Foundation role continues family tradition in education
By David Blanchette
Jacksonville Journal Courier, Monday, November 14, 2022
Updates made by Kyla Hurt
Editor’s note: Parts of this story first ran in the November 14, 2022, edition of the Jacksonville Journal-Courier.
Leslie DeFrates has been the executive director of the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation since August 1, [2022] and brings family tradition to the job.
“It’s a way to continue my family’s legacy in education,” DeFrates said.
DeFrates spent 30 years in higher education administration before taking on the foundation leadership role. Her late father was a long-time teacher and education administrator, her mother was an educator, and DeFrates’ sister also taught school.
“The Public Schools Foundation seemed like a natural next move. I had spent 30 years in higher education administration helping to provide resources to college students,” DeFrates said. “This opportunity lets me work collaboratively with the school district to help them prepare students for college or whatever that next life step may be.”
DeFrates was on the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation board when previous executive director Amy Albers announced that she would be retiring. DeFrates had taken a year off from her career to search for a better work-life balance, and thought the foundation would be a great opportunity for her to re-enter the workforce doing what she does best, helping students.
“It turned out to be a great blessing to have the experience of working on the board and knowing what the foundation does, what it stands for and its partnership with the school district,” DeFrates said. “It also afforded that work-life balance that I was looking for.”
DeFrates applied for the job, was officially hired by the foundation board in June [2022], and spent [that] summer learning the ins and outs of the position from the retiring Albers.
“She was wonderful about providing all of the information needed for me to step in,” DeFrates said [of Albers]. “I had the full view thanks to her, so it was a really good way to transition.”
“It’s amazing the way Jacksonville comes forward to get the students into the classroom in the best condition for learning,” DeFrates said. “The Jacksonville community [had] widely supported the annual Believe in Education drawing. We [got] lots of cash donations and the donation of things like musical instruments for our Play it Forward campaign where we renovate[d] instruments for students who want to participate in band but don’t have the resources to purchase a new instrument.”
DeFrates also pointed to the Lions Club partnership to provide school supplies for students in need, the Shared Spirit sponsorship that helps provide shoes for students, and the Coats for Kids program featuring donation bins placed around town courtesy of Edward Jones.
DeFrates is especially proud of the $10,000 raised [in 2022] for the foundation’s teacher grant program.
“Previously we had raised about $4,000, and [in 2022] with a matching grant from the foundation we were able to reach $10,000,” DeFrates said. “That goes back into the district to support teachers, who apply with innovative and creative ideas to enhance learning in the classroom.”
After graduating from Illinois College, DeFrates began her career as the financial aid director at Brown’s Business College in Springfield. She then moved to Lincoln Land Community College as the assistant director of financial aid. When Lincoln Land decided to develop a new mainframe system, DeFrates took over the campus leadership role for that transition.
DeFrates next moved to at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) as the associate director of financial aid, worked briefly in private student lending sales, then returned to UIS to oversee graduate education programs and the college catalog for the Provost’s office.
The next career opportunity came at DeFrates’ alma mater, Illinois College.
“The position started off as being the executive assistant to the president, and then quickly changed into a great growth opportunity where I ended my career as associate vice president and assistant secretary of the board,” DeFrates said. “I was the liaison for all of the departments across campus, was the chief liaison to the board of trustees, and I also oversaw human resources and public safety.”
“I loved the job at IC but I needed a better work-life balance, so I took a couple of years off to decide what my next steps were going to be,” DeFrates said. “I stayed on at IC as a consultant for about a year, then I had about a year of just enjoying life.”
That’s when the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation opportunity opened up.
DeFrates continues a family legacy of service to Jacksonville School District 117. Her late father Tom Smith was a lifelong district employee who taught English at Jonathan Turner Junior High and Jacksonville High School, was principal of Franklin and South Jacksonville Elementary Schools, and became the District 117 Assistant Superintendent in 1992.
After his school district retirement, Smith became the executive director of the Western Regional Education Center for Lincoln Land Community College in Jacksonville, then a teacher education program professor at Illinois College.
DeFrates’ mother, Elizabeth Smith, served the school district for several decades as a teacher, primarily as the Chapter One reading specialist at both Jefferson and Lincoln Elementary Schools. She was also the first nationally certified teacher for District 117.
Rachael Traywick, DeFrates’ sister, was a teacher in the Decatur area, then she came to Jacksonville High School and ended her career as an English teacher there.
DeFrates and her husband Don, the vice president of operations for Furman Engineering in Springfield, own four Bernese Mountain Dogs, “so we have 500 pounds of dog, our dogs are our kids,” she said.
[Since 2022, DeFrates has made more strides. The campaign in which “Your change can make a change” helps students in need. One hundred percent of your gift to the JPSF Student Needs Fund helps students who need coats, shoes, clothing, school supplies, and/or personal items.
The current “200 for 200 Campaign” ties in with celebrating Jacksonville’s 200-year history. In recognition of Jacksonville’s upcoming bicentennial, the 200 for 200 Campaign enters its second year of a three-year campaign. The campaign was initiated with the goal of enlisting 200 donors to contribute at least $200 for each of the three years of the campaign.
The campaign has done very well so far.
For more information on current programs, go to www.jsd117.org/foundation — or contact
JPSF Executive Director Leslie DeFrates at ldefrates@jsd117.org.]
DeFrates [finished], “I look forward to continuing my family tradition of service to education here.”
