Student learning, School Safety, LGBTQ issues | DPS61 Candidates Respond

Two candidates, Datrice Weathers and Jalynn Walker, both withdrew previously and were not present.

Each candidate was allowed an opening & closing statement, plus 2 minutes to answer each question.

Questions were submitted by attendees, self-included, reviewed by CONO Board Members, and asked by WAND's Alyssa Patrick. Candidates are covered in the order they answered.

Candidates' statements are significantly paraphrased, and fact checking is limited due to time constraints. Closing statements are not covered, but the 3 minute video can be watched on Youtube

Bill Clevenger

For Bill Clevenger, "Academic achievement is absolutely a laser focus," with a particular eye on Kindergarden through 3rd grade. He says if you can't read by 3rd grade, "you are headed toward a lifetime of problems, and that's unnacceptable in my book."

He's concerned about how the School Board functions and governs the School District. He says "We need to be a high performing board and that's gonna take effort on everybody's part."

Clevenger wants to improve safety & security in the schools, and says the recent hire of Valdimir Talley is a step forward.

He notes that "50% of your local tax bill goes to the Decatur Public Schools," saying he wants to look at extracurricular activites and bring back "strong arts programs" and "strong athletic programs."

As far as his history, he touts 35 years living in Decatur, 4 kids who graduated from Macarthur High School, and his 34 years serving as the Executive Director of the Decatur Park District. He says he has worked with taxes & budgets and that he has a strong background in financial accountability.

Misty Fronk

Misty Fronk is running to "be a voice for the children, the parents, and the teachers," saying "those are the ones that we have to listen to to get our education system up and running." She wishes to focus more on the core curriculum - reading, writing, and arithmetic.

One of Misty's 4 grandchildren in Decatur Public Schools had an Individualized Education program and could only read at a 1st grade level while being in the fourth grade. Misty says her Daughter moved to a different state because she felt Decatur schools were failing her children.

Misty says her grandaughter is now reading at a 5th grade level, two years later. Misty says "maybe [my daughter] was right and the schools aren't doing everything they can to help children succeed."

Misty says her daughter's experience and move are her reason for running.

Fronk says "if children don't feel that they are progressing in their education, they're gonna turn to whatever they think is gonna make them feel better and feel like they're part of a community."

Fronk has been in Decatur for about 5 years.

Jacob Jenkins

Jenkins's opening statement is straight to the point, so here it is in his words:

"I'm running because I know the value that public education has and how transformative it can be to a community when executed well. When we look at this place we love so much and contrast it with the Illinois Report Card for DPS 61, it reminds us that there's still a great work to be done in this community."

He cites his additional reasons for running:

• "56% of the students suffer from chronic absenteeism and there is no current board policy to address it."
• "School safety directly impacts all facets of this community."
• "We need bright minds and creative thinkers occupying the hallways of the new million-dollar schools we plan to build."
• "Along with new curriculums, we need trained staff to show teachers how to implement it in the classroom and support their decisions to use other approved resources."
• "For far too long, we have been okay with declining academics, school violence, and a Board that lacks accountability, stability, and credibility."

Mark Reynolds

Mark Reynolds wants to raise reading, math, and science scores. He is running because he read a Wall Street Journal editorial that "lambasted Illinois education" and "highlighted Decatur specifically as being just a disaster on the education front, talking about 5% of our kids can't read at grade level."

He cited the article as stating that "people that are involved in the Decatur education system should be fired." He said this is "embarassing for Illinois" and "embarassing for Decatur."

After reading this, he became a substitute teacher in Decatur Schools and thought he could "do an even better job" and "have a better effect" on the School Board.

He's concerned that if a child can't read by 3rd grade, "That child is lost. We've lost that child," and "we as a community can't tolerate that. That's not what Decatur is about. That's not what we're about."

He pledges "to do everything I can in my power to raise these scores."

Note: I believe Reynolds mis-spoke & meant to say that only 5% of Decatur kids can read at grade level.

Will Wetzel

Will Wetzel says "Everything has to go back to student learning." He says that starts with making sure children have a "safe, welcoming school" and that "our teachers, our paraprofessionals, our janitors, our custodians, [and] our librarians feel safe and secure in their school, because [their working conditions] are the learning conditions of our children."

"Secondly, we need to talk about accountability." Will says the School Board, over the past two years, has violated the Open Meetings Act 19 times and "that cannot continue."

He says the Board first needs to follow the law, then "we can build upon that by being responsive to the community." He said many people get elected then stop showing up in the community. He says he's been showing up for 2 years and that he will continue showing up.

He is a 2003 Eisenhower High School graduate & a parent of a 2nd grader at Baum School.

Hannah Wolfe

Hannah Wolfe hopes to raise a family and send her kids to Decatur Public Schools "which is why I'm running for School Board," she says. She wants to ensure "that our kids have every opportunity that we had, if not better." She says the kids "deserve a world class education and they can get that at Decatur Public Schools"

Hannah thinks that in Decatur "we're not very good at telling our own story," saying the negative message is stated the most and "it's not the truth & it's not the whole picture." As a Board member, she wants to be better at telling that story & putting out the good parts of DPS, while improving the parts that need help. She says Decatur schools are "not perfect and we have a lot of work to do, but we're gonna have to get together to do that."

Hannah was born & raised in Decatur, attended the University of Illinois where she majored in business, then moved back to Decatur to work. Hannah is the daughter of Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe.

Hannah Wolfe says it is not a "one-size-fits-all solution", or we'd be solving the problem already. She says "not everybody learns the same" and it will take "a lot of little solutions" with everyone in the community working together, "doing little things to help small groups of students at a time," not just the school board. She says we'll need to look at the data for different socio-economic groups that are struggling.

Will Wetzel says the district does not have the "consistency that we need to have," citing the loss of six principals in the past 18 months and 101 current open teaching positions. "We are a district in crisis," so he says "[we] have to find that stability," which "starts with the School Board" and board governance.

Will says the board needs to "right our own ship" then "focus on the strengths of our district," find the strategies that consistently work, and hear from those in the classroom. He says building upon that will build a better district and ensure children succeed.

Mark Reynolds talked with a couple Stephen Decatur teachers who said just 10-12% of students were causing most of the disruption. The teachers suggested that procedures and administrators need to be in place to do necessary discipline and "separate the bad apples" who are making it hard to teach.

Mark also suggests "recruiting [more] minorities," because he read in an article that low-performing black students tend to feel more comfortable and improve when they have a black teacher. He says the percentage of black teachers in DPS schools is low when compared to the percentage of black students.

Fact Check: According to the 2022 Illinois Report Card, 5.5% of DPS teachers are black and 48% of DPS students are black.

Jacob Jenkins criticized his opponents for suggesting that "if we just put everything out there, everything will be fine." He said the district needs "Board Members that will work with the community to strengthen what we already have" and "put more resources into the classroom." He says "we had a few black principals here and the district kind of ran them off," so he says more accountability is needed.

Jacob largely focused on poverty, saying "It's not just about race. We have poverty that literally cuts across race" and we have to look at "strengthening our kids that are in poverty."

Fact Check: According to the grades 3-8 demographic test data for 2022, 8.3% of white Decatur students were proficient in English, compared to 3.4% of black students and 4.1% of low income students. The disparities in math for grades 3-8 are similar, with 6.2% of white students proficient, 1.2% of black students, and 1.4% of low income students. The disparities are larger for SAT scores (see 'Context' above), but largely support Jacob's claim.

Additionally, In 2022, 73.3% of DPS students are low income, meaning 73.3% of students were "eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, live in substitute care, or whose families receive public aid."

Misty Fronk says the whole community needs to get involved, especially with after-school programs like a reading lab, math lab, and english lab. She says this won't take from the school budget as these programs would be volunteer driven, involving parents, older students, and members of the community at large.

Misty says the district needs to bring back trades like wood shop, auto shop, and home-economics so kids who feel they don't "fit the barrier to qualify with everybody else" will graduate knowing they have a skill and "can be a productive person in society."

Fact Check: DPS 61 offers before & after-school programs for K-8 that provide academic assistance, arts, physical fitness, and more. It is funded through CARES Act 2 Funding for three years, and operated by staff. The FAQ does not address volunteering.

Bill Clevenger says being "kid-centered" starts with stable leadership, and that he's seen 17 different superintendents during his 34 years working in Decatur. He says it's not "effective for our kids" for leadership to change every 2 or 3 years, and that the district needs someone who is in it for the long haul like Caring Black Men and the churches.

Bill says it will "take the entire village and we're going to have to work overtime to solve this." He says the problem has to be acknowledged, then actively and aggressively dealth with. He says the Board also needs to recognize they have only one employee, the superintendent.

Jacob Jenkins is the only candidate with an extended answer for this question because other candidates were easily & thoroughly summed up in just a paragraph or two.

Jacob Jenkins

He says "there is no sunshine, there are no rainbows," critizing his opponents for suggesting that "if we just put everything out there, everything will be fine." Jacob says the data shows that "it's not just about race, but poverty as well". He says "poor white and poor black students are in the same bucket when it comes to education". He says "no one can pass the state standard around math" at Hope Academy.

He agreed with Will Wetzel that "the district is in crisis."

He says it will take coming to "Board Members that will work with the community to strengthen what we already have" and to "put more resources into the classroom." Jacob says "[Mark Reynolds] spoke about not having African American staff," but "we had a few black principals here and the district kind of ran them off, so we know we need more accountability when it comes to that and how we treat those that come into the community."

He says "I was welcomed into this community with love, and so that's why I'm fighting so hard for education, but it's not just about race. We have poverty that literally cuts across race and makes it really difficult to address some of those issues." He says it's "not necessarily [about] race" and that we have to look at poverty and "strengthening our kids that are in poverty."

Bill Clevenger says it will take a a culture of support and excellence "that people thrive in", while "expect[ing] staff to perform at high levels throughout our community". He says this depends on leadership, including "second level leadership," and he says "if we have a functional board [and] a high performing superintendent, we're gonna get much better results from our [schools]."

Bill said he believes in public education, having come from a family of teachers - including his mother, grandmother, and grandfather. He says "It took us years to get where we are. It's gonna take hard work and steady leadership to get us out of this."

Misty Fronk says "the teachers have to feel like they're safe in their classrooms," in order to teach effectively. She also advocates for "more teachers in classrooms," to help struggling kids and keep lessons on-track for students who are doing well. She says "If the teachers felt safe and [they] felt like the community," the school board, and the super intendent were behind them "they would stay in Decatur and our schools would flourish," since teachers would be able to focus on teaching instead of discipline.

Jacob Jenkins says, "as a former union president", he says "one of the greatest attractions" for teachers is "better wages that are on par with other districts of similar composition," and that "paying teachers more and paying them what they're worth will make a huge difference." He said CARES money could have incentivized teachers and afforded additional staff. He wants more teaching assistants and staff in classrooms to manage distractions from educational time.

Jacob says we have to recognize the national trend of teachers "leaving the classroom because they are fed up," but that Decatur is fortunate to have committed teachers with a 99% attendance rate. He says "Let's pay them better, and let's treat them better, and get them the support and the resources they need to be successful."

Fact Check: According to the Illinois Report Card, teacher attendance is measured as "teachers with fewer than 10 absences in a school year". In 2017-2019, teacher attendance was 63.7% - 71.4%. 2020 was 96.8%. 2021 & 2022 are 100%. From 2017-2022, teacher retention was 67.4% - 72.9%. Average teacher salary was $47,414 in 2017 and was $54,438 for 2022.

Mark Reynolds wants more parental involvement and volunteerism, and he is concerned about how stressed teachers are, based on his recent experience substitute teaching. He says changing the culture to reduce stress levels is important because "if our population of teachers is totally stressed out, it just sends a bad signal to people we're trying to attract."

Mark tells an anecdote about a teacher who had 7 parents schedule parent-teacher conferences, among about 60 students. He said a teacher has a tough time feeling good about the job without parental feedback & involvement. He says parents also need to teach kids how to write their own names & that he has a friend who volunteers at Hope Academy to help kids read. He also mentions the teacher shortage adding to stress.

Will Wetzel says the board needs anonymized exit interview data from teachers to understand why teachers who have not reached retirement age are leaving. He says they need to focus on and fix things within the scope of the board, whether it is pay, time off, admininistrator issues or something else.

Will says Decatur needs to "grow its own leadership" and not rely on "some other group of teachers" from a different community to "come in and save Decatur." He wants to grow programs that get DPS graduates into teaching, saying "we need to save ourselves" by building "good quality graduates," and continuing to "build them up," get them into college, then get them back into DPS schools to teach.

Hannah Wolfe advocates for an "aggressive hiring campaign," "benefits that are going to keep the teachers that we have," and "competitive pay like Jacob said", including good health insurance which she says is "incredibly important to be happy with your job." She agrees with Will that "growing our own" teachers would help.

She discusses her background in Human Resources, focused on data, and that she is "no stranger to the issues" related to recruitment and retention in Decatur. She said it's not just an issue with teachers or DPS61 and that "teachers and nurses are leaving their professions en masse nationwide."

Hannah Wolfe says "we made some good strides" with the recent hire of Valdimir Talley, DPS's new safety officer, and that it will "take a bit of time" to show results. She says violence is a problem not just in schools, but in workplaces in other industries too. She says "I don't think we've done everything we can, but I think there's a lot more research we need to do on what else we can do."

Hannah says "Expelling kids from schools is probably going to be one of the hardest parts of this job. Noone wants to put kids out on the street, and kids deserve second chances because they're kids, but we can't have disrupters in our schools that are keeping other children from learning." She says a coalition needs to be built to create a plan for & provide a packet of resources to students who are expelled, so they and their parents know their next steps.

Will Wetzel says "there are so many steps" before "the first punch is thrown," and we need to "focus on making sure that we are intervening early" by putting together volunteer programs with parents & community members, increasing extracurricular & after-school activities, as well as peace-making programs and restorative justice programs "that have been shown to work in places [with] high violence."

Will says "these are children, [and] they might make bad decisions" because their brains aren't fully developed. He says some kids can't function in a regular ed program, and they should get "consequences for their actions", but "no child should be thrown out on the street." He says they should instead go to alternative education programs, such as Futures, Milligan, or one of many "other wonderful programs that we have," but that "no child should be expelled out on the street."

Mark Reynolds said he just learned the high schools have metal detectors at the doors & he talked to someone at Stephen Decatur who wants them too. He wants to give the new security administrator some time to work on the violence and safety issues, but says that school safety is a "high priority as far as I'm concerned", a change from his stance 3 weeks earlier (see Notes at the bottom).

Mark believes it is a "sad fact" that "truthfully, there are some children that aren't going to be teachable." From past experience subbing at Futures, he says Futures is a good option for kids who want to learn but don't fit into the high school setting.

Mark says he doesn't have an answer for kids who don't want to be in school and don't want an education. He says "I feel bad for them" but "as a board member" he has to "look at the big picture" and he is "more worried about the 90% that want to learn."

Jacob Jenkins says the Board needs to acknowledge its past "bad decisions" to close down schools and put kids together, saying that putting Thomas Jefferson kids together with Stephen Decatur is what created the situation that led to police being called over 120 times in one year due to fighting and violence.

He says school violence is addressed by putting more people in the classroom and schools that "look like the population you're trying to address the issue with." He wants to work with community partners & faith baised organizations to have adults come in before school, during lunch hour, and at games to help quell violence and ensure safety.

He thanked Will for bringing up "restorative justice & peace building initiatives," saying these have "worked very well in other places." He says he's trained in WAIT - Watched Agression Interruption Training, has worked with the "second chance grant," and "many of the youth in this community that were a part of the criminal justice system."

Jacob says we need more restorative justice programs and that the youth needs to be able to buy into it.

Misty Fronk says there "will be signs" before any "real violent scene", and agrees with Jacob, saying those signs can be recognized if we get more people into the schools. Then she wants pull those children aside to get to the root cause of their feelings & why they're acting out, whether it's struggling with school or "maybe something at home".

Misty thinks kids get violent because they feel it's the only way to get attention. She says "our numbers and everything will go up" if the violence stops, because the children will "feel like they're safe because they have somebody they can talk to."

Bill Clevenger agrees with Hannah that "one of the hardest decisions a school board member will make" is to "expel a young person from our school system." He says it's a difficult question, "not a 2 minute question." He says we have two schools, Garfield and Milligan, that provide alternatives for kids who receive an "expulsion with a stay".

Bill said Futures is not a good fit for that alternative placement, suggesting there will be problems "if you put the young people who were in a fight in the same environment." He says there are a lot of factors that go into that decision making process in determining whether to do an expulsion with a stay vs no stay.

He asked the audience who saw the "viral video" of a fight at MacArthur a couple weeks ago, and several folks raised their hands (not captured in the video). Bill asks who would condone that violence in their schools and no hands were raised. He said "that's what I thought," then said "there's gotta be prevention, and there has to be consequences on the other end as well."

Bill says there are "several different avenues, not one size fits all," and that in life "there are consequences," and that both students and teachers need to feel safe at school.

Bill Clevenger expressed concern that with hot-button issues like these, "often times one snippet becomes the viral conversation," and he says we need to "look at what is contained in the curriculum and have the total picture."

As far as actually handling these issues, he says board members need to "vote our own conscience," as well as "rely on our professional staff in the school system to make recomendations for the board to consider." He said there have been Board Members who wanted to "sit side-by-side with the superintendent and run the school district and that's simply not good governance. Good Governance means hiring an executive and expecting that executive to do the job, and that covers this topic as well."

Misty Fronk says "it's good for everybody to know complete history, whether it be black history or lgbtq," but "if we're going to teach children history that may be contradictory to their parents beliefs, or whatever, the parents should be notified in writing and have to sign something saying that they are okay with you teaching their child that, at that particular time."

Misty Continues: "We have to make sure that when we do teach this, that the teachers are very well prepared, so that they don't misconstrue a child into thinking, you know, anything that they're saying can be taken out of context or racist, because history, yaknow, we wouldn't want a child to think that a teacher is talking about the lgbt community and she's racist because she's talking about that. So we have to make sure that, if we're going to teach that, the teachers are educated on how to present it so it doesn't sound like they're downgrading one part of the history over another part."

Jacob Jenkins says "this is a very important question, but first I would say that School Districts need to follow the law around whatever the subject is," whether it is "lgbt or black history". He says it is very important to follow "the law and state statute" surrounding that information.

Jacob says "This is one of those questions that sometimes divide people, but right now, I'm worried about making sure our kids can read first. So it doesn't matter if you're teaching them black history or anything else, if they can't read, it's a mute [sic] point."

Jacob also addressed Clevenger's comment about "good governance," saying that the Board has "only one employee", the superintendent, and that "when we cherry-pick superintendents to carry out what our agenda [is], that too [needs addressing]," as it is not good board governance and "moreso lacks accountability, and we've seen that here a few times." He says "It's not necessarily that we want to hold the superintendents' hand, but we wanna make sure they are not also complicit in helping to break the open meetings act 16 times."

Mark Reynolds says: "I'm very sensitive about what our children are being taught, especially about sex. Sexuality to me is an age appropriate type of subject." He says "I wanna protect the innocence of our [1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade] kids."

"I don't feel it's appropriate for them to be immersed in the LGBTQ agenda and the ideologies that go with it. Innocence only lasts for a short period period of time, and I wanna give our children the ability to be innocent for as long as possible."

"Someone asked me awhile ago about banning books that I thought were objectionable, I don't believe in banning books, but I believe in books being age appropriate for the audience, so I don't want a 3rd grader reading about two men having sex together. I don't want them reading about two women having sex together."

"If we found it appropriate at 7th, 8th, 9th grade, fine, but I want to protect the children from things coming out of Springfield that I find abhorrent. There are laws that I object to and I strongly fall on the side of protecting the kids."

Misty Fronk and several members in the audience clapped after Mark's answer.

Hannah Wolfe later says "our job is to prepare kids for the real world. We can't hide certain things, and if Jim has two dads, then Jim has two dads and that's just what reality is, and not something that is age appropriate or not."

(I previously wrote an opinion here, which was removed. You can now read it here)

Will Wetzel agrees with Jenkins that "first and foremost, we have to comply with the law." Will says the Illinois State Board of Education "sets outlines for curriculum", and it is up to school administration to implement it.

He says "our job, as a School Board, is to hire administrators and allow them the latitude to choose a curriculum based on feedback from our teachers, from our teaching professionals, and from the Illinois State Board of Education, in order to come up with the best curriculum possible for our children."

He agrees with Jenkins again that "we need to focus on where our issues are, which is reading, math, and writing." He says "When we have only 70% of our children graduating from high school, that shows that we are not preparing them for life, and that needs to be our focus."

Hannah Wolfe said "one of the reasons we teach history is so that it doesn't repeat itself," so we need to be "brutally honest about what that history is at an age-appropriate level. Whitewashing it isn't going to help any of us; it's not gonna help any of our kids or the next generations."

She says "our job is to prepare kids for the real world. We can't hide certain things, and if Jim has two dads, then Jim has two dads and that's just what reality is, and not something that is age appropriate or not."

She continues "I think just teaching a nuclear family and that things happen a certain way is a dangerous area to get into, but I think we really need to just teach our kids the truth and set them up for the real world."

Hannah Wolfe says there are a "million different answers, because they are going a million different places," whether their path is trades, college, or directly into work. She says there's a lot of good going on already, with the Ag Academy and Leadership Institute.

She says "we could always do more", and that "we need this workforce. we are raising our workforce and we're raising the people who are going to take care of us when we get old". She says "there's a lot of different ways to do that" and we need to "constantly be evolving" to get people into the workforce.

She adds that we need to support students and "make sure that they have what they need," that they are fed, clothed, housed, and "coming to school ready to learn."

Will Wetzel says "everything has to go back to academics and student learning. We need to be able to prepare our children for the future, and right now, for a lot of our children, we're not."

He says it comes back to "what can the board control?" He says the board can support the superintendent, teachers, and other staff to "[make] sure that they have the tools to be successful" and "build upon our successes," saying we need to "[really] focus on what our outcomes are going to be."

Will says "all of us have hit on everything that is wrong with the district" and that he could "continue on a littany of everything that is wrong, but there are several things that we are doing right." Will says "once we build on those" and "focus on what we can build together," that "we'll build up children and make sure they are successful for life," whether that's in trades, in college, or straight into the workforce.

Will says "once we realize that we have the duty for hollistic education" and "focus on the whole student & build them up, then we will succeed. And [student learning & academics] needs to be our entire focus."

Mark Reynolds says "I too believe that reading, writing, and arithmetic has got to be stressed. We obviously need to raise the scores of our students."

Seemingly in response to Hannah's earlier statement, Mark says "And I understand living in the real world, but there are ways in which our children can be taught, and there are age appropriate subjects that can be broached with our students, but I do fall back on the idea that as parents, we want to protect our children from as much harshness in this world as we can."

Mark continues "We want to protect our kids, not to make them naive about what is going on in the world and what the real world is about, but we want to make sure that we give our children the standards that we want them to live by, the ethics that we want them to live by, the beliefs that we want them to live by. And that is all part of the educational process."

Jacob Jenkins says "the first thing that we have to do is get our kids back into the classroom because they're not there," and says "72% of 10th graders suffer from chronic absenteeism, meaning they miss 18 days of educational learning," and that absenteeism crosses racial lines.

Jacob says these kids aren't ready to go into the workforce because "they can't fill out applications, some of them can barely sign their signatures, they don't have the soft skills or [other things] needed" to succeed in a job. Jacob wants to make sure preparatory programs are not just for the "higher echelon of students", and that all students have access to them.

Jacob also wants to make sure more than 17% of students are ready for college, and that when those students return to Decatur, they need to have jobs & opportunities available to them. He says "The one thing I credit our mayor on is that our business community here is strong and they will open up their doors to give the students in this district opportunities." He says we need to "build upon that relationship & as a board, we really have to make sure that we foster & keep those relationships."

Fact Check: In 2022 for DPS61, chronic absenteeism for white students was 48.5%, for black students 61.3%, and for low income students 61.2%. Chronic absenteeism was lower for 2018-2020, with 21.8% for all students in 2020, and 38.4% in 2019. For 2022, Grades 10 - 12 had a rate of 76% - 77.4%. Grades 1 through 7 were 42.9% - 51%. The report card data says these rates show "the percentage of students who miss 10% percent or more of school days per year". World Population Review says Illinois schools have 180 days of school per year, so 10% of that is 18.

Misty Fronk suggests that there be home economics or wood shop or auto shop classes, "or even have a class of finance or job skills". She suggests a semester where they "do nothing but learn how to apply for a job" or "how to write a resume". She says "not everybody goes to college," and these classes would help prepare those students who don't.

She says that with these, "they'll be more apt to want to go out & pursue a job that they might not have thought they could have gotten had they not had these resources in high school."

Bill Clevenger says we need to focus on "writing, basic math, [and] reading." He says "reading is the basis of all; if you can't read by 4th grade, your chances of success in any other subject are greatly, greatly diminished." He says "Mayor, economic development again can do a great job, but we have to have a workforce that can enter those businesses and make those businesses successful in Decatur, Illinois."

Bill says that "20 years ago, we told everybody you had to go to college," and that we've found "that's really not true; everybody doesn't need to go to college." Bill says "district 61 students are absolutely the future of our workforce, and we have to treat it as such."