'It's one community': Leaders say communication between Springfield, District 186 can grow

The idea of enhanced communication between the city of Springfield and School District 186 got some historical perspective a couple of weeks ago when former education liaison Sheila Stocks-Smith wrote an article for Illinois Times outlining her work.

That came in light of the Nov. 17 fatal stabbing of Lanphier High School senior Pierre V. Scott Jr. outside of the high school. At a recent city council meeting, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso brought up the notion that the two should be in regular communication in an effort to work together.

Stocks-Smith, who served in the cabinet level position from 2004 to 2010 under Mayor Tim Davlin, said she is an advocate for the idea, and that it is "a worthy position within city government."

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How it would operate and under whom would probably need some tweaking, she admitted.

"The nuance to it is that I'm not sure anybody is actually calling for an education liaison position in the same way it was before," Stocks-Smith said earlier this week.

Stocks-Smith said she followed a blueprint from the National League of Cities' Mayors' Education Policy Advisors Network at a time when larger cities were creating education liaison positions.

Stocks-Smith worked with Davlin and other city leaders on educational priorities, wrote grants and developed other relationships with community leaders in the multi-faceted role.

Mayor Jim Langfelder doubted it would come back with that title, but he did point out after Tuesday's city council meeting how the two worked together, most notably when they launched a COVID-19 dashboard in partnership with the Bloomberg Harvard Data Track initiative.

Langfelder participated in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative in 2020.

School board member Micah Miller, a Lanphier graduate, said some kind of increased communication needs to come back because "their wards affect our schools and our schools affect their wards. It's one community."

Superintendent Jennifer Gill said she would be happy to work alongside someone in that position if the city is interested in bringing them on and "making things even stronger" between the two.

The president and founder of the Urban Action Network, Stocks-Smith worked for District 186 briefly after leaving the education liaison position. She ran for mayor in 2011.

"I don't intend myself to be the persuader or the champion of this," she said. "I think the issue of having organized, intentional coordination between the city and the school district is an important thing and it's always needed."

Appointments approved

Miller was among those approved by the city council for a spot on the Community Relations Commission.

Chazla Johnson, Isaac Edwards, Tina Montgomery and Julie Benson will join Miller on the commission.

David Herman, Karola Beahringer and Larry Hemingway Sr. were reappointed to the Civil Service Commission. Beverly Christian was reappointed to the Springfield/Sangamon County Regional Planning and Zoning Commission.

'TIF Santa'

Langfelder got a good-natured rib in at Santa (Rich Berning) during Santa's annual appearance at the city council meeting.

The mayor asked Santa for "a support letter for the SHA (Madison Park Place) TIF," which drew cheers from council members.

The city was at loggerheads with Capital Township over renewal of the Enos Park TIF, or tax increment financing district.

For months, Capital Township withheld a letter of support for the TIF over issues of oversight. A deal was eventually struck and the legislation passed and was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker.

It is customary for all appropriate taxing bodies to provide those letters for a TIF district prior to the state renewing it.

Berning is a Capital Township trustee.

The Madison Park Place TIF is up in 2022.

More: 17 people have been killed in Sangamon County so far this year. Here are the 2021 victims

Before passing out presents to council members and the mayor, Berning quipped he had flown over central Illinois earlier Tuesday, causing a loud boom.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency confirmed from the Kansas City Federal Aviation Administration that the boom was caused by an F15 EX Strike Eagle fighter jet travelling at supersonic speeds.

Holiday recycling

Republic Services and Waste Management (WM) will be accepting wrapping paper, tissue paper and cardboard boxes, broken down and either placed in the recycling bin or next to the bin, for recycling.

Bubble wrap, Styrofoam, packing sealant, ribbons, bows and foil wrapping paper will not be accepted by any of the Springfield waste haulers.

Lake Area Disposal & Recycling will not accept any items related to holiday packaging, except for cardboard boxes, which must be broken down.

All other items must be taken to Lake Area’s Drop-Off Recycling Center, 2742 S. Sixth Street. The drop-off service is only available to current Lake Area Disposal customers.

Holiday lights can be recycled for free at the Municipal Center West Building, 300 S. Seventh St., and Lincoln Library, 321 S. Seventh St., where boxes are set up for collection. The event is hosted by BLH Computers and donated proceeds go to Rotary Club of Springfield Sunrise.

The Office of Public Works will pick up natural fir and evergreen Christmas trees within the Springfield city limits.

Trees should be set out at the curb no later than 7 a.m. Jan. 10. Trees are to be placed at the curb for pick up and not to impede the flow of traffic. City crews will make one pass through the neighborhoods beginning Jan. 10.

Any ornaments, tinsel or garland, decorations, nails or screws, wreaths with wires or wooden tree stands should be removed. Flocking should be removed as much as possible.

Neither Republic Services nor Waste Management will pick up any Christmas trees. Lake Area Disposal will pick up Christmas trees after the city’s pickup has concluded. Customers must call 217-522-9317 for pick-up. A fee will be charged.

Leading role

That's Springfield's Alexa Maria Huerta, the daughter of the city's director of community relations, Juan Huerta and Laura Huerta in a leading role in "The Christmas Pitch" (Prime Video), which came out last month.

The movie follows Becca (Huerta) and William (Joseph Morales), two executives at a Chicago marketing firm who are sent to Kringle Lake, William's hometown, to rediscover the spirit of Christmas.

The film was shot in and around Chicago.

Huerta, 21, attended Little Flower School and Sacred Heart-Griffin High School and Rochester High School. She has also appeared in "The Chi" and "The Resident" and lives in Chicago.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Renewed interest in education liaison with city of Springfield grows