The duties of a county superintendent of schools has morphed into a four-county jurisdiction comprising 18 school districts (from Nauvoo to Lewistown and from Warsaw to Canton), nearly 1,000 educators, and over 10,000 students. Thus, the need for an Regional Office of Education #26 (ROE26) assistant superintendent … enter Scott Sullivan.
A Hometown Boy
Sullivan grew up in the Colchester area, attended Colchester High School and then went on to Blackburn College in Carlinville where he played basketball and earned a degree in business education. He returned to his hometown and began teaching business education courses such as computer applications and accounting while coaching basketball for CHS. When the Colchester and Northwestern districts merged in 2003, he continued teaching and added a degree in educational administration. He served as interim principal at the West Prairie Junior High School for a year, then became an assistant principal and tech director at the Sciota campus, and finally served as principal of West Prairie High School for five years.
In 2019, he became the principal at Macomb Senior High School and served in that capacity for six years.
Then came the opportunity to join ROE as Director of Services, a role that helps manage all the ways the ROE can assist schools.
When the leadership roles switched in April, Sullivan was appointed to the role as assistant.
ROE26 Mission
As mentioned in the earlier article, the ROE operates as a middle ground between the Illinois State Board of Education and local school districts. It conducts regulatory functions according to the Illinois School Code and is funded through state appropriations, grants, fees for services, and local support (office space and infrastructure). No local tax revenue is generated to fund the operation. Its mission is to help each of the 18 districts best serve their staff (licensing, professional development), students (alternate schooling) and community (parenting, vision and hearing screenings) and to ensure a safe learning environment.
Role of the Assistant Superintendent The duties of regional superintendent go beyond just the four-county area. Demler is also on the executive committee for the statewide association, and he's the committee chair for Health and Life Safety for the state.These duties often require his absence from the main office. Given that the ROE system expanded to a four-county agency in 2015, the need for an additional administrative level became apparent. Over the years, the number of programs offered through ROE26 has expanded to 23 separate services. Of that number, Sullivan is directly involved in administering 12 of them as well as with shared responsibility with Demler.
During his tenure as assistant under Meixner, Demler spent the majority of his time in the Canton offices, where the business and finance offices are located. Now, he splits his time between the Canton and Macomb offices. Sullivan spends the majority of his time in Macomb where the numerous services are headquartered.
'While Dave is very involved with everything in the ROE, I can assist him by focusing on some of our programs that I managed as director of services while he can focus on other things,' said Sullivan. 'The two areas that I do work on with Dave are finance, in terms of budgeting, and personnel.”
With a staff of nearly 90 educational service providers, staff interaction occupies a significant part of their time. Of the dozen or so programs Sullivan oversees, he is especially tasked with student programs and services: three ROYALS Academies (at three sites in Macomb, Canton, and Carthage); L.E.A.P/ALOP (Leading, Educating, and Partnering/Alternative Learning Options Program designed to boost school attendance, academics, and student well-being); truancy and drop-out mitigation; McKinney-Vento Homeless Education (in the 2025 ROE annual report, 418 students in ROE26 domain are considered 'homeless') and the credit recovery program.
Equally important are programs related to Child and Family Services. Sullivan works with personnel who provide assistance for infants and children from 0 to 3 who have or are at risk of developmental delays.
Another program housed in the ROE26 Family Resource Center supports parents in their children's need for health, vision, hearing, and other developmental screenings as well as childbirth education, book lending, and play-to-learn group programs. For those children ages 3-5, Sullivan oversees the Preschool for All program that brings parents and teachers together to prepare youngsters for future school endeavors.
In addition, as in any administrative hierarchy, Sullivan meets regularly with program directors to review program objectives and achievements. When asked about home schooling inspections, a task once assigned to the assistant, Sullivan indicated that the climate has shifted. The ROE really has little agency there.
'In terms of curriculum, we're not the overseer. The parent is primarily responsible,' he noted.
Returning to the division of labor for the superintendents' roles, Sullivan said that he and Demler have standing meetings with financial personnel Rihanna Keys and Baylor Martin at the Canton offices. About every other week, he'll travel to Canton and work with them on budgetary issues, not including daily contact by phone or email.
Especially at this time as schools are ramping up for reopening and needing to meet project compliances, both Demler and Sullivan regularly visit the 18 districts with occupancy inspections. Because of the number of inspections, Sullivan has sometimes assumed the inspector role to ensure timely completion. He stated that every district has a yearly mini-compliance inspection and a full inspection every five years.
That's a lot of hours on the road, in addition to regular duties.
According to Sullivan, few people really know what the function of an ROE is, including those in the education community.
He attributed that to a lack of a 'public face' for their services. ROE supports, not directs, school districts.
Educators may visit the office for licensure and professional development issues, but few members of the community visit ROE offices for services; parent and community contact come at the individual district level through the programs ROE provides.
While ordinary citizens are not going to avail themselves of ROE services, they will find elements of those services functioning in each of the four-county region.
That's why, as assistant, Sullivan's job is to support the Regional Superintendent in helping school districts meet state requirements, in maintaining licensure and continuing education for teachers and administrators, and in meeting the needs of at-risk students at all levels.
