Technology gives new insight into U-46 apathy

When the ability for readers to comment on Daily Herald stories was first implemented on our Web site this winter, I wasn't sure what to expect.

The opportunity to have instant feedback on my coverage was both thrilling and terrifying. But just who would choose to respond, when and how?

In the months since the feature was added, I've watched a mix of insightful, insensitive, thought-provoking and downright appalling comments get added below soft and hard news stories alike.

This week, I saw comments on new Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres' Listening and Learning plan take on a life of their own.

To briefly reiterate, during his first board meeting as Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent, Jose Torres presented a Listening and Learning Plan, emphasizing the three goals - raising the bar, closing the achievement gap, and cultivating relationships - stressed since he was introduced to the community as a finalist for the position.

By raising the academic bar at the district's 53 elementary, middle and high schools, Torres said, "the better our schools can be, the better our housing markets can be, and the better our community can be."

Torres wants the district to boast some of the highest rates for college and workplace readiness in the country, as well as the college entrance rates. He also wants U-46 to be recognized for excellence and efficiency.

Torres said he intends to use data to create equity from school to school, and to rank tasks that need to be accomplished in order of priority.

Listening to community members, Torres said, is another key component of his plan. Since being named the district's choice in May, he's met with 53 different groups and visited 10 schools.

"I want to get to know the district - its programs and its people," he said.

The Listening and Learning Plan, which Torres has been working on since he was interviewed by the board in April, will be enacted within 90 days of his start date - by early October.

Hopefully, he said, the plan will calm staff members' fears, and function as an opportunity to look at the system with "new eyes."

Board members Monday posed no questions about the plan.

Our readers did.

One poster wrote disgustedly of the mentality of the many in the U-46 community.

"You have become what you believe," he wrote. "If your educational leader doesn't make the attempt to turn the district around, who is going to follow? Administrators won't, teachers won't, and thus students won't. Maybe for the first time in a long time, the people of the district just have to believe that they are capable of achieving the things the new superintendent has outlined. Then and only then will your district stand a chance."

Another reader stated he would pay close attention to how this plan was implemented, and only then form an opinion of Torres.

Yet another commencer chastised a post made by a proud U-46 alumnus.

"Congratulations on overcoming the odds that were stacked against you, but the point is, nobody should have to overcome those odds. U-46 is not a good district by means and I still do not believe a superintendent can change that alone."

This winter, U-46 spent more than $30,000 with Milwaukee-based superintendent search firm, ProAct Inc. The firm conducted dozens of weakly-attended community forums - several where less than a dozen individuals bothered to show.

Watching posts pile up below U-46 stories makes clear that apathy in the district is misunderstood.

For change to happen, stakeholders must be able to comment as freely as they do elsewhere. And, in turn, district officials must look and accept feedback in the most unlikely of places.

If these two sides ever give a little, maybe then we'll start to see some progress in the way of communication.

If not, the divide will only deepen.