About Us

• Gary D. Jewel served as the superintendent of the West Aurora Schools from 1979 to 1993.
   
• He began his career in 1961 as a teacher of Civics and English at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in Aurora.
   
• In 1965, he was appointed principal of Washington Junior High School.
• Shortly after he took office as superintendent, the worldwide oil crisis and the dramatic increase in inflation and interest rates had a devastating effect upon the district.
   
• Under Jewel’s leadership, there were no layoffs of tenured teachers nor was there any organized discontent among staff during these turbulent years.
   
• Jewel resolved to keep the problems he and the board of education faced away from the classroom. 
   
• Also during his tenure, the North Campus was sold to the State of Illinois for the new Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.

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