By Jason D. Henry

A long-standing American ideal is on life-support in Illinois and across the country.  No, it’s not the investment market, job creation or manufacturing productivity. But it impacts each of these and so much more of the American way of life that something must be done, and it must be addressed sooner rather than later.

The problem:  Local control of public schools in Illinois has almost become no more than a fond memory. Sadly, students, parents and communities are paying the price.

How did we get to this point?

The historical maze of the erosion of local control of schools is a complex, winding road full of obstacles, turns, hills and even some ditches.  The short version is this: Shortly after the 1983 report, “A Nation at Risk,” the federal government (which was never intended to control local public schools) began to dole out funding for special projects using a “carrot-and-stick” approach.

Schools and even entire states were given “free” money — the carrot — in exchange for certain assurances that regulated federal mandates would be implemented or else (the stick).  Local schools and states conformed to top-down, Washington-based initiatives in order to get the money.  Somewhere along this road, the mandated load that could initially be carried in the family car required an oversized semi-truck.

Fast-forward to today. This truck is far overweight, moves at lightning speed and often lacks the structural capacity to carry what was, at one time, simply a good idea.

In the early days, the “carrot-and-stick” approach to federal funding of public education was palatable to schools because schools needed the money and the mandates weren’t too intrusive.  Slowly, however, the value of the carrots has decreased while the pain of the sticks has dramatically increased.  In short, schools aren’t getting as many carrots, but are still saddled with a truck-load of sticks.

Today, top-down government intervention in Illinois public schools is not just a federal issue.  State government leaders of both political parties increasingly have embraced a similar approach, intervening to purportedly “fix” local public schools.  The price tag for the “fix” — what it really costs real people — is not wholly measured in dollars and cents.

To be sure, improving schools takes real money, but the state-prescribed “fixes” now in play in Illinois have been imposed at the expense of local control in a “we’re the government, we’re here to help, and we know what’s best for you” sort of way.

This kind of cost can’t be measured in any tangible way, but is readily evident in the now-more-frequent disenfranchised looks on people’s faces, the almost helpless tone of their voices and the general “going-through-the-motions” feeling that is creeping into school systems across the state and nation.  Yes, the local control of public schools is slowly dying, and people — real parents, teachers, principals and, most importantly, students — are suffering from this grievous community loss.

What’s the cure?

The good news is the loss of local control of public schools is not a terminal disease.  But the fight for survival is not much different than a long-term medical treatment because it will take time, be hard, and evoke all kinds of emotions in the process.

It will cause citizens, communities and the state to take a close look at our education system and legitimately decide what’s important — without outside influences like political action committees and self-serving power brokers.  We will have to listen to experts, ask questions, conduct research, and then decide what’s best for us as a community.

We may have to off-load our own overloaded truck in order to get our school houses in order to benefit  future generations.  We need to develop a meaningful education plan — a comprehensive approach to public schooling in Illinois — to guide us, something that’s remarkably absent in the State of Illinois.

Most of all, we need community members who are willing to partner with their local schools for the long haul to help transform the way we’re currently doing education business in Illinois.  We need relationships and partnerships that are forged in the common bond of re-thinking what we’re doing for (and, regrettably, to) children by allowing outsiders who don’t know our towns, farms, kids and values to heap mandate after mandate upon us.

We need steady resolve and a calm, common-sense approach to school improvement instead of blame-fixing, finger-pointing and second-guessing so that we can revive local control of schools instead of pulling the plug.

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Jason D. Henryis District Superintendent at Sesser-Valier Community Unit School District No. 196.  Mr. Henry can be reached at (618) 625-5105, Ext. 105 (Office) or at jdhenry@sv196.org

 By J. Larry Miller

On December 1^st, I began my 11^th year as Franklin County Farm Bureau Manager. As I look back over what seems a very short 10 years, I have become involved with a lot of different organizations in the county as part of my effort to represent our farmers. I have attended a lot of meetings! One of the primary efforts of the local, state and federal Farm Bureau’s, is to be involved in the political process.

One meeting that I remember attending about 5 years ago was a civic function where a local financial planner was talking about the way that government was working. He said that, yes, there are a lot of problems with government in the area of budgets that were of concern but these problems always have a way of working themselves out. This individual has a lot of respect with many in the community of which I am one of those people.

I really do listen to what people have to say and someone of his influence has an impact on my thought process. I did not particularly agree with him at that point but have reason today to disagree with the statement even more.

As I see it, our democracy has slowly gone the way of others in history that have done very well until the common man realized that he could elect those who would help him receive money or to get help from the government. In my lifetime, I have watched the role of government go from having a limited affect on personal lives to invading almost every area of our daily lives. Government is going bankrupt trying to deliver our mail, provide unlimited health care for seniors, welfare for members of society who are unable or unwilling to work for any reason, police the world, maintain a bloated bureaucracy and regulate what size soft drink portions should be.

This past week many of you indicated that you had seen me being interviewed on a local television station and that I seemed to be frustrated with the latest inability of government to solve problems. I always wanted to be transparent.

Does anyone out there believe that we have leadership that will solve our current problems? Can we overcome being $17 Trillion in debt? Can the Illinois General Assembly balance it’s budget and solve the Billions in pension problem? The only noise I hear is the sound of a tin can being kicked further toward the cliff.

Gun control is not our biggest problem nor is making same sex marriage legal but maybe that is our problem. Poor values!

I am thankful to live in this country and believe that we can change things. Someone said that the only way for evil to prevail is for good men and women to do nothing.

I believe that Farm Bureau has good principles and that if we work together we can change the direction of our country.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

“Why didn’t you tell me you hired my principal?” asked library Teen Advisory Board member Curtis Galloway.

Galloway was surprised to see Jamie Neal, retired Benton Middle School principal, working at the circulation desk of Benton Public Library.

Neal is one of a few new staff members, including Kim Newton and Lynette Leffler, that recently came on board at the library.

“We had a little turnover at the end of the year,” said library director Erin Steinsultz. “We also had an employee traveling and one on medical leave. It became apparent that some new hires were necessary.”

The library is open seven days a week, 356 days a year. The library closes only nine days a year, on major holidays. Covering all the service hours can be a big task.

“Making sure we have ample coverage to keep up with the public’s demand is very important,” said Steinsultz. “We keep statistics on library usage, and around 61,000 people pass through the door each year. We have to be ready to provide them with whatever they need from popular reading to computer assistance to any variety of research questions.”
Library staffers, new and veteran, bring a wide range of skills to their jobs.

“There is the stereotype of the stodgy older woman librarian, and I don’t think any of us fit that,” said Steinsultz. “We all have such varied tastes in reading material or movies or hobbies that we bring something unique to the library. We have different backgrounds as well that help create our well-rounded staff.”

Steinsultz has worked as the director of Benton Public Library for five years. Steinsultz previously worked at Harrisburg District Library and the Melba Patton Library at Southeastern Illinois College. She volunteered in the library starting in grade school and continued through college in various volunteer and paid positions.

“For some reason, though, I thought of becoming an accountant. I found I didn’t enjoy that, so I have a degree in Marketing. I enjoyed that field of study, but many marketing jobs include sales and that’s just not for me. I use many of the skills of that degree in the library, and the skills I learned on the jobs I held previously,” said Steinsultz.
In December, Steinsultz completed a master’s degree in Information Science and Learning Technology with a focus in Library Science.

“This is something I have wanted to do for years, but it wasn’t possible until now,” said Steinsultz. “It was not easy to work full-time and finish the degree. The staff was very supportive.”
The library’s staff brings multiple degrees and years of work experience to their work at the library.

“Paula Lainfiesta is a retired nurse and nursing instructor from Rend Lake College. She has many years of classroom experience, as well as hospital experience. She is very organized and disciplined in her approach to library tasks,” said Steinsultz.

“Paula is over our Homebound Delivery program. She selects materials for patrons who can’t make it to the library, usually for medical reasons. She also works with volunteers for the pickup and delivery of the materials,” said Steinsultz.

“We had a hard time filling her shoes while she was out on medical leave. Susan stepped up and has done a great job. Paula just made it look too easy!”

The staff includes many retirees or others supplementing their income with a few hours of work.

“I am the only full-time library employee,” said Steinsultz. “Most of the employees just work a couple days a week, just a few hours. They help us cover all our open hours. Everyone has their specialty and they are all great to have on board.”
Library staff also includes employees with backgrounds in social work, education, music, banking, marketing, accounting, law, and more.

“I always appreciate the skills the staff members bring,” said Steinsultz. “Everyone is important to accomplishing our daily tasks, and meeting the needs of those who come to the library.”

“Most technological questions are referred to Joe DeVillez. Mary Eubanks and Ruth Montgomery work with our genealogical collection. Susan Stickel and Norma Minor work with our children’s programming,” said Steinsultz. “Cyndi Garrett is amazing at shelving and keeping things neat in just the few hours she works each week as our high school intern.”

Some library staff members have special areas of the library collection they maintain.
Robbie Steckenrider works with the Large Print collection to add new items, make sure the library has the most requested large print titles, and complete series by requested authors. Large Print books also receive special labeling and require special attention.

Barbara Schmidt maintains the library’s magazines, which includes titles for children, teens, and adults. The library subscribes to over fifty magazines, some that arrive each week. Making sure all magazines are arriving, being checked out and returned, and shelved in the right place, takes patience and organization.

Lisa Stearns helps to make sure the non-fiction collection is up-to-date and circulating. She also is very important to making sure the all the library’s books are in order on the shelf.

“That sounds easy, but it is not at all easy. Shelf-reading is a very daunting task. We have around 48,000 items in the library, about 5,000 of which go out and come back every month. We have to be able to find them at a moment’s notice. Everyone shelf-reads some, but Lisa takes a special interest and that is very important,” said Steinsultz.

The library tries to offer something for everyone in its community, including convenient hours, a readily available computer lab, and a large collection including books, movies and more. The library’s staff works together to provide these many services. Their diverse backgrounds and interests in the collection help provide the best possible staff for the library users.

I am a big believer that a person is never too old to learn.  It’s the ‘old dog … new trick thing I like to say these days.  Of course in most instances I’m the old dog.

So, it was with that mindset that I set out on Saturday with my wife Lisa for my first (and only) shopping excursion of this Christmas season.  Admittedly, I am not a good shopper, a happy shopper or a patient shopper.  But with my work schedule completely blank for a couple of days I decided to not only accompany her on this trip but also I vowed to myself to pay attention to the techniques used by a world-class shopper.  I wanted to see if there was something I was missing, something more to this insatiable desire to get to a mall – any mall – or in my wife’s case the closest T.J. Maxx store.

So, in short I had my mind right and was focused as we began this journey.

As we entered the first store I noticed there was a marked difference in both of us.  First, she seemed to be much more comfortable with her surroundings than I did.  As she grabbed the shopping cart I noticed her knuckles were white.  I likened her  shopping ‘game-face’ and the way her eyes took in the many rows of merchandise to Peyton Manning or Tom Brady dropping back in the pocket and then quickly ‘checking down’ the different receivers.  Perhaps the best way to describe it is to simply say when she grabbed the shopping cart she had the eyes of an assassin – cold and fixed on the job at hand.

On the other hand, my mind seemed to become confused and cluttered (even more so than usual) as I looked ahead at the sea of swarming people – big, small, old young and everybody seeming to be quite miserable.  I also felt as if the store and the aisle got a lot smaller narrower and more difficult to maneuver.  My head was instantly swimming and my eyes glazed over.  I shook my head from side to side to fight through, bound and determined to stay positive and try and find out the secret to the love of shopping.

As I dutifully followed along behind her I noticed that she would actually slow down, sort of browse in an aisle, touching several garments as she walked slowly along.  Every few steps she would come to a complete stop and as she felt of a garment or other item she would actually take it off the rack and then do something that was completely foreign to me.  She would hold the garment out in front of her, then rub the fabric between her fingers and in many instance run her hand down the length or width of the shirt, jacket, pants, etc.  And then in many instances she would hold the garment up next to her. She seemed to be quite aggressive as she pushed clothes from side to side in search of sizes.  I heard her mutter on several occasions about finding ‘the perfect gift.’  Since I have had thousands of interviews with coaches, I liken this to a coach talking about the intensity that his team had in a particular game.

And then after completing all these things she would hang the garment back up where it was and slowly start walking forward, again scanning the area in front of her while again reaching out and touching clothing as she walked.  Great peripheral vision, I thought.   I tried unsuccessfully to determine what the percentage was of the times she took an item off a rack and placed it in the cart or hung it back up.  I wondered if there might be some statistics that would be available to determine this.  Much like baseball where pitchers are judged by their ERA (earned-run-average) I would imagine that seasoned shoppers must have an IRA (items-returned-average).  And again just like baseball the lower the IRA the better the shopper.

But, this entire process was so odd to me that I never adjusted.  You see, my mindset when I enter a store is sort of ‘search-and-destroy.’   I walk to the item, not slowing down or touching any other clothing along the way.  I find the one I want and if it comes off the rack it IS going in the cart, period. When I am forced to shop I am a man on a mission.

As we trudged through the afternoon I sadly realized that indeed there was a reason that this was my first trip shopping this Christmas season.  You see, no matter how prepared or focused I tried to be, shopping was simply something that I was not going to like. Never. Ever. Never.

There is an old saying that says: Misery … loves company.  And as I plundered miserably along throughout the afternoon I made eye contact with several other captive men who were also towing the line behind a female who had that same steely-eyed look as my wife.  In most instance we just sort of nodded sympathetically at each other.  No words were needed, we all new how each other was suffering.

However, late in the day I did have a revelation that made me feel totally better about the experience. Let me explain.

Several years ago when new shopper-friendly malls sprang up all over the United States each and every one had a signature bar and grill type restaurant attached.  I envision that the architect who came up with the brilliant idea to make a safe haven for men –   complete with cold drinks, dozens of huge television screens all with all sports all the time had to be a guy who was a bad shopper.  As I let my mind embrace that thought I imagined it was a guy who one day tried hard and really put his best foot forward at trying to understand the mind of a shopper and then failed miserably.

While the mastermind of this gift to men will never know it … I toasted him Saturday evening.