Commentary: Make a Difference at the Delegate Assembly

By Shawn Killackey

At least once a year there shall be a meeting of the Delegate Assem­bly. Each Active Member shall be entitled to one voting delegate. Each Active Member shall select its delegate and alternate from its own membership. Voting shall be done in person by the respective delegate.

I have just paraphrased Article III, Section 2 of the IASB Constitu­tion to highlight an important role that comes around but once a year: Serving as the board of education delegate at the Delegate Assembly.

Each of the 849 school district members of IASB is allowed one delegate. That person is a board member who has been selected by their fellow board members to represent that school district at the Delegate Assembly held during the Joint Annual Conference in Chica­go. There, the delegates from across the state come together to vote on important issues that affect their schools and to help guide IASB in the direction that meets the needs of the membership. But the delegates need to be present in order to vote and make a change — in order to make a difference.

I have been a delegate for my school district since 2022. During my first Delegate Assembly, I noticed that there were only a little over 400 delegates in the room to listen, debate, and vote. That seemed strange, that less than half of the school district members were repre­sented. Less than half of the districts were deciding issues for all the dis­tricts in the state. Less than half of the districts had a voice.

Since that time, I have researched possible reasons for the low atten­dance. I found that some delegates have a hard time traveling across the state of Illinois to Chicago every year, be it because it’s not financially feasible for the school district or because of the crazy Midwest weath­er in November, which can make travel difficult. Or they don’t feel that one delegate can make a difference, so why make the trek?

In 2023 and 2024, I prepared two resolution proposals, submitted by my district, to allow the ability to vote for board delegates who were not in person at the Assembly. Even though these proposals did not proceed to the Delegate Assembly as resolutions, the Association is responsive to these concerns. Last year, I helped slightly change the language of Article III, Section 2 as a member of the IASB Constitutional Review Committee — all of this to try to boost the number of Delegates at the Assembly.

In the past couple of years, IASB has worked to get more del­egates to participate. The Board of Directors offers scholarships to a handful of school districts that have not recently participated in the Joint Annual Conference to alleviate the cost of the trip. Another effort last year was to take away the tables in the assembly room to make more space for more people, more delegates. These changes have helped the delegate count go up from 404 in 2022 to 444 in 2025, but still less than the 849 members that exist today.

It was also brought to my atten­tion that over two-thirds of the school districts have been recorded as attending the Conference but still having a low showing of delegates at the Assembly. This likely means the board members are there in Chicago but not participating in the Delegate 28 • Illinois School Board Journal 

Assembly, likely due to conflicting times with other sessions.

That leads to a new change this year: Moving the Delegate Assembly from Saturday morning to midday, which allows all board members to attend the Panel Sessions that morning. Also, the Delegate Assem­bly will take place in the Grand Ballrooms, the same place where the General Sessions occur, which is more convenient for everyone than the previous location.

Which brings me to why I’m writing this commentary: To tell you how important it is to partic­ipate as a delegate. Legislation is the cornerstone of our democracy, be it nationally, statewide, or even locally. Legislation to create new laws or change existing laws, rules, and policies shapes this country. The Delegate Assembly votes on proposals that become IASB Position Statements, which shape IASB’s advocacy efforts on behalf of its members.

We board members are elected officials who have more power to effect change than one may think. People in your district elected you and your fellow board members to support local public education and protect children and their schools. After close to a decade of being a board member, an elected official, I have been fighting for the school district that I was elected to defend; from standing up to harmful deci­sions made by local village officials, to challenging a mayor, to helping craft a bill in Springfield.

But one of my greatest honors is to be the delegate for my district and to vote for or against issues that impact our schools. Participating with that power to vote and make a difference is a great feeling. Every year I attend the Delegate Assembly, knowing I give a voice to my schools, my board, and my students.

With that said, I am hoping that this upcoming Delegate Assem­bly in November will surpass any before in attendance. We may not get 100% of the school districts to represent, but I’d love to see a large majority of the state’s local boards of education sending Delegates to participate in this part, our part, of the legislative process.

See you all there.

Shawn Killackey is a member of the Fremont District 79 Board of Education in Mundelein.