How to prepare students

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."

Jalynn Walker withdrew from the School Board Race.

Datrice Weathers withdrew from the School Board Race.