New leaders are coming to S.E. Gross Middle School.
Asst. Principal Jeff Tumpane was promoted and will take the helm July 1. He replaces Ryan Evans, who moves up to a one-year role as deputy superintendent in Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95. It is expected he’ll take over for retiring superintendent Mark Kuzniewski in 2025.
Former Brookfield and Riverside resident Lauren Colberg will move from Philadelphia to become assistant principal at Gross.
“I’m excited,” Tumpane said about his new role. “It’s a great community. I think having the continuity that we have makes that transition smoother.”
Tumpane, 40, came to Gross as assistant principal 10 years ago after Evans was promoted to principal. Before coming to Gross, Tumpane, who grew up in Lombard, was the dean of students at the Woodlawn campus of the University of Chicago charter school. After graduating from St. Norbert College, Tumpane began his career in education at Nazareth Academy where he spent seven years as a religious-studies teacher and coach.
When Evans was selected to replace Kuzniewski, the school board and administration decided that it made sense for Tumpane to replace Evans so it did not seek applications from anyone else.
“We felt very comfortable just moving Jeff into that position so there wasn’t a search done,” Kuzniewski said.
New assistant principal daughter of retired Central teacher
Colberg, who attended Central School, Hauser, and Riverside Brookfield High School before heading to Bradley University, was selected for the Teach for America program after graduation. In 2009, She was placed as a seventh- and eighth-grade literacy teacher in Philadelphia. She has spent her entire career in Philadelphia working in charter schools, first as an English teacher before spending six years as an assistant principal, and, most recently, as an instructional coach.
Kuzniewski said Colberg’s experience and background makes her an excellent match with Tumpane.
“She brings a really solid background in instruction and curriculum, which will be a nice contrast to Jeff who’s more culture, climate, student discipline, things of that nature. So there will be a nice balance,” Kuzniewski said. “And I think that there’s some desire in the future to really start looking at instructional practice at S.E. Gross and seeing how we can refine it to make it even better than it is now. And I think her lens of that will be helpful.”
Colberg is the daughter of retired Central School teacher Gale Tuene, who spent 35 years teaching fourth grade at Central. This past winter, Colberg decided that she wanted to move back to the Chicago area to be closer to family. She started looking for job openings and spotted Gross’ opening one day before the application deadline. She sent in an application and was chosen from a field of 32 candidates.
Colberg said she is excited to be coming home. She first lived in Brookfield and went to kindergarten at Lincoln School before her family moved to Riverside in time for her to attend first grade at Central School.
“I’m just so pumped to be getting home,” Colberg said. “My school year here ends mid-June and then we move, and I start July 1.”
Colberg said she and her husband will stay at her parents’ house in Riverside this summer while they look for a house to buy. She wants her children to have the kind of neighborhood school experience that she had growing up in the Riverside. She said she was attracted to the family feel of District 95 and Gross.
“It is very apparent to me that Gross is very much the heart of the community and that is something I am so excited about,” Colberg said.
The last time Colberg was inside S.E. Gross was 1999.
“I was wearing a volleyball jersey,” Colberg said, noting that she was on the Hauser volleyball team and they had a match at Gross.
Colberg visited Brook Park School last week and spoke to rising sixth graders about Gross.
“It was really neat to meet them,” Colberg said. “The onboarding so far with Jeff has been great. I mean he’s been really thoughtful and like making sure that even though I’m not local I’m set up to jump right in.”
Tumpane will be paid $115,000 next year. Colberg will make $95,000.
