A panel of local leaders and stakeholders in public education, including Dave Ardrey (director, Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools), as well as several guests from beyond the local area, including Beth Purvis (Illinois secretary of education) and Gary Funk (director, Rural Schools Collaborative), will discuss the essential purposes of public schools, past and present, with particular emphasis on those that serve predominantly rural communities. Members of the audience will have opportunities to comment, as well.
The discussion will draw upon a brief excerpt from an essay by influential education philosopher Robert Maynard Hutchins and facilitated by Samuel Goldman, retired chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The program will also include remarks by Belinda Hill, superintendent and principal of Giant City School.
More about our Participants
David Ardrey is director of school partnerships and outreach at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is also executive director of the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools, which was chartered in 1987 with the purpose of presenting a unified effort to promote educational excellence in rural and small schools in Illinois. It is the only statewide organization in Illinois devoted to that mission. Mr. Ardrey is especially interested in developing partnerships between institutions of higher education and rural PK-12 schools that result in programs benefitting teachers, students, and communities. Drawing upon his strengths in creative and strategic planning, policy guidance, financial oversight, and project management, he has assisted school districts in obtaining and implementing School Improvement Grants and 21st-Century Grants and in adapting to Common Core or Illinois Learning Standards. His professional experience includes teaching and coaching; development, outreach, and grant-funded programming in higher education; and private-sector business.
Gary Funk is director of the Rural Schools Collaborative, an organization that seeks to strengthen the bonds between rural schools and communities. Its work includes building capacity for rural philanthropy efforts, supporting place-based engagement through the Grants in Place program, leading the Rural Teacher Corps initiative, offering planning grants to appropriate regional efforts, providing selected technical assistance, and promoting a social marketing network. From 1999 to 2013, Funk was president of the Missouri-based Community Foundation of the Ozarks. During his tenure, the foundation experienced substantial growth in assets and grantmaking and earned recognition as a rural philanthropy innovator. In 2009, the Foundation launched the Rural Schools Partnership, an effort dedicated to school-centered philanthropy, place-based education, and the recruitment, preparation, and retention of outstanding rural teachers. Its Ozarks Teacher Corps gained national media attention. Prior to his work with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, Funk spent two decades in public and higher education as a teacher, professor, and administrator. While at Missouri State University, he co-founded the Southwestern Bell Literacy Center, the Storefront School for at-risk children, and the Center for Outstanding Schools. He has authored and co-authored several books and articles on educational issues. He and his wife, Jana, live on a small farm near Cambridge, Wisconsin.
More on Continuing Ed.
Continuing Ed. is a yearlong, statewide series working with parents, schools, and communities across the state – in Chicago, Decatur, Elgin, and Jackson County to move the conversation about public education back to parents. All roundtable discussions will be moderated by Joseph Coulon and Don Whitfield of The Great Books Foundation. For the complete schedule and more information, see www.ILhumanities.org/education.
If you require a sign interpreter or any other arrangements to fully participate in this program, please contact info@ilhumanities.org at least 72 hours in advance of the event. For more information, please call (312) 422-5580.