The celebration of appreciation Unit 5 School District threw for two of their longest-serving officeholders on Saturday, May 20 was a moment in their lives I’m sure Gail Ann Briggs and John Puzauskas will long remember.

In a time when our lives all get a little hectic, to take time to acknowledge and show appreciation for their efforts while serving on the Board in a relaxed setting outside the auditorium at Normal Community West High School was just the atmosphere in which to wish them both well as they each move on to what comes their way next.

But, believe it or not, this column isn’t about either Gail Ann or John. In truth, it’s about one of the guests at the function who could relate to and remember what life as a Board member was like before their time on the Board.

That’s because when Kenneth Uphoff served on the Board, the times were different, even if some of the issues didn’t sound as though they weren’t.

Uphoff, now 93, was a Unit 5 School Board member from 1964 to 1973, a time when Board member elections were, by State law, every three years. As a result, Uphoff ran for office in three elections. Briggs won her first election to become a Board member in 1976 — just three years after Uphoff came off the Board.

Those days were much easier for educators then, one supposes. The biggest issue in those days was the district expanding. Planning had begun for Parkside Junior High School, and construction for two elementary schools – Sugar Creek and Colene Hoose — were underway.

Over the course of Uphoff’s time in office, he served as Board president four times and secretary twice. In that time, he saw the district population jump from 5,000 when he arrived to 6,000 students being bused to a school in 1970 to 6,500 kids in class by the time he left. (I had a little help with the figures, by the way, from a person who recently exited the Board with literally decades of experience—three guesses who).

In Uphoff’s time on the Board, Hudson Elementary School saw three additions to its building, in 1965, 1968, and 1970. When the State income tax was introduced in 1969, the State provided 45 percent of the funding to the district at that time, Uphoff said. At that time, “we had more income so we were able to work better,” he pointed out.

Uphoff worked as an electrician and a farmer during his time on the Board. Also during his time on the Board, the Unit Five Education Association, or UFEA, the group that serves as the bargaining unit for the district’s teachers, came into being.

When he left the Board by 1973, Uphoff said his biggest concern was one he said he thinks the district still grapples with, and that would be having the ability to dismiss teachers who are underperforming. Uphoff said he believes tenure and the Union are the culprits there. “I couldn’t get the teachers to help us with that,” Uphoff said, recalling that part of his time on the Board. “That’s when I decided to step away from the Board.”

We’ll close this with a best memory for Uphoff, the father of six, who said his grown children and their families are all scattered around this area. He smiled when he recalled getting a kiss from his only daughter during the graduation ceremony from Normal Community High School as he handed her the diploma she had earned.

He smiled recalling that moment, as any father in that position should.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 20th, 2017 at 10:00 pm and is filed under The Normalite. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.