A PRINCIPAL WITH PURPOSE

As Lake Forest High School students return to school and the institution marks the 90th anniversary of its founding, Forest & Bluff catches up with the school’s principal, Dr. Erin Lenart, who is about to start her fifth year in the district.

By the time the cheerleaders, poms, marching band, and football team all took the field at her first Lake Forest High School football game, Principal Dr. Erin Lenart had a feeling she’d landed somewhere special. But it was her husband, sitting beside her in the stands, who put words to it: “Isn’t this community great?”

“I knew we were coming to a place that would have that hometown feel,” Dr. Lenart says, still smiling at the memory. “But to actually see it play out in real life—it was just incredible. It felt like the entire town was in the stands for that Friday night game.”

That sense of community is something Lenart doesn’t take for granted. Originally from Stewart County, Tennessee, a small town just outside Fort Campbell, she grew up where people knew your name.

“My first job was right near the military base,” she says. “That’s where I met my husband.” His military career took them across the country, including five consecutive assignments in Washington, D.C. But in 2021, when he retired, they came back to Illinois to be closer to family.

It was a homecoming in more ways than one.

“The housing market was crazy. We sold our house in a day, and then kept getting outbid here,” Lenart recalls. “We were getting dangerously close to not having somewhere to live and I told our realtor that I was the new principal at Lake Forest High School, and we really needed a house. I have never had to ‘name drop’ before, but desperate times called for desperate measures. It all worked out in the end.”

Before coming to Lake Forest High School, Dr. Lenart spent six years as a principal in Fairfax County, Virginia, one of the most competitive school districts in the country.

“My time in Fairfax County prepared me well to be a principal in this community because they expected a lot from their administrators,” she says. “I have found that the parents here are very appreciative of my efforts—often thanking me for doing things I just see as my job.”

Dr. Lenart’s job, she says, is simple: “To create a place for every ONE.” It’s a mantra that informs everything Lenart does, from curriculum decisions to the way she leads her staff.

“You have the right to criticize me,” she says matter-of-factly. “You’re a taxpayer. I also have the right to disagree with you. But you have the right to feel that way. That’s what keeps public educators grounded in service.”

Since arriving at Lake Forest, Dr. Lenart oversaw the launch of Scout Seminar, a transitional course to help students assimilate into the high school experience. She has also worked with the APT and numerous faculty members to build out programs like “Scouting Your Future” and “Scouting Your Summer,” programs that help students imagine their high school experience and what their post-high school years might look like.

“We’re adding resources for kids who want to improve their ACT scores,” Dr. Lenart adds. “We never want those to be cost-prohibitive. It’s not about being a test-only school—but we know that those scores can change lives. If a student wants to do better, we want to help them do better.”

Dr. Lenart is also invested in building community within the building as Lake Forest High School commemorates the 90th anniversary of its founding this fall.

“Getting to the other side of COVID in education was real,” she reflects. “I grieved for my staff and my students. Teachers were often challenged for just doing their jobs. They didn’t sign up for that kind of scrutiny. But they kept showing up.”

As for working with Superintendent Dr. Matthew Montgomery, Dr. Lenart considers herself lucky. “We started at the same time, so we had to learn about each other in real time. My old boss told him, ‘If you ask her what she thinks, she will tell you.’ Thankfully, he appreciates challenge. You don’t always get to work with people like that.”

Dr. Lenart says it only took a year for her to feel like her Lake Forest-Lake Bluff-Knollwood community was her new home. She now has a favorite loop for her daily runs (weather permitting—she’s not a fan of the rain and cold) and has become a regular at local haunts Kuro Bistro, Le Colonial, Sophia Steak, and Deer Path Inn.

At the core of Dr. Lenart’s experience as a high school administrator is something deeper—something she says drives every decision she makes as an educator and leader. “When I made a commitment to be in education for the rest of my life, it became about something bigger than me.”