Content concerns lead Grayslake District 46 principal to halt Twitter account

A Grayslake Elementary District 46 principal disabled his Twitter account Friday after concerns surfaced about several alcohol-themed messages, officials said.

Superintendent Ellen Correll said she discussed the matter with Chris Wolk, principal of Avon Center School in Round Lake Beach, after receiving emails from a resident who called attention to the tweets.

"Obviously, you've got to be careful what you're doing out there," Correll said.

Correll said Wolk indicated he shut down the Twitter account after being notified Friday about concerns regarding what he wrote because of his job as an elementary school principal. Correll said he addressed the situation before she talked to him and that he's been cooperative.

Wolk, who heads a school serving kindergarten through fourth grade, could not be reached for comment. He had been @wolkchris with a Cubs logo in the Twitterverse.

One of the tweets forwarded to Correll went out July 6, before Wolk became Avon's principal. He wrote: "My wife took my car which had my @BinnysBev gift card. Now I'm sad :(no six pack run this morning."

Another tweet came from Wolk when he was Avon's principal Nov. 10.

"@JeanErin Jo says good luck, see you tonight. She said she will drink you under the table," Wolk wrote.

On Dec. 25, Wolk responded to a Twitter inquiry about the name of his "drunken elf," saying it's "gonna be Drinky McPartyfoul with my new Pleepleus T."

Pleepleus is a stuffed monkey character featured on the Drinking Made Easy website.

M. Lynn Barkley was Avon's principal in early August when she resigned to take a job at Hawthorn Elementary District 73 in Vernon Hills.

Correll doubled as Avon Center School's principal until Wolk was hired Oct. 3.

Wolk came to District 46 from Harrison Elementary District 36 in Wonder Lake, where he had been an assistant principal. Correll said Wolk went through three interviews and officials visited District 36 before he was hired at an annual salary of $90,875.

"Chris went through a rather rigorous interview process," she told District 46 school board members when she recommended his hiring.

Roughly 50 candidates competed to become Avon's principal, officials said.

Correll said she plans to discuss employees' personal use of Twitter with board members. She said she doesn't tweet, but superintendents were encouraged to do so at a recent Illinois Association of School Administrators conference.