5
Offering more dual-credit classes than ever
before thanks to a partnership with Rend Lake
Community College.
Providing financial stability through innovative
leadership that resulted in an agreement with a
new coal mine that opened in the district to
provide an in-kind donation in lieu of property
taxes that were going
to be abated because
the mine was in an
enterprise zone. That
agreement will net the
district more than $4
million over the next
12 years, helping
stave off potential
teacher layoffs.
Stewart credits those
successes to things like
having a great school
board and a strong and
dedicated
staff
and
teaching corps. She also
says that success for an
educator often cannot be
fully measured by data
and statistics.
“Little things you don’t
think matter really do,”
she said, recalling walking
across a gym floor after
an event and hearing a
girl calling her name. “This
young woman was a
former student and athlete
when I was first starting
out. I didn’t even think she
liked me. She threw her
arms around me, hugged
me and said ‘You’ll never
know how much you
meant to me.’ I was
honored and also scared
because that’s a lot of
responsibility when you
think about how many
kids you might have an
effect on as a teacher, coach or administrator.”
The granddaughter of Russian immigrants,
Stewart credits her father, who died two years ago,
with having the most impact on her becoming an
educator. Harry Stewart was able to go to college on
a football scholarship and became a longtime teacher
and coach in the same Benton district where she now
is superintendent.
“My dad was my hero,” she said. “He taught me
that education was important, and for my family, like
many others, education has been the great equalizer.
Seeing grown men come up to him and call him
‘Coach,’ it was apparent to me that teaching and
coaching was something special.”
The Read 180 program allows students in need of
reading help to get 90
minutes a day of focused
instruction to improve their
basic reading skills. It has
paid dividends, as has the
district’s Reading Plus
program.
“It’s kind of like Zumba
for your eyes and brain and
it works for us; it makes
kids
better
readers,”
Stewart said. “Without
basic-level reading skills
you have no chance for
success in life.”
The reading program
anecdotes paint a mosaic:
a student who raised his
ACT score by four or five
points to become eligible to
receive
an
NCAA
scholarship (“The problem
was not his intelligence, it
was his reading speed,”
Stewart said), an “emergent
reader” who now can
communicate
through
texting, and another who
was able to proficiency out
of a developmental reading
class at nearby Rend Lake
Community College.
Stewart says leading a
successful school district
begins with a vision that
faculty, staff and even
students buy into and
embrace. At Benton, it’s
called Ranger Nation Show
the PRIDE:
P
roblem-solving
R
eady for college & careers
I
ndividual responsibility
D
evelopment of the whole student
(Continued from page 4)
(Continued on page 6)
“Little things you don’t think
matter really do,” she said, recalling
walking across a gym floor after an
event and hearing a girl calling her
name. “This young woman was a
former student and athlete when I
was first starting out. I didn’t even
think she liked me. She threw her
arms around me, hugged me and
said ‘You’ll never know how much
you meant to me.’ I was honored
and also scared because that’s a lot
of responsibility when you think
about how many kids you might
have an effect on as a teacher,
coach or administrator.”