 The history of the regional offices began in 1829, when each county
was ordered by the Illinois' sixth General Assembly to appoint a
"commissioner of school lands."In 1865 the state legislature
ruled that the county superintendent of schools would be an elected
position and would answer to the secretary of state.
In 1973 lawmakers voted to consolidate the county offices into
regional offices according to population. Further consolidation
occurred in 1977 and again in 1995.
Locally, the final result of those consolidations was the
grouping of Logan, Mason and Menard counties into one regional
office that is currently run by Anderson and Assistant
Superintendent Terri McDowell.
Anderson, a native of Lincoln, has an office at 122 N. McLean St.
in Lincoln, and McDowell works out of the office located in the
courthouse at Havana.
Today, the Regional Office of Education is responsible for a
broad array of duties. The duties are grouped into two categories,
"service" and "assurance," with one common goal: to provide a safe,
healthy learning environment for the children of our communities.
This series of articles on Regional Office of Education 38 will
touch on just a few of the duties of the office. To learn more about
the office and what they do, visit
http://logan.k12.il.us/roe38/.
Oversight and supervision of county schools
According to Anderson, the responsibility of overseeing and
supervising schools can become a bit complicated. She says that
sometimes parents think that they can call on her to "straighten the
school district out," when they are not happy with something that
has happened there.
"That is not a responsibility I am legally empowered to
undertake," she explains. "That is why each district has a board of
education. They make the decisions that directly impact their
district's residents and, because they are elected by those
residents, are accountable to them. Our responsibility is to make
sure that they are following the letter of the law."
When parents are concerned about something going on in their
child's school, they should first contact the district
superintendent and the school principal to discuss those concerns.
They may also contact members of the district's school board.
Following the appropriate chain of command is imperative and
maintains that important "local control" link that is so valuable in
Illinois schools. However, it is important to note that whenever
complaints or concerns are received by the regional office, Anderson
follows through with the school district and, at minimum, attempts
to aid in communicating those concerns.
In the category of oversight and supervision, the main duty of
the regional office includes assuring the public that the school
districts' physical plants meet the appropriate codes, that records
are being properly maintained and that child safety is being
maintained.
"We do health/life safety inspections every year, inspecting each
building to make sure everything is up to code; checking the
operation of things like emergency lights, exhaust fans, door
closures; looking specifically for any things in the building that
could cause harm to a child," Anderson says. "When there are changes
to the Health/Life Safety Code, it is our responsibility to inform
the school districts and work with them to meet those new
requirements."
She adds that this duty also involves a compliance visit every
three years to look at school board policies, school discipline
codes, student handbooks, personnel files, and other policies and
procedures that the state requires, making sure that everything has
been done correctly. If, perchance, there is a problem with any
policies or procedures, the school district is given an assigned
amount of time to make corrections, and the regional office offers
assistance as needed.
Emergency response
Among the policies and procedures that every school must have in
writing is a protocol for handling emergencies within the school
building.
Plans are in place for every possible scenario, from catastrophic
weather events to acts of violence.
Anderson's office may or may not be directly involved with the
situation, depending on the scope of it.
As the regional superintendent, she should be notified of
emergency event that affects the schools. As an example, she cites a
situation a couple of years ago when a threat was discovered on a
bathroom wall in one of the schools in Lincoln.
"In that particular situation, I got a call and was asked to come
over. I offered my assistance," she adds, but when she arrived, the
administrators and local law enforcement personnel were doing
everything according to plan, and she wasn't needed, so she returned
to the office.
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However, there may be times when the regional superintendent does
need to get directly involved. "If there were an issue that
precipitated the need for a command post, nine times out of 10, it
might be here at our office," she says. "We are located away from
the school, and law enforcement, news media, anybody could come in
and out of our building without having to go across some sort of a
line."
If an event were to occur that would result in major damage to or
loss of a school building, Anderson would be heavily involved in
getting the classrooms back in session as quickly as possible. She
explains: "There is an emergency fund that can be accessed to get
students into another location for a while so they can attend school
while the district repairs, rebuilds, whatever they would need to
do." In such a situation, Anderson's office would be the one to
start working with the state to acquire emergency funding to assist
with the costs of temporary classrooms and other immediate needs.
Assurance to the public
Anderson says that, in the region, not only she, but all school
administrators and staff, are dedicated to assuring that the
children entrusted to their care are kept safe from abuse.
When some predator slips through the cracks and it comes out in
the news, it is a bad situation for all public schools. Anderson
says that while this region was in no way involved with the Jon
White situation, where a former teacher was convicted of molesting
10 students in the Urbana and Unit 5 school districts, Anderson has
paid attention to what went on there. She speculates that it will
eventually come out that someone in the school system turned a blind
eye to what was possibly going on. She wants the public to be
assured that won't happen in this region.
"I want the general public to know that we do communicate about
these things with other regions; and if we have information, we
don't wait until we're asked, we contact those superintendents and
let them know what we know," she adds.
Anderson also wants the public to know that the regional office
investigates incidents that are reported to them. She says that in
this region, such reports are very rare, but if they should occur,
would be taken quite seriously. She sums it all up by saying, "We
are responsible for our students and we can't take a chance; we just
can't."
Employee and volunteer screening
Anderson says there have been great strides made in the screening
process of school employees. This helps her office to assure the
public that individuals coming in contact with their children will
do no harm.
In 1985 the state of Illinois passed a law giving schools the
right to perform criminal background checks. In 2004, with
fingerprint laws, the state added to a school region's ability to
obtain information on possible employees.
Anderson says this was a very important improvement in assuring
child safety against predators. "I see you today and you introduce
yourself and tell me who you are. All I have to go on is your word,
but your fingerprints don't lie," she explains.
"Unless the fingers have been damaged by fire or disease or
something like that, your fingerprint is unique. You could have 25
aliases, but whatever the fingerprint comes up to be, that is who
you really are.
"The fingerprint law provides for anybody who spends time in the
school building equivalent to what we call direct daily contact to
submit to fingerprinting. This can be a construction worker,
delivery person -- depending on how often they come in and out and
where they go, secretary, custodians, cooks, teachers aids, teachers
and administrators."
In addition, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act,
passed into federal law in 2006, allows the public schools to
require fingerprinting of volunteers and gives the regions access to
the state databases and the FBI database of child predators.
Anderson outlines the benefit of the fingerprint and Adam Walsh laws
by saying: "There is a set (of) what is called enumerated offenses.
If you are applying for a position in education and have been
convicted of one of these offenses, even in another state, if the
offense is on the Illinois list, then that eliminates your chance at
educational employment.
"Then we also are required to check the sex offender databases in
the state and the nation, as well as the 'Illinois State Police Child
Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry.'"
The public can learn more about this registry by visiting
http://www.isp.state.il.us/cmvo/.
[By NILA SMITH]
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