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Thanks, governor, but there’s more to do

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Illinois

* On Wednesday, I told you about the Kankakee County Board Chairman’s shameful refusal to ask the governor to put Pembroke Township and Hopkins Park on the disaster area list after the big tornadoes hit.

Well, yesterday, Gov. Quinn unilaterally declared all of Kankakee County a disaster area.

Thanks, governor. Good job.

However, it would be nice if Gov. Quinn went out there himself and saw what a mess Pembroke and Hopkins Park are. He should see the houses with dirt floors, and experience the local misery first hand. That’s the only real way to begin to understand how horrific their situation is.

* I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t point out a major bright spot…

When B.J. Howery was hired as the superintendent of Pembroke Community Consolidated School District 259 in 2002, the goal set by the Pembroke school board and the Illinois Board of Education was simple, in theory — get the district off the state watchlist.

In practice, however, that was easier said than done.

Now, eight years later, Pembroke is the little school district that could. The ISBE this year designated Lorenzo R. Smith Elementary School, the district’s single school, as one of the state’s 975 “Honor Roll” schools for maintaining academic excellence. It has also been named a “Spotlight School” for beating the odds overcoming a high-poverty rate to achieve that designation, and has been recognized for a program to foster more parent involvement.

“Now for us to be a spotlight school, and now a 2009 Honor Roll School, to see the children excel at math… It is the work of the teachers, the administrators, the parents and the students,” said Howery, sharing credit for the accomplishment.

Pembroke and Hopkins Park aren’t hopeless causes. But they do need a big hand up.

Area churches and charities are doing quite a bit, but there’s only so much they can accomplish. Legislators have tried over the years, but have often run into brick walls, particularly from county officials and (lately) the county school board, which refuses to give up control of an old, abandoned school building so it could be used as a warming/cooling/safety shelter, among other things. Blagojevich was little to no help. Quinn hasn’t really put the place on his radar.

I’m 48 years old and I’ve been hearing about the problems out there my whole life. I’m really getting tired of this. Who will finally step up?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 11:41 am

Comments

been there. very sad. didnt realize people really had to live that way. it is an eye opener.

Comment by nick Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:01 pm
I had heard a bit about this superintendent but had not known much recently. Seems many in Pembroke are doing what they can to get things going. Good reason to bring some other resources to bear - c’mon PQ, whaddya say?

Comment by dupage dan Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:06 pm
DHS under former Secretary Carol Adams made Pembroke a huge priority and threw a ton of money into the area. All the DHS divisions had to assign staff to work on the project. This went on for years then slowly faded away.

In retrospect its clear that this was another area where DHS excels in making announcements rather than producing results.

Comment by DuPage Dave Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:12 pm
As I asked before, what exactly would you like the government to do? What are these supposed brick walls run into with county officials? The only way to improve things is if we learn what exactly are the issues. Also, there is no Kankakee County school board. Are you talking about IKAN (Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education)?

Comment by anon Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:15 pm
Oh, also, where can I find details on this abandoned building situation? I’ve never heard about it.

Comment by anon Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:18 pm
anon, we’ll be getting into details as we go along. You could start by just checking around yourself if you can’t wait.

And, yes, IKAN.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:20 pm
Government alone is not the answer but it can and should help provide some basic government services like running water, paved roads and sewer systems. I grew up six miles from there and I know the challenges are generational. News releases, press conferences and blog comments will not get the job done, but they do help shine a light on the problem. Actually, the Office of the State Treasurer is probably one of the best advocates for the area –promoting private/public partnerships with state backed loans to increase business, create jobs, and begin a slow process to sustained recovery.

What is not talked about much is the success of the grade school students once they graduate from St. Anne High School. Of the 88 people in my graduating class, more than half were from Hopkins Park and many have gone on to successful careers either through college, military or trade schools. Take a pearly white middle school in St. Anne and mix it with a nearly all-black middle school from Hopkins Park and the results are showing promise for what integration can do when teachers care to help. This is beyond the grasp of Kankakee County leaders and probably beyond the grasp of department heads sitting in an ofifce on South Grand Ave in Springfield. We need new approaches from new leaders with new ideas but it has to be more than just what can the government do.

Comment by DzNuts Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:27 pm
A few years ago my sister and her kids found out about Pembroke and Hopkins Park. She started going there frequently, giving toys, food, helping any way she could. My family thought she was nuts. Apparently she was the only sane one in the bunch. She could see what others could not.

Just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Keep the heat on, Rich. These people need help - big time. We all need to go and look. We need to get involved. Please let us know what we can do for our neighbors. Most of us don’t know where to start.

Comment by Say WHAT? Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:27 pm
rich keep the linght on pembroke. No place in the US let alone illinois should be this neglected.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:38 pm
Rich- I’ll do some checking around. Not sure I see the reason for waiting to learn information. Why not just put out there all the details? What length of waiting time are we talking about? Maybe people are here reading, people that want to help, people that may be in position to help.

I started reading Capitol Fax blog to become more informed on the details behind news stories and the inner workings of Illinois government/politics. I just want to learn the details for this story too. Just my 2cents.

Comment by anon Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 12:56 pm
I don’t know if anyone will step up. This state doesn’t seem to have leaders anymore and there certainly isn’t any on the ballot…anywhere.

Comment by Ahoy Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 1:26 pm
==”I started reading Capitol Fax blog to become more informed on the details behind news stories and the inner workings of Illinois government/politics. “==

There’s an idea for a QOTD — why did you start reading Capital Fax?

Comment by Lakefront Liberal Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 1:44 pm
An individual named Ron Jackson writes a part time column for the Kankakee Daily journal. He has written with insight about Pembroke.
Jesse Jackson shows up for the camera. Then nothing. The columnist hit the nail on the head.
Suspect if you were to contact the column writer Mr. Ron Jackson ,he could be of help . In the instance mentioned above he had the courage to call it like he saw it.

Comment by x ace Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 4:56 pm
Been there too - you’re so right Rich. I don’t understand why these communities haven’t been a consistent priority for the state of Illinois.

Comment by dupage progressive Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 5:58 pm
Do the youth have access to a vocational center to train students to install their own local community water and sewer system, as well as make home improvements?

Perhaps a vocational school could team up with Habitat, United Way and get matching funds for donations raised from IEPA/EPA for water/sewer?

Comment by Anonymous Saturday, Jun 12, 10 @ 10:14 am
Anyone out there interested can keep up via www.pembroketownshipillinois.com There are some positive things going on in the community finally.

Comment by LevivotedforJudy Saturday, Jun 12, 10 @ 1:38 pm