After 50-year career in education, Legend Award winner remembers people who impacted his life

QUINCY — Jerry Douglas was given the Legend Award at Wednesday’s meeting of the Quincy School Board in recognition of a career in education that began in 1974.

After more than 50 years of making an impact on the lives of students, Douglas took a moment to recognize the people who made an impact on him.

“The essence of being an educator and a teacher is about pouring into our young people … sharing, teaching and then being a role model, setting high standards, high expectations,” he said. “The last part is the hardest because then you have to have faith that what you were pouring out and what you invested is going to produce.”

He thanked his family, especially his parents, Melvin and Cladine Douglas.

“Our parents instilled in us how important education is, how important it is to learn, grow, pay attention, do the right things and aspire to be successful in life,” Douglas said.

He recognized Dale Jackson, the principal at Jackson Elementary School, and John Duncan, his sixth-grade teacher.

“Jackson was a pretty incredible place to be,” he said. “We learned a lot. We were challenged a lot. Dale was our principal. He also was my Boy Scout leader. Dale was really pouring out and volunteering.

“(Duncan) was our coach. Each elementary school had a coach, and he coached track, softball and basketball. Most every day after school, for 45 minutes, John Duncan was there. He was a World War II vet. He was a tough teacher, but he was always there for us.”

Douglas then mentioned Dick Thompson, who taught math and coached basketball at Quincy Junior High School; Milt McPike, a mentor who went on to become a principal in Wisconsin; and George Meyer, a physical education teacher and ninth-grade basketball coach.

“I just want to share with you the impact of having role models and people who are very dedicated to the profession,” Douglas said. “All of those experiences were incredible. Later, when I came back to teach, George was my superintendent. Even still today, George and I are good friends, and we continue to stay in touch.

“The educational experience in Quincy has been very solid, very consistent for a long period of time.”

Douglas began his career as a social studies and history teacher at Quincy High School. He later taught social studies at Quincy Junior High School and then served as the director of education at Chaddock. He eventually returned to Quincy Public Schools, serving as a special education history and math teacher at The Academy and ABC Academy until his retirement in 2022.

Today, Douglas is partnering with The Academy to use Verti-GO, an athletic performance business, as an off-site physical education space, where he continues to mentor students on the importance of staying physically healthy, making good life choices, focusing on personal goals and staying in school.

The award, first given in 2022, honors people who have given a lifetime of service to Quincy’s public schools. Past recipients are: 

• Dick Thompson, honored in 2024. He was the first Black teacher at Quincy Junior High School in 1957. He eventually became an assistant principal at the school and retired in 1992. He worked in the transportation department for another 20 years.
• Paul Koscielski, honored in 2023. He was head football coach at Quincy High School before becoming principal at Adams School and ending his career in education as QHS principal.
• Melanie Schrand, honored in 2023. She spent 16 years as a classroom teacher and 14 years as a principal at Baldwin West before ending her career as principal at Rooney Elementary.
• Richard Moore, honored in 2022. He began teaching at Quincy Junior High School and Quincy High School in 1959. He retired in 1993 as an assistant principal of Quincy High School.
• William Fessler, honored in 2022. His career with Quincy Public Schools started as a sixth-grade teacher at Franklin School in 1964, and he became principal in 1971. He later served as principal at Webster School, Highland-Riverside School, Baldwin School and Ellington School, and he was director of Quincy Area Vocational Technical School, before retiring in 1993. 
• Bill Brothers, honored in 2022. After retiring from the Quincy Fire Department, he drove a bus full-time for the Quincy School District until he retired a second time.
• Charles Akright, honored in 2022. He was hired as a teacher at Washington School in 1960. He later became principal at three elementary schools and a Title IV director before retired from education as the assistant regional superintendent. 

In other news, School Board members:

• Had a moment of silence for Robert DeVries, a longtime administrator for Quincy Public Schools who died Saturday at age 89.
• Learned of Quincy High School’s annual renewal of its membership with the Illinois High School Association.
• Was reminded of the annual New Faces program that opens Thursday night with a four-show run. “We’ll include the finest talent QHS has to offer,” Superintendent Todd Pettit said. 
• Learned six students from the Quincy Area Vocational and Technical Center — Xander Colombo, Shane Alberts, Antonin Mallard, Faith Van Heck, Landon Dixon and Jonathan Deaker — recently visited the Illinois State Capitol for the annual Career and Technical Education Showcase.
• Saw a slideshow from the district’s elementary school principals about the Ron Clark Academy house system implemented in each K-5 school.
• Learned the building and grounds committee met Monday, reviewing how the heating and air conditioning system is working in the E building at Quincy High School since its installation nearly a year ago. “All the systems are working as intended,” Board member Damian Dodd reported. “No hiccups to date.” Dodd also said the copper piping that replaced the aluminum piping at Lincoln-Douglas “seems to be working well to date.”
• Learned the façade work on the Board of Education building should wrap up by the end of May. 
• Learned the replacement date for the light poles at the softball and baseball complex at Quincy High School will be in July, with work done by Musco Lighting.
• Approved a request from the City of Quincy to relinquishment the easement at 4900 Columbus Road. “There’s a water main that the city needs access to, so that’s why we’re granting that easement,” Pettit said. “That way they have access and it’s their responsibility. There’s nothing to do with any development there or anything. It is simply to make sure that the proper authority has control and access to the water.”
• Learned about summer plans to replace the press box windows at Flinn Stadium and the public address system at Quincy Junior High School.
• Approved a five-year lease for $138,384 lease with American Capital Financial Services, Inc. for a ByteSpeed server equipment refresh. The new server is expected to be in place by June. “It’s just sort of to replace our current existing server, which pretty much runs the entire district, all of our phones, all the software,” Chief of Business Operations Ryan Whicker said. “This is a more cost-effective solution to go ahead and put a new one in. It’ll be under our maintenance agreement, and we’ll use the other one as a redundancy and backup.”