Award-winning educator coming to Valley View School District 365U

The Valley View School District 365U board of education recently approved Maria Burgos as executive director of pre-kindergarten through fifth grade educational services, succeeding Jillian Tsoukalas.

Burgos is currently the assistant superintendent for student services at Cicero School District 99. She started her education career in that district as a second grade bi-lingual teacher at Warren Park Elementary School in Cicero.

She became assistant principal at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in Cicero in 2010 and principal of McKinley Educational Center three years later. She eventually moved into the role assistant superintendent for student services.

Burgos has also served as an adjunct ESL professor at the University of St. Francis in Joliet. The National Association of Latino Administrators & Superintendents named Burgos the School District Latino Administrator of the Year in 2018.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish language and literature from Northern Illinois University.

Burgos also earned two Master or Education degrees. In 2005, she earned master’s in elementary education grades kindergarten through ninth in 2005 from Northern Illinois University. In 2008, she earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from DePaul University.

Burgos is in the Doctor of Education program at National Louis University and is currently working on her dissertation on the impact of bi-literacy programs on student learning.