- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward," where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in central Illinois.

(uplifting music) (dramatic music begins) (dramatic music continues) - Welcome to "Business Forward."

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Angie Lyons.

Angie is the superintendent for Peoria Christian Schools.

Welcome, Angie.

- Thank you.

It's good to be here, Matt.

- I'm glad you're here.

We have, I always am interested in schools and churches as businesses.

So I had Chad Manbeck from Richwoods on here a couple months ago, and when you're talking about the business, there's a lot of revenue streams that you just don't realize with churches, and so on, but that's not your business.

But let's start off with you.

I always like to know where you're from, about your family, anything you wanna talk about, but are you from Illinois?

- I am, I grew up just right across the river in East Peoria, Red Raider.

- Okay.

- Yeah so, I know East Peoria.

- Raiders.

- So, it's been a while, so, yeah.

Yeah, my family has been here.

Mom and Dad grew up in East Peoria, and so, - Well that's fun.

- my whole family, we've grown up in this area.

Yeah.

- And what about your husband?

- Yeah, Jeff, he's from Peoria.

Graduated from Peoria Central, and worked for the fire department for 30 years, Peoria Fire Department.

Is retired, loving it, not looking back at all.

(both chuckling) - Well, I mean, he had a tough job.

- He did.

It's a young man's job.

- Yeah, so, - Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

- that's pretty cool.

And then, so, you've had a really fun career, I think.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- You know, when you look back at being in education for a while, - Mm-hm.

- and you sit there and you go, you've seen a lot of the changes over the years.

- Yes, yes.

- And I think that's pretty cool.

But here's what I think's very interesting.

You know, I have a lot of CEOs on the show, and I was talking to one, of a very large Fortune 500 company, and he was in 14 different positions before he was announced as CEO, and included CFO.

So it's like, so, as a superintendent, I'm reading here, and it says, you know, high school math, curriculum director, high school dean, high school principal.

You know, you're all those things to get to the point of a CEO, which is the superintendent.

- Mm-hm.

- So you have all of the, I think, sometimes people forget that a superintendent, or a principal, they're actually the CEO of that school, - Right.

- or those schools, right?

- Right, yeah.

- Do you look at it that way?

- Well, I did not at first, but I've certainly grown to recognize that.

And my experience through all those things, through coaching, teaching, being a parent at the school, having that side of it, with having students, dean of students, which means you're dealing with a lot of discipline, the principals, a lot of instructional side, those are really the day-to-day pieces - Mm-hm.

- of education that happen.

But once you step into the role of superintendent, there is a great divide between what's actually happening.

You have to trust your team, what is happening at that level, that they are the experts.

But it's so good to have that piece of my own coming into it, and understanding, and knowing what's happening.

And certainly, that growth that I've had over these last four years, has been just huge, in just understanding the business side of what happens at a school, that has to happen - Yeah.

- at a school.

- I like how you said the trust of the team.

And it's not just you having the trust of the team, it's them having the trust in you.

- Yeah, yeah, it's been fun.

It's been a growing experience, for sure.

- Well, it's different because you've played both sides.

- Yes, yes.

- And I think that's fun.

- Mm-hm.

- I mean, I know you well enough to know you're very competitive, and so, being competitive, - Yeah.

- you have to learn the rules of the game - Yeah.

- on both sides.

And there's a learning curve there.

- Yeah, and it's also, it's not just with the teachers, and with the principals, and that side of it, but it's also with the association, and the board, the community, - Yeah.

- as you're stepping out in those places too, just that, having that understanding, and that knowledge, and being willing to acknowledge that you don't know everything, and being willing to grow, and try to make it better for all involved.

- But at the same time, your eyes are on ya.

- Yeah, oh yeah.

- So, you know, you're not, I'm not saying, Angie, I'm married to an educator, - Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- so, I'm not, there's heavy importance of being an educator, but when you're the superintendent, and you're representing the school, everything you do, eyes are on you.

- Yep, yes, that's- - Do you feel that more?

- (chuckling) Absolutely.

I think, maybe, had I known before, I might've thought twice.

I mean, I love, love, love what I do.

People ask me all the time, "Do you love what you do?"

The answer is, absolutely.

I love leading at Peoria Christian, but what makes it a good place to be is all the people that I get to work with.

It's not all roses and, you know.

It's not pretty - Well, no business is.

- all the time, right?

But the opportunity that I have to interact.

But there is an underlying, I understand that people are watching, - Yeah, yeah.

- all the time.

- I mean, you have an event, and there's 400 people at the event, they wanna look at the boss.

- Yep, yep, it's a, yeah.

- Yeah.

- And I'm not one, I don't all like that.

I don't necessarily want that attention.

- Yeah, but you don't have to, I mean, I'll be honest with ya, that was pretty much my whole life.

And I'm not saying I loved it, but I really accepted it.

- Mm-hm.

- And, I think, as soon as you accept it, you know your role, - Yeah.

- it really puts confidence more in the people around you too, - Mm-hm.

- that you've accepted it, - Yes.

- if that makes sense.

- Yes, absolutely.

- You talk about, a lot about your team.

Like, if I have 10 conversations with you, nine outta the 10, you mention teammates.

- Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- And I think that's pretty cool, because you have, and we'll go through the structure of the schools in a second, but you have a lot of teachers, you have a lot of, - Yes, mm-hm.

- you have principals, you have, you said the board, but let's just talk about staff right now.

- Yep.

- That is who you're taking care of on a daily basis.

- Yeah.

- It's important.

- Yeah.

Yeah, there's 80 of us in the organization, right around 80 of us.

- Okay.

- And in my circle, there's 10, including me, in my circle, that are on a interactive basis from day to day.

So, while I see teachers, and, you know, we have a middle school campus, where my office is not on the middle school campus.

So there has to be that intentionality to get over there.

I'm not so much in the day to day with the teachers, but yet they still are inviting me, and wanting me to be a part of that.

And if I don't trust the people, it's not just about trusting them, it's about, it's a good accountability, is that... - That you're there for 'em.

- But you know the phrase, the open door, right?

You have the open door policy.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- That literally is the open door policy.

But there's this sense that we can have these conversations with one another, positive, and not so positive.

- Safely.

- Yes, yes.

Yeah.

- The safety's the key.

- Yeah.

- You know, that psychological safety piece for everybody is more important than it's ever been, especially post-COVID, you know that.

But I'll tell you a quick story that I found interesting, and you kinda, I wasn't gonna say this, but you brought it up.

Being intentional, going over to the other school, okay?

- When I stepped away from Children's Home, I had 500 employees.

I loved my team.

We had all kinds of different sites all over town.

And, in my last 10 days, I probably got 50 emails that said, "Will you please stop by my office one more time?"

And it didn't really hit me until I actually made the farewell tour, so to speak, where I felt like I was dead man walking.

- Mm-hm.

- And even though I initiated it, it still felt like that.

And I'd look up at one office, and somebody had six, seven handwritten notes from me pinned up on the wall.

And then someone actually said, "You've given me so many books, now I wanna give you one."

And then, never underestimate the importance of those stop-bys.

- Yeah.

- Because when you drop in, in a good way, - Mm-hm.

- because I know a lot of people that are, that have titles.

And when they drop in, it puts people uncomfortable.

- Yeah.

- That's not servant leadership.

- Yeah, it's a club.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- You're a true version of servant leadership.

- Thank you.

- And that's what I like about it.

History of Peoria Christian.

- Yeah.

- So, just talk history, 'cause I love history of all business, but go ahead.

- Well, we are a Christian school, and we're a non-denominational Christian school, which means we have multi denominations.

And we've actually been in the Peoria area, this is our 73rd year of school.

And we're so excited, we're gonna be celebrating our 75th year in 2025.

We're looking forward to that.

But it's amazing.

We had our first graduates in 1977.

And, man, just the history with the churches.

So, Grace Presbyterian has been one of our churches that has really supported us throughout, even though we're a non-denominational school, we have over 90 churches represented in our school, - Whoa!

- that people come from, from the Peoria tri-county area.

And so, we're just super excited about that.

Started as a K, you know, a normal startup kinda school, in 1950, with the, "Let's see what grades we can get in."

And then we grew, and then we kinda, you have bigger classes, and then you don't have anybody for eighth grade, and so, you know, you don't have that class.

- Yeah.

- But we have our pre-K-3 through 12, there at the California and Monroe campuses.

- Isn't that great?

You know, I think about, you had an event a couple years ago, and you had a good friend of mine and yours, Henry Vickery, there.

- Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- And Henry, with Caterpillar many years, and he's an alum of PCS.

- Yep, yep.

- And he was telling a story about when he was a kid.

And he was talking about the basketball team, and the impacts that the coaches have.

And it makes you reminisce about, when someone tells a story like that, and Henry can tell a story, so it's fun to listen, it makes you also reminisce - Yeah.

- about the importance of teachers, - Yeah.

- the importance of history.

I mean, if you think, when I was younger, back in, you know, 1975, I was in kindergarten, and I still remember getting in trouble, and I still remember talking, I still remember the teachers that had impacts on me.

- Yes.

- And I think sometimes we forget the importance - Yeah.

- of what educators do.

- Mm-hm.

You know, it's interesting because, being a superintendent, I'm removed from the students, right?

I don't get that daily interaction.

So that is certainly the piece that I miss the most, as being superintendent, with not being more involved with the students.

But I can tell you the memories that I have, the fond memories that I have.

Can I tell you a quick story about - Yeah, I'd love it.

- a young lady that came as a senior.

She was lost, just lost.

I was the dean of students, which meant I met with, - Everybody.

- I just did discipline.

- Right.

- That's all I did, right?

I wouldn't recommend it.

It's not always a joy to do that.

But kids are kids, no matter whether they're, - They need you.

- no matter where they are, - Right.

- right?

We're dealing with real people here.

And so, it's actually one of the beautiful parts about what we get to do, is, it's not a utopia, it's not a perfect place.

We're dealing with real people, but we get to point them to Christ.

And so, with this young lady, she was lost.

She was, her parents had put her in, she didn't wanna be there.

So, she and I developed a relationship, and I was able to give her her first Bible, and to talk about some things with her, and just, she was able to share authentically with me.

And it was a safe place.

You had talked about that for my staff, but for our students as well, just that safe space.

- Yeah.

- But it wasn't until five or six or seven years later that that young lady actually wrote to me and said, "Hey, I want you to know that you were the only person that I thought that saw me."

- [Matt] Wow.

- I had no idea that I was, that I had such an impact.

And it's not, I was just being ordinary Angie, just ordinary Missus Lyons at the time, just going about my day.

And so, that was a blessing - Hm.

Yeah.

- that I got to be a part of that, and hear her speak that to me.

And she didn't have to follow back up, but she did.

- That's how important it is.

- Mm-hm.

Mm-hm.

- And when you read that, I guarantee you cried.

- Oh, it just touched my heart.

- Yeah.

- And it just spurs you on - Right.

- for many more years of the opportunity, because we don't always know.

- [Matt] Right.

- And sadly, we don't always know good and bad.

You know, people have not-good experiences in school.

I mean, school's a tough place for our young people.

- It's very tough.

- I mean, identity crises are happening with our kids.

- Bullying.

- Oh my gosh.

It's just, it's a- - Judging.

- It's a melting pot of emotions, and just a lot of stuff.

And so, the opportunity that we get to do is we get to not only deal with our students, and our families, but we get to point them to what we think is eternal, and to the cross, where real solutions can be found.

- I just wanna keep going.

Technology.

- Yep, mm-hm.

- I gave a talk to some kids a couple weeks ago on vaping.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Now, who would've thought I had to sit there and give a talk on vaping?

- Yeah.

- And it just ticks you off because there's just some things that kids don't need to be around.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- That's one of 'em.

So, all right, when you're a school like you are, you still have to go through an accreditation process, - We do.

- don't you?

- We do, yeah.

- Is that as heavy as I think it is?

- (chuckling) It is.

We actually, we have an accreditation process coming up this spring, and it is a huge ordeal.

- Sorry to bring it up then.

- Yeah, yeah, no.

I was just doing it before I came over here.

Yeah, I know.

And we have accreditation through ACSI, - Yeah.

- the Association of Christian Schools International, Cognia, which is the secular North Central Association.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- And then we're recognized by ISBE, which allows us to participate - Sports.

- in IHSA and IESA.

Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- Yeah.

Yeah, so, that's interesting.

I know it from a level.

I have friends that run hospitals, and I know it from a hospital level.

So when it's creeping up around the corner, - Mm-hm.

- the teams just sit there, and they just start going, "Oh my goodness, here it comes, here it comes."

And it's the audit of audits.

- And it's a good thing to do, right?

- Yeah, it's not a bad thing.

- Yeah.

- It's just a busy thing.

- It's a lot.

You've got a ton of evidence that has to come together, and, you know, just say, "We're doing what we say we're doing."

- Yeah, let's talk about best in class, because that's how I look at what your curriculum is.

And so, when you're talking about expected student outcomes, - Yeah.

- what do you mean by that?

- So, expected student outcomes are what our goals are for our students.

Academically, we want them to be solid academic students.

That doesn't mean they're all A-plus students, right?

It means we're taking the whole realm of our students, and we're moving 'em all forward, right, academically, to get to the next level, and then to the next level again, and then to the next level again, which means, whether they wanna go into a four-year university, get their master's, doctorate, like me, move on like that, or go to a four-year college, get a certificate, go into the military, entrepreneurship.

- Trades.

- Exactly.

- It could be anything.

- Go straight to, all those things, - Yeah.

- go straight in, that they're academically prepared.

But we do this in such a way that we're speaking truth, what I call, with a capital T. We're speaking scripture into them, because we want our students to have a biblical worldview.

Everybody has a worldview, right?

You and I have talked, we've known each other for four years.

- Yeah.

- And both of us have grown in our worldview, right?

- Yeah, that's right.

- And so, but we want our students to be able to, through this gift of academics.

And look, if we're not doing academics well, we're not doing what we say we're supposed to be doing.

- Right.

Then you might as well not be open.

- Well, right, because we're a school.

But we're not just a school of academics, right?

- Yeah.

- I mean, they can, I mean, we have great schools in our area, - Right.

- where our students can go, but what they can get at PCS is that biblical foundation.

And that expected student outcome goes beyond just being nice to somebody.

But, you know, we all want to be nice to people, or want people to be nice to us.

- Yeah.

- But why are we kind to people?

And that's that deep-rooted, that we want our students to know, that, truly, it's not just for today.

It's not just something that we want you to be nice in the classroom, or nice to hold the door open for somebody, just simple acts like that.

But we truly want it to be a deep-rooted belief and value system that they have that affects them for eternity.

- I think manners - Yeah.

- are important.

- Yeah.

- And I see that, like, when you go to the school, - Yeah.

- they hold the door open for you.

- Yeah.

- The kids do that.

- Mm-hm.

- They pick up trash when they see it, or they should.

(Angie chuckles) But I do see that.

- Yeah.

- And I think that's pretty cool stuff.

- Yeah.

- So when you're talking about that, I always relate it back to the nonprofit that I was with.

And I always think about mission, and vision, and values.

- Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- And the older I get, the more I go back onto that taking care of your community.

And I always, I say it all the time, it's your job to do it.

- Mm-hm, mm-hm, yeah.

- And so in a way, that's what you're showing 'em how to do.

- Yeah.

Yeah, and so, one of the things that, you know, I could say our mission to you, word for word, and I know you know that, but we could, saying it's one thing, actually living it out - That's right.

- is another thing, right?

And so, a big part of our mission is that we wanna support the Christian home and local church.

And so, that part of the community is very, very important to us.

But beyond that is our, the city of Peoria.

Like, if we're not actively going out, and this is something that we are really, really honing in on in these next couple of years, we're developing something called the portrait of a graduate, right, a portfolio.

And we want our students, as they go through pre-K through 12, so this is really a 13, 14-year endeavor that we're looking at, if we start with the pre-K-3.

Could be 15 years, depending on what they're doing.

But it's really developing students who love the community, and use their gifts and talents to serve in the community.

So by the time they're seniors, I don't want our seniors sitting in Bible class eighth semester.

I want 'em out in the community.

I want 'em serving in the community.

- I love it, I love that.

- I want them out there.

So by the time they get through, we, along with their parents and their church, we're working together to make sure that we're serving the community.

So this is really going to be, it's not like we're not gonna start with the kids in high school, 'cause we are, but if we look at this 15-year track, we're super excited, and really, like, I'll be long gone by that time.

There's gonna be another superintendent in the seat by that time.

- Right, right.

- So, I won't necessarily get to see the fruit of that labor for 15 years, but I can guarantee, if I'm still here, I'm investing in Peoria Christian School.

- Yeah.

- Whether I'm working there or not.

- I love that.

- Mm-hm.

- And that's the legacy piece.

Yeah.

- You know?

I don't think, I think, when you look back at your career, whenever it ends down the road, and mine at Children's Home, I always looked back and I thought, you know, I was, Children's Home has been around 158 years, 157 years, and I was just one employee, seriously.

Like, if you think about, over the time, how many, maybe hundreds, - Yeah, yeah.

- thousands of employees that actually graced those campuses, just as an honor to be part of that legacy.

- Yeah.

- And that's what you're talking about.

Because you don't, - Yeah.

- you'll never know the true feeling of everybody, just like you said with that young lady that you helped.

There's kids I know that I had a hand in helping, but you'll never know it.

- Yeah.

- [Matt] I don't even know if it's that important.

- Right.

- Just to know that you did it though.

- Right, right.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I make being available, right, to be used as the hands and feet, right?

Just to say, "Here I am, how can I serve?"

And I'm telling you, Matt, and you know me, just ordinary.

- Yeah.

- Just ordinary.

- Yeah, and you didn't use this word, but there's moral, moral and ethical pieces to this too.

- [Angie] Mm-hm.

- We've lost our way somewhat in our society.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And I think that all kids, - Mm-hm.

- we need to rethink the way we're doing things.

- Yeah.

- You know, I was talking to somebody last week about, no matter what we want, no matter what school it is, we want our kids to stay in our community.

- Mm-hm, mm-hm.

- So, it doesn't matter what school you go to, 'cause you mentioned 90 churches, but there's also other schools that are partners of yours.

And in those partnerships that you have, they're like schools, we'll call 'em, - Mm-hm, yeah.

- you definitely want them to succeed too.

- Right.

- Because this all boils down to, when those kids leave Peoria Christian, they're part of our community.

- Yep, yep.

I love the way you put that, because we really aren't competing against one another.

We are about the business of educating our young people.

And I think one of the distinctives at PCS is that we want our students to know that there is an absolute truth.

There is absolute truth.

And that's that little piece that you're talking about, - Mm-hm.

- about, you know, we have to, we've got to be honest with our kids - That's right.

- about where we've been, as a society, where we are now, and where we might be going in the future, if things continue the way that they're going, right?

So this idea of absolute truth, it's not always welcome in places.

- [Matt] That's right.

- And so, it's a place here at our school, that makes us distinct, that says, "Hey, we want you to know that."

But you're, as you go out into the community, it's not a club, - No, no.

- or a hammer to use.

It's you, that's the piece that we have when we go out into the community.

- Yeah.

- Whether it's truly working in different spaces, or it's, you're visiting a nursing home, you're just going to sing Christmas carols, or something like that.

- Right.

- You know, some way of serving.

- That's right.

- So, we're all gonna have our places where we can be, in and out through the community, but absolutely, coming back here, or staying here, is very important.

- That's very important.

- Mm-hm.

- You know, we talked about partnerships.

And it's not just schools, it's like, Chad Bailey - Oh my, yep.

- at the Christian Center.

- Christian Center, mm-hm.

- You know, think about, I'll just, it's more than sports, but I will tell you this.

So many young kids go through his programs, and come through Peoria Christian School, or whatever it may be, but when you have that same mentality about respect, and it does apply to work, to sports, to all these different things.

All right, so, - Absolutely.

- from a business standpoint, we don't have much time, but from a business standpoint, you've gotta deal with a strategy.

- Yep.

- And so you put those strategies into place.

When you put that strategy together, you have to present it to your board.

- Yeah.

- You report to a board.

- I do, mm-hm.

- [Matt] So that board comprises of certain community members that are all volunteer, - Mm-hm.

- and they come on the board.

Then you have a fundraising component, because you need to fill gaps, all right?

And then, but the bottom line, you need kids in seats.

- Yep.

- And that's what helps pay for teachers, - Yep.

Yep.

- which, in turn, is what, the more kids, the more you can pay teachers, and keep these teachers.

But I wanna give a shout out to your staff again.

You have a lot of longevity.

- Yeah.

- That's cool.

- Yeah.

It is amazing, actually, for what we do here.

We have five, six, seven people who have been there over 30 years, at Peoria Christian, serving in Christian education.

- [Matt] Think about that.

- Man, that just brings so much, so much.

And, you know, I think about, I'm just gonna give a shout-out to one of our Bible teachers, Tom Schlich, who has been there for so long.

- [Matt] How many years?

- Well, he's been there, - A while, all right, a while.

- (laughing) Yeah.

- Well, lemme just say this.

You run a great school, - Thank you.

- schools.

And I love it, I love the mission, and I appreciate you coming on the show.

Doctor Angie Lyons, thank you for coming on.

We're proud to have you in this awesome community.

I'm Matt George, and this is another episode of "Business Forward."

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