Open forum meeting held to discuss LCHS returning to the Central State Eight Conference
Part Two:  Community members speak on proposed LCHS conference move

[May 13, 2021] 

In part two of the open forum meeting held to discuss the possibility of LCHS returning to the Central State Eight Conference takes a look at the points the speakers brought forth on Monday, May 10, 2021.

Blinn Bates, Landon Hullinger, Lynn Paulus, Judy Lumpp and Jarred Brown each addressed the crowd Monday night and offered several valid points on the issue at hand.

Blinn Bates, a 2001 graduate of LCHS, resides in Lincoln with his family and he took the podium first to offer his thoughts in favor of Lincoln returning to the Central State Eight Conference. Two important points that he emphasized were “the education of our students and the safety of our students.”

Bates asked the question, “What is the purpose of the school and what is the purpose of the school district?” He then answered that question by referring to the district agenda. “Inspiring each student to be a successful life-long learner,” said Bates, “That’s what we’re here for and that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s a worthy cause.

“School’s exist to do that and luckily in Lincoln we’ve had a history of being able to do that for a long period of time,” continued Bates, noting that extracurricular activities are an important part of growing and learning and becoming productive citizens.

“In my opinion, and I think most will agree, those extracurricular activities cannot detract from the purpose of education. I think what we’ve gotten ourselves into with the conference we are in now, I think there are situations where it does. I think the distances that these students are asked to travel to extracurricular events is tremendous. We are taking kids out of school early. We are bringing them back late.”

Bates brought up the fact that it can’t be easy for 20-30 kids to be on a school bus for five hours and try to get their homework done or study for a test.

“By getting kids home late, I just don’t think that puts them in the best position to perform at their best,” said Bates. "If they’re not rested they cannot perform at their best. We’re just not giving them the tools to succeed.”

Bates then brought up his concern for the safety of the students, coaches and volunteers, who often times have to travel two-lane highways late at night in questionable weather conditions to get back home from an event.

“I don’t personally believe that prioritizes the safety of these individuals,” said Bates. “It would be a tragedy if something were to happen that we could avoid.” Bates also said, “There’s a plethora of cities around here within a 30-40 mile drive that we can compete with. That helps everyone I think. That interstate drive is much safer. It’s much quicker. And, you know, why not? This is not an anti-Apollo Conference stance by any means. I think it’s a good conference but the distances simply get impractical, in my opinion.”

Bates ended by thanking the board and noting that the change back to the Central State Eight would be a tremendous opportunity for the school. He also expressed his appreciation to the board for allowing voices to be heard on this issue.

Current LCHS senior and Class of 2021 Student Body President Landon Hullinger emerged from the bleachers next to take the podium. He began by thanking Mr. Stricklin for his presentation and noted that he was in favor of moving back to the CS8.

“My freshman year was the first year Lincoln came into the Apollo Conference and it has not been easy,” said Hullinger.

Hullinger told the story of his grandfather giving him a pocket flashlight to use for studying on the bus on a trip back from Mahomet-Seymour during Finals. “That’s really hard,” he said. “You can’t expect a student to excel in the classroom if they’re not given the time to study. There were times I had studying to do and I just couldn’t get it done on the bus.”

Hullinger also noted how the students needed technology but it just wasn’t there on a bus that was traveling down a two-lane country road late at night, especially around Charleston and Effingham.

“The WiFi is not out there,” said Hullinger. “It’s hard to get a connection.” Hullinger’s comments drew applause from the crowd as he stepped away from the podium after thanking the board and Mr. Stricklin for hearing him out.

Lynn Paulus, a Lincoln resident and parent to three girls who have all attended LCHS, took the podium next. Two of Paulus’ older daughters played sports in the CS8 and the youngest daughter, Emily, is a senior who never experienced the CS8 competition. Emily played three sports all four years in the Apollo Conference.
 

“I am very familiar as a parent of student-athletes,” began Paulus. “I use the word student-athletes, we aren’t athlete-students, to recommend or support your decision, or hopefully your decision to move back to the Central State Eight. The Apollo Conference has some very talented girls teams from top to bottom in all three sports that my kids played, volleyball, basketball and softball.”

“The Central State Eight has terrific talent in that conference,” continued Paulus. “The biggest thing I noticed when we left the Central State Eight was our exposure of our student-athletes, from the media coverage to just the exposure to scouts and individuals that know the sport. Once we left the Central State Eight, it may not have been intentional, but it seemed like the city of Springfield pretty much stopped covering us, especially girls sports. They continued to cover the boys basketball program, which is great, but if you look at the girls sports, once we left Springfield and the Central State Eight, that coverage went by the wayside, which hurts those individuals, those girls, that want to go on and pursue their dreams in college and have that extra exposure. So for that reason I highly encourage you to move back to the Central State Eight.”

Paulus also noted her concern about the education aspect of the student-athletes. “Fortunately the guidance counselors have worked with those student-athletes the best they could to get those late afternoon classes to be classes that don’t have a participation requirement or it could be a study hall or a P.E. class, but that’s not always achievable. So those students are missing prime education time needed to go on and succeed in life.”

“The other aspect is the school morale, the school enthusiasm,” said Paulus. “You talked about the rivalries in the Central State Eight. There are some great rivalries there. You don’t see that as much in the Apollo Conference because those students aren’t traveling the two hours to come to Lincoln or our students aren’t traveling the two hours to go there to create that rivalry and that school morale. So that is another point to consider.”
 

The last point Paulus brought to the attention of the crowd and the board involved the community.

“We want to do this for the students, but if you think about it, think of the number of fans, parents, grandparents that come from Central State Eight schools to attend the games,” Paulus said. “I mean it’s two, three, four times what we get for an Apollo Conference game. Where do you think those people are going when the game is done? Or before the game? They are visiting our restaurants, our gas stations, our stores. So they’re bringing in more additional dollars into our community and making our school and our community a better place. For those reasons I really encourage you to vote in favor of making the switch back to the Central State Eight.”

Paulus thanked the board and she was also met with a round of applause from the crowd.

Lifelong Lincoln resident Judy Lumpp spoke next and offered some history. She said she was on the board when Lincoln was in the Big 12 Conference and her husband played in the original Big 12.

Lumpp said the reason Lincoln joined the Central State Eight Conference years ago was because Jerry Overbey, who was the LCHS superintendent in 1985, wanted the girls to be able to play soccer.

Lumpp also mentioned the fact that a lot of her friends are grandparents and they don’t go to their grandchildren’s games because of the long distances, choosing instead to listen to the games at home.

In her closing comments she thanked the board for their time and devotion and said, “I want you all to know that we just didn’t decide, it took us almost ten years to find a fit and that was the Central State Eight. Hopefully you’ll study that and we can go back.”

The last speaker was Jarred Brown, who noted the last time he spoke in the gym he was giving a commencement speech nearly 20 years ago. He referred to Lincoln’s stint in the Apollo Conference as a “four-year experiment.”

Brown quickly dove into the facts concerning travel times and distances. Being in the Apollo Conference more than doubled the amount of travel time, he said. Rattling off the numbers, Brown concluded, “Apart from Jacksonville, every other CS8 school is closer than all Apollo Conference schools.”

Brown was also quick to mention the late night travel during the week for students who had tests the next day, citing that it couldn’t be easy to study on a bus or after midnight at home.

Another point Brown brought to the podium was the level of competition.

“Playing in the CS8 against some good schools gave student-athletes a place to showcase their abilities,” said Brown. “For those select few lucky enough to go on to play at the next level it gives them a lot better chance to be seen by scouts.”

Brown referred to scouts at a football game in the CS8 who are there looking at Division I talent and offered this insightful thought, “To be challenged by the best is what sports is all about.”

Brown said he looked for inspirational quotes by Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning where they talked about winning games and beating teams who were less competitive, but he couldn’t find any. He did find these, he said.

“I failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed,” Brown credited Michael Jordan with that quote.

“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts,” said Brown, offering up that quote from Peyton Manning.

“Sports instills drive and passion in its student-athletes,” said Brown. “It develops the will to overcome adversity. That’s something this generation needs now more than ever. Success in sports at this level is not measured in wins and losses. It is measured by what is gained from competition. Playing on a team that went 4-16 versus a team that went 16-4 makes no difference in the grand scheme of life. Students aren’t putting their batting averages on college applications. And they aren’t asked their career win-loss record in football for their first full-time job interview. What might be more important to the students in the long run is having their parents and grandparents, friends and classmates able to come cheer them on at more games. Also the ability to study a few more hours for Dick Bicknell’s chemistry test might be more beneficial than a two-hour bus ride home.”

The crowd on hand who remembered Dick Bicknell erupted in laughter.

“I urge the school board to use common sense at this time and not focus on a few influential voices pushing us into a conference that doesn’t benefit the students in the long run,” concluded Brown.

Brown stepped away from the podium and the crowd clapped in approval of his speech.

On that note, Board President Susan Gleason asked if anyone else had anything to add. No one else got up to speak. Gleason thanked the crowd in attendance and those watching at home and ended by adding the board will do what is in the best interest for the students. She also expressed it was important for the community to be heard.

The board will vote on this issue Monday, May 17, 2021 during their regularly scheduled board meeting.

[Teena Lowery]