‘I really am here to try to save souls’: Pastor asks School Board what can be done to help struggling readers

QUINCY — Rev. Carl Terry of Bethel AME Church continued “making his rounds” on Wednesday.

After addressing the Quincy Park Board at last Wednesday’s meeting and Quincy City Council on Monday, Terry used the public comments portion of Wednesday’s Quincy School Board meeting to question why Quincy students are struggling to read at a proficient level.

“I asked the same thing at the Park Board and at City Council and I’m asking you today: Are they learning or are they just playing? What are you going to do?” Terry said. “I’m not going to point any fingers because I don’t know who’s at fault. All I want to do is get solutions. I want to know the solutions.”

Only 22 percent of third-grade students in Quincy met the common core standards in reading on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in 2023.

“I really am here to try to save souls,” Terry said. “I don’t know how many souls I’m going to save today, but you have to do something.”

As for what can be done, Terry said there is not one singular way the school district — or anyone, for that matter — can approach the problem.

“It’s not a cookie cutter thing,” he said. “There are all types of things going on with our children.”

Terry offered suggestions, making it clear that he and his clergy will do anything to help alleviate the issue.

“I spoke to my clergy partners, my colleagues about this,” he said. “We will do whatever it takes to get them to be able to read better. If it’s give everybody a Bible, we’ll do that. If it’s have a tutor, we’ll do that. Whatever you need to do, the clergy is here to do so. Since I’m the liaison with the clergy and with the city council, I don’t think I want to take on here, but if I have to, I will.”

While Terry finds this matter pressing, he acknowledges no one is perfect.

“All of us have something wrong with us,” Terry said. “It can make you drive farther. It can make you do better. You know, don’t hang back on whatever handicap you may have. It should make you strive harder.”

He concluded by urging the board not to let any struggling students fall through the cracks.

“Quincy has to be better than this,” Terry said. “I’m a math person, and in math, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. Don’t make our children our weakest link.”

After Terry’s comments, board attorney David Penn swore in new board member Tim Davis, a 1997 QHS graduate. Davis currently works as the director of operations for Titan International, where he has worked since 2012. He takes the spot vacated by Sayeed Ali.

In other business, the School Board:

• Approved a resolution authorizing an Aug. 12 auction for the former Bus Barn, 121 N. 20th. A minimum bid of $250,000 was set.
• Approved bids for food/non-food, bread, produce, and milk.
• Approved a driver’s education car lease with Enterprise.
• Approved a resolution on the presentation of the tentative 2024-25 Quincy Area Vocational Technical Center budget and set a hearing date for Aug. 21.
• Approved a resolution on the presentation of the tentative 2024-25 West Central Region budget and set a hearing date of Aug. 21.
• Approved a resolution on the presentation of the tentative 2024-25 Special Education Association budget and set a hearing date of Aug. 21.