School District Reorganization 

Over the past several decades, Illinois family farms have experienced a revolution of sorts, steadily growing in acreage as they also become more specialized. One result of this trend has been a steady depopulation of many of the state’s small towns and rural areas; which in turn has led to the need to reorganize or consolidate school districts. Few things are more traumatic for otherwise vibrant communities than losing a piece of their identity when a cherished school is closed. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library volunteer Philip Pogue, himself a career educator, has chronicled that story in an important collection of interviews conducted in 2010 and 2012.