‘Are they learning anything or are they just playing?’ Quincy pastor wants to address low reading scores

QUINCY — The Rev. Carl Terry with Bethel AME Church wants to know why reading scores are so low in Quincy. He started his quest to find out during Wednesday night’s Quincy Park Board meeting.

During the public comments portion of the meeting, Terry said he plans to speak to governmental bodies and other groups about addressing a recent report that indicated more than three-quarters of third-grade students in Quincy failing to meet common core standards in reading on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in 2023.

“I know you do all types of programs and all types of things the community, and that’s wonderful,” Terry said. “But I want to know: What is the agenda? Are they learning anything or are they just playing? I’m bringing it to the Park Board. I’m going to bring it to the City Council. I’m going to every university. I’m talking to everybody.”

Terry said his mother wouldn’t let him out of the house when he was a child without reading or learning his multiplication tables.

“I knew my times table when I was five, because (his mother) didn’t want me to go to the store and not be able to count her money coming back,” Terry told the commissioners. 

Terry said “something has to happen” and called reading problems “a state of our culture.”

“I’ve got a couple other horses (to get on), but I’ll get off of that horse right now, at least for you,” he said. “But I’ll be back, especially if you don’t do anything. I will be back.”

The only commissioner to respond to Terry’s challenge was President Mark Philpot, who said, “Thank you. We appreciate you.”

In other action, the Park Board:

• Approved a lease agreement with a home at 4129 State on the Paul Dennis Soccer Complex grounds. Don Jones has leased the home for several years from the Quinsippi Soccer League, and the new lease agreement is effective from Feb. 23. The lease will be on a month-to-month basis and terminated once Jones moves out of the house. The Park District will no longer lease the house once Jones terminates the new lease agreement. The rent is $4,200 on an annual basis. The revenue from the lease will be used to offset costs associated with the soccer complex. Board attorney David Penn said the changes were made to make it clear what the premises were, but the lease is largely the same as it was with the QSL.
• Authorized Park District staff to dispose of closed session audio recordings more than 18 months old. 
• Learned from Higley that the Art Keller Marina has 111 rented slips and 11 new renters this summer.
• Learned about the Big Read program from Rachelle Gage, adult programming librarian and the community outreach person for the Quincy Public Library. Gage said the library has received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and is partnering with the Park District and other organizations in Quincy.
• Learned from Mike Bruns, director of program services, that 8,313 people to date have attended Indian Mounds Pool this summer — a 16.9 percent increase from last year’s figure of 7,112. The average attendance at the pool has been 213 people daily.
• Learned from Director of Golf David Morgan that the roof on the pro shop at Westview Golf Course recently was replaced. He said the course had more than 300 rounds played “a couple of Sundays ago,” and the number of rounds played to date has increased 16.6 percent (from 17,301 last year to 20,168 this year).