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CIVRegionpitches in tohelp incleanup efforts
ByMichael Chamness
IASADirector of Communications
“Washington Strong” is more than a slogan for
those who lived through the devastation of the EF-4
tornado that tore through the central Illinois
community on aSundaymorning last November.
Sixmonths later, the physical scars resemble the
marks left behind from open-heart surgery, a three-
block wide swath that cuts right through the center of
the town of 15,000. Some rebuilding has begun, but
the exhaustive cleanup efforts continue. In fact, a
dozen IASA Central Illinois Valley Region (CIV)
school superintendents and administrators gathered
on a recent Saturday to participate in Washington’s
annual Cleanup Day -- this year a day dedicated to
cleaning up debris left behind by the tornado that
ravaged entire subdivisions.
One of the CIV superintendents working as part
of the Service Day cleanup crew was Dr. Chad
Allaman, superintendent of Central District 51 in
Washington. He lost his home in the tornado.
“Washington Strong” has a very special meaning for
him and his family.
“To me, ‘Washington Strong’ means coming
together and supporting each other for the long haul,”
Allaman said. “For every bad thing that happened as
a result of the tornado, it seems that 10 great things
happened. The entire community was affected and
the response was phenomenal. It was all hands on
deck to help from the moment the storm occurred
and thatmentality has not changed.”
Dr. Patrick Martin, superintendent of District 50 in
Washington, organized the CIV Service Day project,
as he has done the past few years. From his vantage
point “WashingtonStrong” has become away of life.
“It represents the resiliency of the people in the
Washington community,” Martin said. “I think back on
the pictures in the local and regional newspapers,
television footage, images from social media and
there were so many people in the Washington
community and outside that helped to support one
another. It is like nothing that I have ever seenon this
grand a scale. Everyone was thinking about how
best to support their neighbors and what they could
do tohelp.”
Martin recalled that funds were raised for staff
members who had lost their homes. Many of those
who lost all of their belongings wanted the funds to
go to someone else.
“It was so humbling to hear each of the 10 or 11
people in our district say things like ‘I am sure there is
someone in a lot worse situation than I am...please
see to it that they get this money.’ I had to tell one
individual she had no choice, that the individuals who
had donated the funds would have been
disappointed had she not taken them. It was such a
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‘WashingtonStrong’
more than aslogan
in tornado’saftermath
