Unit 5 selects new board member

Posted on April 26, 2016
Joseph Cleary
Joseph Cleary has been in the community nearly 13 years. (Photo courtesy Unit 5)

By Adam Studzinski

NORMAL – The Unit 5 Board of Education has selected Joseph Cleary to fill Denise Schuster’s seat, which she resigned from last month.

Cleary was chosen out of the four people interviewed by the board last week. Cleary is a Construction Management and the Professional Practice professor at Illinois State University and has been in the Bloomington-Normal community for almost 13 years.

“We know Joe will enhance our efforts to educate each student to achieve personal excellence,” Board President Meta Mickens-Baker said in a statement.

Cleary will be officially appointed to the position during Wednesday’s board meeting. He will fill the spot until the next regular board election in April 2017. At that time, a person will be elected to serve out the remainder of the unexpired term, which ends in April 2019.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…