Published: December 03, 2008 12:20 pm            

Education cracks target of group

“What will it take to dramatically improve our schools?”

That was the question posed Tuesday by the executive director of a nonprofit organization formed to work on school issues, such as early intervention and student preparedness.

Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, met with a group that included Effingham High School teacher Joe Fatheree, a member of the Advance Illinois board. Steans was in Effingham as part of a statewide series of meetings with community groups.

Steans said something needed to be done about the dropout rate, adding 228 Illinois students drop out of high school each day. Moreover, she added, three quarters of those who stay in school aren’t prepared for adult life.

“They don’t have the skills to move on,” she said.

Group member Debra Owen, Effingham Unit 40 curriculum director, said early intervention is key.

“We’re seeing more issues in younger grades,” she said. “We call them ‘time-out children.’ They are never reprimanded or corrected, just put in the corner.”

Owen said one problem is a lack of accountability for parents.

“The mandates are all on the schools,” she said. “Where is the accountability for parents?”

Dr. Colleen Bingham, a local pediatrician, said it appears many local parents are poorly motivated to help their children succeed in school. And, Bingham said the situation is even worse in the summer, when there is an increasing lack of parental supervision.

“My biggest fear is in summer when nobody is watching,” Bingham said. “At least when they are in school, we know where they are.”

Bingham said there have been occurrences in recent years of first-graders throwing violent tantrums.

“We’ve got kids throwing chairs in classes in first grade,” she said. “As these kids progress in school, we’ll start to see more violence.”

Bingham said poorly motivated parents are easy to hide in rural areas. But that doesn’t make the problem any easier to deal with, she said.

“They’re not providing us hope in our future,” she said. “I’m really nervous about the kids coming up.”

Bingham said the issue of teen parents doesn’t make the situation any easier.

“There’s a lot of very young parents,” she said. “They are the parents who yell and scream.”

Owen said disorganized domestic environments cause a lack of preparedness among children starting school.

“Children coming into schools are so different because of their home environments,” she said. That, she added, causes school districts to divert resources from instruction to help mitigate social issues.

“Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t have thought about having social workers for schools,” she said. “But schools need help for classroom teachers.”

Effingham High School Principal Mike McCollum said he deals with the fallout left by “students” who have given up years earlier.

“Kids drop out at 17, but they quit in third grade,” McCollum said. “I get what’s left many times.

“We make AYP (adequate yearly progress), but we still have kids who don’t function very well.”

McCollum said accountability is a huge issue at the high school level.

“It is a community issue,” he said. “Nobody is accountable when you get down to it.”

St. Anthony School Principal Marianne Larimer said she sees some of the same problems as her public school colleagues.

“We also have attendance issues,” she said.

Agracel CEO Jack Schultz said today’s students are going to need post-secondary skills for even factory work that might have been considered unskilled a generation ago.

Technology has changed that, Schultz said.

“The three out of four students just getting by are behind the eight-ball forever,” he said. “Factory work is beginning to require at least a two-year degree and in many cases a four-year degree.”

Schultz said he could set up an all-volunteer mentoring program for Unit 40 schools.

“I could have 130 volunteers coming in once a week,” he said. “We could expand to 250, because that’s the type of potential you have.”

After the meeting, Fatheree said Steans is gathering information to lobby lawmakers in Springfield and develop community organizations that would help reinforce the need for quality education.

“She’ll bring a strong voice back to Springfield,” he said. “There hasn’t been an organization to cover this broad of a spectrum.”

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.