When Shaun Gallagher first joined the Forreston School Board nearly fifteen years ago, his intentions were fairly simple.

He and his wife had recently moved to German Valley after college, and at the time they didn’t even have children yet. But Shaun understood something about small-town communities: schools sit at the center of everything.

Before eventually sending his own children through the Forrestville Valley school system, he wanted to understand how it worked.

An opening on the school board appeared, and Shaun stepped forward. Rather than running in an election, he was appointed to fill a vacancy left by a longtime board member.

“At the time it was really a fact-finding mission,” he says. “If I’m going to settle down here and send my kids here, I better know what’s going on.”

But the realities of board service quickly introduced him to the complexity of school governance.

During his first year on the board, the district faced a deficit of roughly $500,000. Difficult financial decisions followed, including reductions in teaching staff. One of the positions affected belonged to the mother of one of Shaun’s high school friends.

“You realize there’s more to this school district stuff than just teaching kids,” he says. “It’s a business plan. It’s just like anything else.”

That perspective comes naturally to him.

By profession, Shaun is a civil engineer who works for the Ogle County Highway Department,and runs his own business — Gallagher Engineering. His career revolves around planning, infrastructure, and long-term systems—skills that translate surprisingly well into school governance. “I help build cities for a living and this is just a small city,” he explains.

Over time, Shaun gravitated toward issues involving facilities, finances, and long-range planning. His engineering mindset pushed him to look beyond immediate problems and focus instead on the systems that would support the district years into the future.

Today he is the longest-serving member of the Forrestville Valley School Board.

Life has also grown busier in the years since that first appointment. Shaun and his wife now have four children, and their family is deeply embedded in the district he helps oversee.

“In two years I’ll literally have a kid in every part of the buildings that we own,” he says with a laugh.

That vantage point gives him a perspective that blends policymaker and parent. He sees the district not only through board meetings and financial reports, but also through the everyday experiences of students moving through the school system.

One change he championed early on was the creation of full-day kindergarten. As his oldest child approached school age, Shaun began asking questions about how the district prepared students at the earliest stages.

The result was a shift that expanded opportunities for the youngest learners.

There have also been lighter moments.

Shaun still laughs when recalling what he jokingly calls the district’s “chocolate milk crisis,” when chocolate milk temporarily disappeared from school lunch offerings. Students and parents quickly noticed, and the issue was resolved within a meeting or two.

But behind those anecdotes lies a deeper philosophy guiding his work.

“Not everybody starts at the same starting block,” Shaun says. “This might be the nicest eight hours they spend of any given day.”

That belief shapes how he thinks about the district’s facilities and learning environments. For Shaun, school buildings are about far more than brick and mortar. Clean, functional spaces influence morale, attract great teachers, and create places where students actually want to learn.

“If you walk into schools where things aren’t functioning correctly or buildings are falling apart,” he says, “who wants to be there?”

During his time on the board, Forreston has steadily invested in improvements—from athletic fields and parking areas to interior upgrades across district buildings. Shaun has even contributed his own expertise, volunteering time to assist with design work for projects such as athletic fields and parking layouts.

“It takes a village,” he says. “If we have expertise available, why spend extra money for no reason?”

Looking ahead, the district continues planning improvements, including expanded athletic and training spaces designed to support the large number of students participating in activities.

But Shaun’s vision extends well beyond facilities.

He also believes schools must prepare students for the careers waiting beyond graduation.

That idea led to one of the district’s more innovative additions: an engineering pathway program. The concept emerged during a board meeting when Shaun asked a straightforward question.

“If I was going into my profession, what would I take here at Forreston High School?”

At the time, no one had a clear answer.

“If you can’t answer that, then we don’t have a program,” he says.

Today Forreston offers coursework that introduces students to engineering concepts and design thinking. Similar conversations have helped expand Advanced Placement opportunities and programs designed to encourage future educators.

For Shaun, these initiatives reflect the same principle that guides engineering projects.

“If you're not looking forward, then you're standing still.”

And standing still isn’t an option for communities like Forreston.

Strong schools influence everything from property values to economic vitality. Families choose where to live based largely on the strength of local schools, and communities thrive when those institutions remain strong.

“If you don’t have a good school district,” Shaun says plainly, “nobody’s coming to buy your house.”

After nearly fifteen years of board service, Shaun still approaches each decision with the same long-range mindset that first drew him into public service.

Not just asking how the district works today.

But imagining what it could become ten years from now—and making sure the groundwork for that future begins now.