Ms. Cassie Adelman replaces Zeman in English department

Kirsten Santana, Senior Staff Reporter • Jan 17, 2024

Ms. Cassie Adelman goes over the daily agenda with her 6th hour English II class.

Community hired Ms. Cassie Adelman, a December graduate from Illinois State University, to fill a vacancy in the English department after Ms. Jackie Zeman’s resignation.

Zeman, after five years at Community, announced in late November she would not be returning for second semester. The former speech coach left education to take a job as a corporate training coordinator for Alto Ingredients.

Adelman, who student-taught with Ms. Kevin Yale Vernon last semester, has taken over Zeman’s classes–co-teaching English II and III with Mr. Tanner Meiss and Mrs. Laura Turner.

Meiss is “excited for a new opportunity” to teach with Adelman, the Foreign Language teacher said, “but [was] bummed” to learn Zeman was leaving.

Adelman “came highly recommended by Ms. Vernon,” Meiss said. “She’s going to do a great job.”

In front of the classroom, Adelman, Vernon said, is a “natural.”

“The kids like her and other teachers like her,” Vernon said, “so I felt quite confident recommending her.“

Vernon was enthusiastic about Adelman’s hiring because of the first-year teacher’s theater background. Adelman served as an assistant director of the fall production of “The Diviners.”

“She has a theater major as well as an English major,” Vernon said, making her a candidate to inherit Community’s Theatre program after Vernon retires at the end of the year.

“It’s very nice,” Vernon said, “to know that something you spent 20 years building is going to be in good hands.”

As a mid-year hire, per Unit 5’s contract, Adelman will have to reapply for a teaching position at the end of the year. There will be at least three openings in the English department: Zeman’s former position, Vernon’s and Mrs. Jayne Runyon’s, who is also retiring at the end of the year.

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About the Contributor

Kirsten Santana, Senior Staff Reporter

Kirsten Santana is a senior at Normal Community High School and involved in the internship program. This is her third year working on the Inkspot, and she is a senior staff reporter. My favorite film is either "Mamma Mia" or "Little Women." I am currently reading "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong. One of my favorite quotes is "In the end, we'll all become stories." - Margaret Atwood