SchoolStory by ROE #30
SchoolStory is a ten-episode podcast series brought to you by Matthew Hickam, Regional Superintendent of ROE #30. The project is the audio companion piece to SchoolStory Magazine, and is intended to create greater awareness of our schools in the public mind and to start important conversations with and between members of our communities. SchoolStory is produced by Journey12, whose mission is to create greater connection between local schools and the communities they serve. In this series, we explore the role public schools play—not just in educating children, but in holding our communities together.
Recorded across Southern Illinois and hosted by Craig Williams, these conversations bring together superintendents, regional leaders, educators, and partners who are doing the quiet, complicated work of leading schools in a time of change. This is not a podcast about slogans or silver bullets. It’s about proximity. Stewardship. Dignity. And the deeply human decisions that shape what school feels like for students, families, and communities long before the data ever catches up.
Across the series, we explore why small schools still matter in an era of consolidation, how collaboration strengthens—not weakens—local identity, and what it really means to prepare students for a workforce that no longer fits a single narrative. We talk candidly about the future of teaching, the evolving convergence of trades and technology, and the invisible labor schools carry as hubs of care, connection, and continuity.
You’ll hear honest conversations about equity and access as lived experiences, not abstractions. About leading amid public pushback without losing integrity. About mental health as essential to learning. About special education as a promise, not a program. And throughout it all, we return to a central truth: when schools don’t tell their stories, something else fills that space—and it’s rarely complete or fair.
SchoolStory exists to share the important discussions local district leaders are having with one another—openly, thoughtfully, and across district lines—so communities can better understand what’s happening inside their schools, why it matters, and who it’s for. These are conversations rooted in Southern Illinois, but the questions they raise—about trust, belonging, leadership, and the future of public education—resonate far beyond any one region.
At its heart, SchoolStory is an act of stewardship. A belief that schools are not just institutions, but human systems. And that telling their stories—carefully, consistently, and with integrity—is essential to the health of the communities they serve.
We hope you’ll enjoy hearing from this group of hardworking leaders — all of whom are our Southern Illinois neighbors — from across the Region.
SchoolStory by ROE #30
Mental Health Matters — Supporting Students and Staff Alike
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Today’s conversation centers on something that is both deeply personal and profoundly universal: mental health.
Every day, students walk into our schools carrying far more than backpacks. They carry family stress, social pressures, private fears, grief, anxiety, and questions they may not yet have language for. And alongside them are the adults who serve them—teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, office staff—each carrying their own quiet burdens while holding space for someone else.
Mental health is no longer a side conversation in education. It never really should have been. It is essential to learning, just as literacy is essential to learning, and just as vital to teaching as curriculum.
My guest today brings lived wisdom, hard-earned perspective, and a steady, compassionate voice to this work. Bethany Cottle is a school social worker with Elverado Unit 196, and her work reminds us that caring for our people—students and staff alike—is not an extra. It is the work.
So let’s step into this conversation with honesty, empathy, and a shared belief that being seen, being named, and being supported can change a life.