By: Madeleine Willis

After 20 years of service and dedication to the Manteno Board of Education, Gale Dodge will retire from her position at the end of the 2022-23 school year. After collaborating with the board for many years, Dodge described the members as “congenial and respectful.”

Twenty years ago, Dodge initially was motivated to run for a position on the board of education because she wanted to have an educator’s perspective on the school board and believed it was important. As she walks away from her seat, Megan Powell will continue to provide an educator’s perspective. This is important to Dodge, as she was an educator in Manteno for 32 years, where she taught first grade. 

One candidate will run unopposed, to fill Dodge’s shoes in the Manteno School Board elections on April 4.

In Dodge’s time on the school board, she saw the terms of two superintendents, Dawn Russert who then was replaced by Lisa Harrod, Manteno’s current superintendent. 

Also during Dodge’s time on the board of education, she oversaw additions to the high school, middle school, and the early childhood center. 

Dodge’s favorite memory, in her time on the school board, is when they got a referendum passed on the third try.

“Dawn made sure we went out and communicated everywhere they would listen,” Dodge said. 

The board was working to get an addition to the high school and middle school, and it finally passed on the third try. 

“That was a very, very happy moment for me,” she said. 

Ultimately, Dodge decided to step down from the board because of her hearing. At the age of 82, she uses hearing aids and wants the board position to go to someone who is better able. 

“If the public comes, and they are sitting all the way back in the library….I don’t always catch everything,” Dodge explained. 

As Dodge’s time on the school board comes to an end, she said she will miss making decisions that impact the students and the district, but as she closes out this chapter, she will still continue to work in the community. 

Dodge will continue to serve on the library board, as she has for the past 40 years, where she currently serves as the board’s president. 

“I still get to feel like I am contributing to the education of that community,” she said. 

In addition to this, Tom Steele has invited Dodge to continue as a representative of the public on the technology committee. 

“I have been very pleased and honored to serve with the board,” she said.