By FRED KRONER
John Odle’s route to becoming a high school principal didn’t follow the traditional pathway.
Like the majority of his contemporaries, Odle served as a classroom teacher as well as in other administrative positions before taking over as principal at Oakwood High School on July 1.
While it sounds similar to others in his position, the difference is the time it took for him to find his way into a classroom.
As a senior at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Odle opted to go in another direction after completing his student-teaching.
“I loved sports, and physical education was a great fit for me, but I had a change of heart and left college in my senior year,” Odle said. “I enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1983 and retired from active duty in 2003.”
For his final 12 years of military service, he was stationed at Illinois’ Scott AFB (near Belleville) and finished his bachelor’s degree in physical education and started a Master’s program in education administration.
“I had to put my Master’s Degree on hold due to 9/11 and restarted it in 2005 at Eastern Illinois,” Odle said. “It was not your typical career path, but was an interesting journey that I look back on with a sense of accomplishment.”
Odle is the only person in his family with a college degree.
“My dad was a banker with a high school education,” he said. “My mom drove a school bus for the Litchfield School District.
“She was the closest person to an educator in my family.”
Odle’s teaching odyssey took him from Hillsboro (2006-09) to Morrisonville (2009-12) to Carlinville (2012-15) before he relocated to Oakwood in 2016.
His last move came with family in mind. Odle said he wanted to “move closer to my grandchildren, who live in Veedersburg (Ind).”
Besides teaching business education and senior social studies at Oakwood, he has coached softball, JV boys’ basketball, JV volleyball and also volunteered as a girls’ basketball assistant.
Before landing in Oakwood, Odle’s coaching resume included stints as a girls’ track coach, a volunteer football assistant and as a junior high boys’ track coach.
During the past two years, he has been the Comets’ athletic director and assistant principal, positions requiring much adaptation.
“I have learned to be flexible and to enjoy the little things that happen at the school,” Odle said. “We did not have a normal sports or school cycle during my tenure as assistant principal and AD.
“We started normally in 2019 and in March 2020, we had shut everything down due to the pandemic. We started the 2020-21 school year in a hybrid school setting and sports were in a constant state of flux.”
Tim Lee, who retired as the Oakwood principal on June 30, was instrumental during the changeover process.
“Tim Lee adopted a saying at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year that put the school in a good frame of mind,” Odle said. “He said, ‘Adapt and Enjoy.’
“This set the tone for his final year leading OHS and for me learning how to lead the school coming out of the pandemic.”
Lee’s influence at Oakwood included not only the students, but also faculty members such as Odle.
“Mr. Lee is an excellent leader, mentor, and friend,” Odle said. “He has established or maintained a culture that many schools in the state would love to emulate in their school.
“I have the utmost respect for Tim as a leader and person. He has been great for the school, the district, the community and me personally. He has mentored so many principals in Vermilion County through his knowledge and guidance as situations arise.
“He has shared so much with me over the years that I have been at Oakwood, which has provided the school and me with the foundation for a good transition.”
Odle realizes he has big shoes to fill.
“My job now is to keep the organization moving forward with the passion and diligence that Mr. Lee provided during his tenure,” Odle said. “It is a tough act to follow.”
Odle believed his military training set the stage for his second career.
“I was a Medical Administrative Specialist while in the Air Force, so my military administrative background was a stepping stone for Education Administration,” Odle said. “When I started teaching, I was in no hurry to get into administration.
“As Administrative positions opened at Oakwood, I felt that I could make a difference in more students’ lives by moving up. I love watching students and athletes succeed during their high school years and I continue to stay in touch as they continue their journey after high school.
“I enjoy following them on social media and continue to encourage them as they get jobs, marry, have children or whatever they do in their lives.”
As principal, Odle has several areas of emphasis.
“My No. 1 goal is to get students engaged in all aspects of their education,” he said. “We lost a lot of student involvement during the pandemic.
“The number of students involved in school-sponsored clubs, sports, and activities has decreased. We need to engage the students, families and community in the education system.”
He has a broader objective as well.
“We need to provide a unity of purpose in the school,” Odle said. “The purpose is to develop students into caring, community-oriented leaders that are well-educated about all aspects of life.”
There were items on his to-do list from the outset.
“My first day was focused on the little things that you do each day on the job,” Odle said. “You answer questions to the best of your ability and provide the services that are normally provided during the summer.
“I looked at the staff positions we still need to fill. We are still looking for an English teacher and a special education teacher.”
He said that anyone who “would like to teach in a family-oriented, caring environment,” should contact him at the high school.
Odle grew up in Litchfield, a community of about 6,500 which is located along Interstate 55 about halfway between Springfield and St. Louis.
When he graduated in 1978, there were fewer than 500 students in the high school.
Though he participated in a variety of sports such as football, golf, baseball, track, tennis and hockey, his athletic passion was for basketball, a sport he played until his sophomore year at Lewis & Clark Community College.
As he graduated from high school, Odle foresaw a future in sports for himself.
“Just like most high school kids, I did not see a career path, but thought I was going to play in the NBA,” he said. “I was pretty active in sports, but we did not have the traveling teams like they do now.
“We just got kids together and went out and played.”
Before he enlisted in the Air Force, Odle pursued different interests.
“I started out in business and then went into computer programming,” he said. “I switched to physical education after talking with my high school physical education teacher.
“He was a well-known wrestling coach and he coached me in track my senior year of high school. He was able to get the most out of me as an athlete.”
After his hiring at Oakwood, Odle has felt no desire to seek employment elsewhere.
“The focused school/community relationship is something that drew me to Oakwood and has kept me here,” Odle said. “The Oakwood District has produced a number of Alumni that have been successful in a number of different professions.
“We celebrate our student and staff success while they are here and continue to celebrate them as they take on bigger opportunities.
“It is what families do and we want to have a family environment. Mr. Lee would always say, ‘It is great to be young and a Comet.’ Some of us have also said, ‘It is great to be old and a Comet.’”
As for the “superstar,” in his family, Odle said that title belongs to his wife of 38 years, Sheila.
“She has been the rock of the family for numerous moves and job changes,” he said. “She has sacrificed many jobs and opportunities to help me throughout my years of service.”
Odle’s replacement as athletic director and assistant principal, Kyle Shelton, also started his duties at Oakwood on July 1.
“He is a super addition to the administrative staff,” Odle said. “He is coming from Lawrenceville, where he was the Dean of Students and AD at Parkview Junior High.”
