Cooperation a key for education of town's teens

The Oakwood Community Unit School District 76 boasts 1,100 students from Oakwood and five other surrounding communities.

It's a district that's supported by those communities, said Superintendent Keven Forney, but its formation in the 1970s was fraught with lawsuits and disputes after the consolidation was passed by eight votes in 1976.

Those disputes have died down, said Linda Adams, who's worked in the superintendent's office since before the consolidation. Now, Oakwood's students and parents are united.

"We just have a good school system," Adams said.

And education for high school students could get even better, Forney said, if the district forms a cooperative with Catlin and Jamaica. The students from each district would attend classes together at a central high school, but each of the districts would retain their elementary and middle schools.

The cooperative would allow for a more diverse curriculum, Forney said, and would allow the districts to reduce costs on ordering materials because they'd buy bigger quantities.

Forney said the districts are waiting on the state to come up with a program to help pay for a new high school to house those students.

"We just don't have a modern upgraded facility," Forney said, noting that Oakwood High School's gym has been there since the mid-1930s and its classrooms were rebuilt in 1957 after a lightning strike caused a huge explosion at the 1916 school.

But even though no plans have been finalized about the cooperative high school, Forney said the communities that comprise the district continue to embrace it.

"We know that the community really supports this school district," he said. "It's an important part of the Oakwood area."

And though some schools are known for their football teams; others for their academics or music programs, at Oakwood High School, it's all about the Oakwood Times.

The Times is generated during Tim Lee's journalism class by juniors and seniors. Student reporters write stories about things happening both in school and the community, said next year's co-editor, Joe Lewis.

"We try to get kids interested in school activities," he said.

But the paper has a farther reach than just Oakwood High. Lee said about 200 people subscribe to the paper, which publishes about 10 times a year. Those subscribers include alumni, parents and community members interested in high school happenings.

Lee said Oakwood administrators give him and his students plenty of freedom, which in the end, teaches students more about journalism.

"We're just a little bitty school, but that doesn't mean we can't go after some issues that are important," Lee said.

But the community respects – and expects plenty – from the paper. And the paper has earned that respect. It's won several national and state awards and contests, Lee said, and recently won third in the Illinois High School Association's journalism competition. The Oakwood Times placed after two high schools with thousands of students.

"It's kind of like a winning football team," he said. "Once the program gets rolling, people just kind of jump on board. It is a tradition."