Rhona Israel '83
Senator John W. Maitland, Jr. Commitment to Education Award Winner
- Retired Assistant Superintendent Bloom Township High School District 206; Chicago
- Major: Social Work
Rhona Israel spent over 30 years in the education field, serving Calumet Public School District 132 and Bloom Township High School District 206 as well as volunteering her time to support students in their academic journeys. A first-generation college graduate, Israel earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Illinois State University.
She has worked as a school social worker, division coordinator for special education and foreign language, assistant principal for activities, discipline and transportation, assistant principal for curriculum, instruction and assessment, principal of Bloom High School, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, assessment and grants and retired as the assistant superintendent of human resources in 2018. During Israel’s years as a social worker, she was appointed to serve on the Department of Aging and Disability and the National Coalition of Aging Task Force. In her work in education, Israel coordinated the training and supervision for social work interns and established the Early College Initiative, a partnership with Prairie State College and Bloom Township High School District 206 allowing high school students to take courses at the community college and graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree. She also implemented the Teacher Performance Evaluation Act program for the district. Israel was selected as a member of the State of Illinois task force that was responsible for revamping the Principal’s Preparation Program. She, along with seven other human resources administrators, was instrumental in forming the South Suburban Human Resource Personnel Network.
Israel’s given her time to countless organizations in support of student growth. She took on the role of president in 2020 and 2021 for the Black Colleagues Association (BCA) after serving as secretary in 2018-19. In her time as president, BCA added three scholarships: the Andrew Purnell Jr. Memorial Scholarship; the Jones Family Scholarship; and the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., Lambda Epsilon Chapter Scholarship. The Eric D. Tapley, Brothers on Campus, Inc. Scholarship reached endowment level in 2020, and BCA raised a record-setting $32,000 from 367 gifts during Homecoming.
Israel is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and has served on multiple advisory boards, including the advisory board for Jane Addams College of Social Work, the advisory board for At Home Health, and the advisory board for the College of Education at Governors State University (GSU), as well as being a committee member for state compliance review at GSU and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement for re-accreditation of three schools. She’s served Illinois State by being a member of the Alumni Engagement Chicago Director Search and the University Presidential Search Committee.