8
Mutual respect fuels informative
legislative
roundtable
By Superintendent Brent O’Daniell
Virginia Community Unit School District 64
When it comes to outreach, one area that
sometimes gets overlooked is communications
with elected officials. Thanks to the past efforts of
people like retired Superintendent Diane
Robertson
and
Pikeland
District
10
Superintendent Paula Hawley, the IASA Two
Rivers Region has been able to host a very
productive annual Legislative Roundtable the
past few years.
At our most recent roundtable, held in
January at John Wood Community College in
Pittsfield, we had four of the five state legislators
that represent our region as well as 25 of our 31
members. If I had to identify just one reason for
such great participation, I would say mutual
respect. Even in times as tough as these, when the
legislative news is not happy, legislators know that
they will be treated with respect, and we know that
the legislators will be willing to listen and receptive to
our input. It’s not that we
hold back or sugar-coat
our opinions, but we
have
never
been
offensive to legislators
in our comments.
“I always learn
something I did not
know when we have
this meeting. I always
make an effort to
attend,” said Senator
John
Sullivan
(D-
Rushville), who has a
leadership role in the
General Assembly as
Assistant
Majority
Leader of the Senate.
In addition to Sullivan,
the bipartisan roundtable included Sen. Sam McCann
(R-Carlinville), Rep. C. D. Davidsmeyer (R-
Jacksonville) and Rep. Norine Hammond (R-
Macomb).
It’s our job not only to give legislators the cold,
hard numbers and facts, but also how a particular bill
or policy will affect our particular school district – to
put a face on the pain.
One of the big takeaways of the roundtable for
superintendents is to gain some political insights.
Back when we started our roundtable, it was hard to
get much comment from the legislators, but over the
years I think we have built up trust and they do open
up. The politics involved still make the legislative
process unpredictable, but you get
an idea where they think something
might go and that helps us develop
our strategy.
For example, this year Senator
Sullivan was honest in telling us
that the education line item in the
budget looks bad, especially with
the temporary income tax increase
scheduled to sunset halfway
through the next fiscal year
(January 1, 2015).
One key to making the
roundtable an efficient use of
everyone’s time is advance
planning. We normally start
gathering questions and issues two
or three months in advance. We then combine and
boil the topics down to the four or five that are the
most timely and important. This year, we focused on
school funding, bonding, transportation, unfunded
mandates and the PARCC/Common Core transition.
It’s also helpful to make sure that as
superintendents we are on the same page regarding
our issues, a process that involves information
(Continued on page 9)
Outreach
Brent O'Daniell
earned his
undergraduate
degree from
Lindenwood College
in St. Charles, Mo.
He began his career
in education teaching
mathematics and
physical education in
Odin. He earned his Masters and Specialists
degrees from Eastern Illinois University and
is currently superintendent in the Virginia
(IL) School District overseeing a $17 million
building project.
From left, Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb), Sen. John
Sullivan (D-Quincy), Sen. David Koehler ( D-Peoria) and
retired superintendent Diane Robertson, attend a Two Rivers
Legislative Roundtable a couple of years ago.
