District 88 Superintendent recognized by legislators for being named as 2026 Superintendent of Distinction for DuPage County Region of the Illinois Association of School Administrators

District 88 Superintendent Dr. Jean Barbanente was recently recognized by two local legislators for being named as the 2026 Superintendent of Distinction for the DuPage County Region of the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA). 

• On June 3, Dr. Barbanente was honored by State Rep. Jennifer Sanalitro’s office with a certificate of recognition from the Illinois House of Representatives during the Addison Intergovernmental Meeting. Adrianna Provinzino, Constituent Service Manager for Rep. Sanalitro, presented Dr. Barbanente with the certificate (pictured below, right).
  
  
• On June 8, Dr. Barbanente was honored by State Sen. Seth Lewis with a certificate of recognition from the State Senate during the District 88 Board of Education Meeting (pictured below, left and center). To watch the presentation, click on the video above.

Superintendents of Distinction are selected by their peers in each of the 21 IASA regions based on leadership, communication, professionalism and community involvement.

Dr. Barbanente has been with District 88 for more than 30 years and has served as Superintendent since 2021. She is the district’s first female Superintendent and also is the district’s first Superintendent to speak multiple languages (English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese). 

Dr. Barbanente has been instrumental in ensuring District 88 maintains a comprehensive curriculum that includes more than 30 Advanced Placement (AP) courses and more than 50 dual-credit and collegiate-credit courses in 18 career pathway areas, along with award-winning fine arts programming, to help ensure students are prepared to successfully accomplish their post-high school goals.

She also serves on the IASA DuPage County Executive Board, the School Association for Special Education in DuPage County (as Board President) and as an appointed member of the Illinois Advisory Council for Bilingual Education. Most recently, she founded the Illinois Consortium on English Learner Program Effectiveness – now with more than 110 member districts – to drive statewide program and policy improvements for English Learners. She also is a member of the Oakbrook Terrace Lions Club, Rotary Club of Villa Park (past President), local intergovernmental organizations, workforce groups and the Village of Addison Sister Cities program with Triggiano, Italy (where Addison hosts students from Triggiano, and Addison Trail students travel to Italy).

Dr. Barbanente joined District 88 in 1995 as a member of the World Language Department at Addison Trail, where she taught Italian and Spanish. In 2002, she transitioned to her first leadership role in District 88 as she took on the position of Director of Guidance at Addison Trail. In 2006, Dr. Barbanente was named as Director of Learning Services and was later appointed as Assistant Superintendent, where she provided leadership in the areas of teaching, learning, human resources, compliance, equity, special education and Pupil Personnel Services (PPS). Dr. Barbanente received her bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis on teaching Italian and Spanish from Dominican University (Rosary College) and earned her Master of Arts in Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction with ESL and Bilingual Concentration from National Louis University. She completed her School Counseling Licensure at Roosevelt University and her Administrative and Superintendent Licensure at Concordia University and received her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Aurora University, concentrating her research efforts in leadership for equity.

Read more about Dr. Barbanente and her award at www.dupage88.net/BarbanenteSuperintendentOfDistinction.