DECATUR - When LaQuerrie Hooper moved to Decatur from Springfield and interviewed for a job with the Decatur School District, she was also interviewing Decatur schools for her children, ages 5, 10 and 15.

She liked what she saw.

Now receptionist and records clerk at the Keil Administration Building, Hooper attended the Back to School Rally for district employees at Stephen Decatur Middle School on Monday, with more than 2,000 in attendance. The new district motto is "You can learn ? we can teach you."

Hooper said friends told her Superintendent Gloria Davis had made significant changes in the two years she's been at the helm.

"It's true what (Davis) says: parents do have to be involved at all times," Hooper said. "Even if it's just to look over your child's homework, you can be in constant communication (with teachers)."

She told her own children's teachers to call her any time; that she wanted to be informed and available.

That kind of involvement is necessary, Davis told her staff at the rally.

"Parents, we need you to do your job to help us be successful," she said.

Using almost a tent-revival style of speaking, and having to stop several times for applause, Davis exhorted the entire staff - teachers, secretaries, custodians, crossing guards and all - to remember that teaching is everyone's job. Children learn something from everyone they encounter.

"Yes, we are a family," she said. "When members of the family need encouragement, we need to lift them up. We must make sure all of us, all of us, feel the energy and the passion."

She reminded the staff that both MacArthur and Eisenhower high schools have shown significant gains in graduation rates and drops in the dropout rate. People had told her raising the graduation rate in Decatur was impossible, she said.

"I know (students) are destined for great things," she said. "And it started in middle school, in elementary school, in preschool."

Davis also acknowledged the troubles in some kids' lives and asked her staff to remember that any one of them might be the only person available to take an interest and care.

"Our children are hurting," she said. "Some of them need us more than we can ever imagine."

After the rally, teachers returned to their own buildings for meetings with administrators and their professional learning communities, to prepare for the students' return on Wednesday. Classes will meet for a half day on Wednesday, with the first full day of school on Thursday.

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