Leadership Matters May 2014 working doc

‘WashingtonStrong’ more than aslogan in tornado’saftermath

CIVRegionpitches in tohelp incleanup efforts

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 (Continuedonpage6)

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

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