district out of those financial issues to his team and administration.

“We were going through some really lean times when the district was not in the best of financial positions,” Skinkis said. “Over the last 14 years, we have not had to go out to referendum, we have improved our fund balance, we have approved our operating budget, and we’ve brought back a lot of programs and added a lot of new programs. I think just what we’ve done operationally and financially in the district has been a big accomplishment.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Skinkis and other administrators led an initiative to get chromebooks in the hands of students and become a one-to-one school district. Chromebooks were then issued to students to keep throughout their high school career at RB. Once stay-at-home orders were put in place, students were able to continue e-learning with proper devices at home throughout the pandemic school years. 

“It really helped us to be prepared for the remote learning that had to take place for those several months, and it really made it easier on our teachers who had to put in extra time to teach that way,” Skinkis said. “I think that the transition is also a pretty big accomplishment for us move into a one-to-one school.”

RB Principal Dr. Héctor Freytas has worked with Skinkis throughout his time at RB. Freytas, who works closely with Skinkis throughout the school day and with the board of education, describes his view of Skinkis as a leader.

“I’ve never seen him have a bad day,” Freytas said. “[There have been] tough moments, but even with his job, as challenging as it is, he’s never had a bad day. [He] always has a good attitude and always speaks [well] about teachers and admin, even when there are disagreements. He works well with board members. He’s able to kind of bring everyone on the same page and have productive, transparent, and honest board meetings. He’s a great leader.”

Freytas also emphasizes how his principalship has been going while working with Skinkis over the past several years. 

“He’s very good at bringing people together,” Freytas said. “He’s very inclusive, educated, and is a believer that students with the right opportunity could be successful. When you’re a good leader, that involves others. It’s a pleasure for me to serve him [and] work for him.”