By Mary Kay Scharf
The dust is settling on yet one more scandal involving an Illinois politician. Aaron Schock started out a Boy Wonder. Elected to the Peoria School Board at the ripe age of 19, he went on to the Illinois General Assembly and then to the US House of Representatives. He seemed to be traveling a path to an even higher level of leadership. Sadly, the political future of the Boy Wonder came to a screeching halt with his resignation late last month.
Regardless of the outcome of investigations into potential wrong-doing, the questionable actions of this public servant fuel continued distrust of all elected officials in Illinois. This is an unfortunate, but understandable side-effect of repeated misbehavior.
While there is no denying how disappointing, and quite frankly embarrassing, the reputation for corruption is in our state, there is also no denying we are represented by many dedicated and self-less elected officials.
I assure you that school board members do not run for this office for financial or personal gain. We have city, town, county, and state officials who care about our communities and contribute more time to this public commitment than most of us do in a lifetime. People do not consider the amount of reading, or number phone calls and public events that accompany the more visible responsibility of meeting participation.
The voice of constituents is typically heard when there is dissatisfaction; wouldn’t it be nice for our locally elected officials to hear from the satisfied among us? I wonder the last time one received a call or an email communicating thanks for a job well done or good effort. There is another way to demonstrate support for our elected officials and that is to muffle the arm-chair quarterbacks. When you are subjected to mayor-bashing or council-complaining, ask when the complainer plans to run for the office and show everyone just how they will do it better.
While it is our right to voice concerns, it should also be our responsibility to voice commendations. We are fortunate there are still citizens who are willing to do these often thankless jobs.
Although we may not always agree or fully understand their actions, I am hopeful we will always appreciate the sacrifice of personal time, the willingness to endure public scrutiny, and the weight of responsibility they assume for our schools and community.
Mary Kay Scharf is the Director of Principal Leadership in the Bloomington Public Schools. A Clinton native, she was a teacher for 7 years and has been a principal and school administrator for the past 26 years. She is a volunteer for multiple community organizations, most passionately for the Not In Our Town initiative. The proud mother of 3 and grandmother of one, Mary Kay lives in Normal with her husband, Jamie.
The opinions expressed within WJBC’s Forum are solely those of the Forum’s author, and are not necessarily those of WJBC or Cumulus Media, Inc.
