PAXTON — Jon Kilgore admittedly “got emotional” as he introduced his longtime colleague Eric Bohm during the Paxton-Buckley-Loda school board’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 12, moments before the board approved Bohm’s hiring as the school district’s next superintendent.
There was no need for Kilgore to apologize — even though he did so anyway following the board’s 5-0 vote.
There was a good reason, after all, that Kilgore was choked up, holding back tears. For many years, Kilgore worked alongside Bohm at Pontiac Township High School, where Bohm has been employed for 20 years, including as principal since 2012, and Kilgore was employed for 22 years, including as superintendent for 13, before retiring last summer and then being appointed on Sept. 10 as PBL’s interim superintendent for the remainder of this school year.
“I’m just so proud of him,” Kilgore said, his voice trembling with emotion. “We’ve been through a lot.”
The Paxton-Buckley-Loda school district’s incoming superintendent, Eric Bohm.
Selected as the top choice from among five applicants for the job, Bohm will have an initial three-year contract as superintendent. The contract — effective for the 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29 fiscal years — will pay Bohm an annual base salary of $150,000 for 2026-27, $156,000 for 2027-28 and $162,240 for 2028-29.
Kilgore said he encouraged Bohm to apply after a search for candidates to lead the district starting July 1, 2026, was launched in August with the help of the Illinois Association of School Boards’ executive search committee. However, Kilgore said he was “really surprised and pleased” that Bohm would end up being the board’s top choice, too — a decision made “on their own, without my involvement,” he noted — following a series of closed-door interviews.
“It was frustrating for me that I didn’t know it was going on, but he earned it on his own, without me having undue influence on (the board),” Kilgore told board members. “So while it was a little awkward, you actually did that to save me awkwardness, and I appreciate that,” Kilgore told Bohm.
Bohm’s hiring as superintendent is not the first time he has followed in Kilgore’s footsteps. In July 2012, Bohm replaced Kilgore as principal at Pontiac Township High School as Kilgore transitioned from a five-year stint as principal to the superintendent’s role. From August 2009 to July 2012, Bohm was the school’s assistant principal, a position previously held by Kilgore from 2003, when he arrived in Pontiac, to 2005.
“This is a really unique thing, because when I became principal at Pontiac High School … he was my assistant principal,” Kilgore told the board. “And then I became superintendent — I spent 13 years as superintendent at Pontiac Township High School — and Eric was my high school principal. … So, I really envisioned this happening in a different town (Pontiac), but the timing was off (when I retired).”
On Wednesday, though, the timing was just right.
“I’m proud of you, Eric,” Kilgore told Bohm, who became an administrator after working as a social studies teacher at Pontiac Township High School from 2005 to 2009 and at Flanagan High School during the 2004-05 school year. “I’m so excited to hand you the baton here — even as interim — and any time you need me, I’ll be here.”
Getting to know Mr. Bohm
After Kilgore’s remarks, Bohm told a bit about himself and his varied and wide-ranging professional experience.
“I was in the military. I’ve been a truck driver. I’ve been a sailor. I’ve been a mechanic,” Bohm said. “I’ve done a lot of different things before I got into education. I’ve only been in education for 21 years. But I think that I have a lot of skills and can fit in with this community with the blue-collar roots that are here and be proud of what comes through this building.”
A native of Cornell, Ill. — a Livingston County village of 446 between Pontiac and Streator — Bohm served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1991 to 1995 as a boarding officer in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and as a fireman and engineer in East Peoria.
According to a copy of his resume that he provided to the Ford County Chronicle, Bohm was honorably discharged from the military and then worked as a Class A truck driver for a year at GTT Inc., TMC and Gulf Oil, then as a John Deere service technician at Cross Implement in Minier, Ill., for 2 1/2 years, then as a library assistant and peer tutor at Heartland Community College in Normal for a year, then as a Class A truck driver for James Donze Boom Truck Delivery in Streator for five months, and then as a graduate assistant from August 2002 to December 2003 in the Department of History at Illinois State University in Normal.
Bohm’s educational degrees include a master of science in educational administration from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston in May 2009, a master of science in history from Illinois State University in December 2003, a bachelor of science in political science from ISU in December 2001 and an associate of arts from Heartland Community College in August 2000. Bohm anticipates obtaining a specialist degree in education next May from EIU.
Bohm and his wife, Michelle, have been married for 28 years and have one son, Gabriel. Bohm’s interests and hobbies include camping, yardwork, woodworking, staying active through cycling and attending extracurricular events.
Bohm said he plans to move to Paxton — a place he already feels at home.
“As we drove around, we felt at home (here),” Bohm told the board. “As we visited places within the community, we felt a connection.”
Bohm just learned of another connection, too, though.
“What’s interesting is my father came to Ford County — came to Paxton — to register for the draft,” Bohm told the board. “He told me the other day. And my family are from Kempton, so we have a connection to Ford County.”
In his role as superintendent, Bohm said he looks forward to influencing the education of kids of all ages, rather than only teenagers like he does currently at the high school level.
“I’ve never worked with the littles, but I’m looking forward to pre-K all the way through,” Bohm told the board. “I’m so excited to be able to have influence on all the education in a district.”
Turning to school staff members in attendance, Bohm said: “I know you didn’t come here to hear me speak, but I really appreciate what you do — all of you — on a daily basis, and I hope that that comes through when I’m walking the halls. And it’s all authentic — I’m not trying to spy on anybody. I want to know you, and I want to help you get better at whatever it is you do.”
Bohm’s resume, as provided to the Chronicle, states that his objective is “to leverage my extensive educational leadership and management experience to be fiscally responsible, build positive relationships, improve student learning and foster an inclusive, safe school environment.”
In a prepared statement provided to the Chronicle at the end of the meeting, Bohm said: “I feel honored to have been selected to lead Paxton-Buckley-Loda CUSD 10. Together, we are going to be mission-driven and build upon the district’s strong foundation of focusing on academic excellence through a rigorous and relevant curriculum.”
Time of turmoil
Before Kilgore began serving as PBL’s interim superintendent in mid-September, the school district had been without a superintendent since July 1 — the day after Travis Duley unexpectedly vacated the position after only two years in the role.
Duley’s resignation came amid an investigation into complaints of alleged misconduct by longtime teacher and former coach Robert Pacey — and just a few weeks after the school board was urged to look further into the situation and hold administrators accountable for not promptly suspending Pacey and notifying the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. In the weeks after Duley resigned, a series of lawsuits were filed in Ford County Circuit Court naming five defendants: Pacey, Duley, former Superintendent Cliff McClure, the school district and PBL Junior High School Principal Josh Didier.
Bohm wanted the job, though, even when others might not, according to Kilgore.
“I knew he was interested and was going to apply,” Kilgore said. “So I said, ‘You know what? With all the things you see on Facebook … when you walk through the halls and you see these colors and you see people doing their thing in classrooms and you see kids walking through hallways and they’re behaving themselves and they’re having pride in the PBL Panthers, and you see great teachers and a team — I said, ‘You need to apply for that job.’ And I said that to other candidates who asked me, as well. I had people out here telling me I should stay away from here with a 100-foot pole. They were so wrong — so wrong — so I’m glad that he applied.”
Applications from superintendent candidates were due Friday, Oct. 3. The position was listed with a salary range of $130,000 to $160,000, up from Duley’s salary of $129,47. Duley replaced McClure as superintendent in 2023 after McClure spent 20 years at the helm.
Voting in favor of the three-year contract with Bohm were board members Dawn Bachtold, Christine Johnson, Jason Rust, Joshua Mullins and Brittney Maulding. Absent were Craig Loschen and Grant Kleinsteiber.
“Welcome, sir,” Bachtold told Bohm after the vote.
“Sorry I got emotional,” Kilgore said to laughs.