Normally, on the days before Christmas, we’d be summoning holiday cheer and making New Year’s prognostications in this space.
But 2009 ends with news breaking out all over the villages and we have our opinions.
Let’s start with the not-surprising news from Oak Park and River Forest High School that Superintendent Attila Weninger will not have his contract renewed after all. We were enthusiastic a month ago when a fourth vote materialized on the divided school board to extend Weninger’s contract by a year. We support active change at OPRF and believe that Attila Weninger is, in memory, the most progressive superintendent the school has seen. But extending a contract by a year shouldn’t have taken weeks. And when executive sessions started piling up, it became clear the division on this board is deeper than the petty issues that kept a contract from being successfully negotiated.
There is considerable tut-tutting about town over this unusual situation: “No way for a school board to act.” “What about the mixed messages being sent?” And so on. While the situation is difficult, we believe it’s tough for good reasons. There is a real split on this board and it comes down to these fundamental questions. Who is going to run Oak Park and River Forest High School? And, are we finally ready to commit to the changes necessary to educate every child in this school?
Oak Park and River Forest High School needs to be run by the school board – not the superintendent, not the faculty, but by our elected representatives. And the focus of the board needs to be on creating the environment for change that allows every child to succeed. The school board is made up of good and sincere people. They have genuine issues to resolve.
Meanwhile, over at the District 97 elementary schools, we have a united school board that has been quietly doing the hard work of cutting costs year after year for most of this decade. Some years, the elementary school board has cut $300,000. Some years, they’ve cut a million. They’ve found efficiencies. They’ve trimmed programs. They’ve fired teachers.
And they have stood in line while every other taxing body in Oak Park has sought and received the OK from voters to raise our taxes. Now, in a thoughtful, respectful way, the District 97 board is about ready to ask for a tax hike. The issue will be raised officially in January; the vote will likely come in 2011. It’s too soon to venture an opinion on whether an increase will be justified. It’s not too soon to say we admire their hard work.