FOREST LEAVES - May 19, 2004
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BY CHRIS LAFORTUNE Tyra Manning, stepping down next month after 12 years a superintendent of River Forest Elementary School District 90, is ready to move on to something else. "I love these people and this place," Manning said. "But it's healthy to continue to grow and do different things." The School Board has hired Marlene Kamm, a Skokie elementary district superintendent, to take the top job in District 90. Manning will leave a 31-year career in elementary education when she retires, but she won't leave education entirely. She is considering entering university education, teaching teachers, prospective principals and administrators, though she is not ready to announce where she will teach. Teaching is in her blood, she said. It's something she caught from her mother, a teacher, when she was 10 years old. "I loved teaching," Manning said. "I have enjoyed all the things I do. I love being superintendent. But the thing I'll miss most is teaching." Manning will continue to work as an associate with the Bickert Group, a superintendent search firm she has worked with for the last six years. She'll take time to travel, she said, and will have time to finish reporting on her research about student achievement and learning. When she first came to the district 12 years ago, Manning focused on getting a strategic plan in place for District 90, School Board President Sally DelBeccaro said. DelBeccaro has worked with Manning for eight years as a member of the School Board, and the four previous as Willard School's PTO president. "I think she did a wonderful job, in terms of setting that strategic planning process into motion," DelBeccaro said. "I think that's something that has continued year-to-year and will continue to go on after her departure from the district." Strategic planning allowed the district to identify issues it needed to deal with, Manning said. When she came to the district, those included academic improvement, increasing enrollment, and finding more money. The district has added classrooms at all three district schools, Manning said, and passed a tax hike referendum in 1998, boosting revenue expected to keep the district in the black through 2006-07. Enrollment is now on the decline, and life safety improvements identified at all three schools are complete. But there's always something more to do, Manning said. For instance, as technology changes, so will its use in education. The district reviews progress toward its goals annually and revises them as needed. "Schools are like family, like people," Manning said. "You're getting better or you're dying. It's a constant process." Through planning, Manning got community members involved in the schools, DelBeccaro said. Manning has improved communication with the community, sending out a quarterly district publication to keep people informed. Manning has also worked well with the faculty, DelBeccaro said. "I don't think that's always an easy thing for a superintendent, to be able to establish that rapport and maintain it over a long period of time, but she has done that," she said. Manning started teaching junior high school social studies and history in Public School District 501 in Topeka, Kan., in 1973. She received her bachelor's degree two years previous, about the time her husband was killed in Vietnam. She pursued both her master's and doctorate degree later, finishing the doctorate at the University of Kansas in 1979. She worked her way up into administration in Topeka, later taking administrative jobs in Illinois and Wisconsin before coming to River Forest. Manning said she entered administration because she could affect the education of more children. She wanted to be in a position to make sure students and teachers were working in a place of learning. It has been hard work, she said, but fun, and she hopes she's managed to reach that goal throughout her career. "Not every day in every single place, probably, but it's been my goal. And I hope some, a lot, even most of the time our children and teachers felt they were in the most productive place they could be," she said. "If we accomplished that, it was not me, because one person can't do it. If we accomplished that, it was all of us: Teachers, parents, the board and the administration." Chris LaFortune can be reached at clafortune@pioneerlocal.com. |