Andalib Khelghati

An educator with decades of experience as a teacher and administrator in a wide range of settings is the new superintendent of Oswego Community Unite School District 308.

The district board voted unanimously this month to name Andalib Khelghati as top administrator, awarding him a three-year employment contract.

Khelghati, who holds a series of academic degrees including a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago, succeeds John W. Sparlin, who had previously announced his retirement.

“Dr. Khelghati is equally an educational systems and culture change agent, with a focus on fiscal responsibility,” said Board President LaTonya Simelton in a released statement. “He’s a strategic thinker and leads from a lens that “students don’t fail, systems fail.” 

Khelghati brings decades of experience in the field of education, including his most recent role as assistant superintendent of schools and then assistant superintendent of human resources of Evanston/Skokie School District 65.

Beginning his career as a teacher, moving to a school leader, then district administrator, Khelghati has retained a commitment to creating equitable learning environments enabling all children to excel and develop to their full capacities.

“Dr. Khelghati is an experienced and proven educational leader and the board looks forward to the progress he will make toward the vision for our students and district,” Simelton said.

Beyond his education career, Khelghati is a founding board member of Books and Breakfast, a non-profit dedicated to providing students an enriched tutoring program, mentorship and access to a healthy breakfast prior to the start of the school day.

As an African American with Persian heritage, he was born in Togo and lived in various countries including Kenya, Canada and Israel.

Khelghati brings local and global perspective to his work as an educator. He speaks three languages, (English, French and Persian). This diverse cultural journey allows him to connect with students, parents and staff from different backgrounds, fostering unity and a sense of belonging within the educational institutions he leads, according to the district.

“I am looking forward to working with all members of the community to celebrate and ensure the success of each and every child,” he said in a statement.

Khelghati earned a bachelor of arts degree in social thought and political theory from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He then pursued a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in elementary education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. He then added the doctorate in educational leadership from Illinois-Chicago.

After teaching third and sixth grade and working closely with teachers as a literacy coach, Khelghati took on an assistant principal role in the heart of Chicago’s South Side. While there, he assisted in securing a $4 million grant for before/after school programming.

Khelghati then began in Evanston as a principal where he led for six years. Under his leadership, Dewey Elementary thrived as a center of professional learning innovation and racial and inclusive community engagement.

He led a two-year initiative that improved vocabulary learning across grade levels, leading to improved student reading scores, as well as receiving state-level recognition for five consecutive years for a school culture built on emphasizing positive behavior.

Beginning in 2017, Khelghati served as assistant superintendent of schools for District 65, spearheading multiple initiatives including developing a new disciplinary policy, instituting new systems of learning for principals and redesigning the district intervention program.

His responsibilities included formulating multi-year strategic plans and budgets, identifying staff development needs, evaluating and hiring principals and fostering cooperation with labor unions.

Later in his role as assistant superintendent of human resources for District 65, Khelghati created staffing efficiencies leading to significant financial savings.

Khelghati is married to a child psychologist and they are parents of two young sons.