A member of the Oak Park and River Forest High School Board of Education has apologized to the leaders of the school’s Community Council for comments made at the Feb. 22 school board meeting while remaining steadfast in her desire that the council become more socioeconomically diverse and more representative of the school community.
“I apologize to the Community Council leadership because we learned that our comments were taken as being a negative view or taken as being somehow negative commentary on the leadership and I just want to clarify that it’s not about the leadership,” said school board member Audrey Williams-Lee, a former member of the Community Council.
“We appreciate everything they do as well as past leaders and Community Council members.”
Williams-Lee, who was appointed to the school board last year and is one of two board liaisons to Community Council, said at the Feb. 22 meeting that the Community Council was not broadly representative of the school community. At the March 7 school board meeting and at a Community Council meeting March 12, Williams-Lee offered a limited apology for comments by school board members that upset Community Council leaders and members.
OPRF board member Tim Brandhorst, also a former Community Council member and the other school board liaison to the Community Council who also made critical comments about the Community Council at the Feb. 22 school board meeting, said that he agreed with Williams-Lee’s apology and comments.
The apology came after a meeting with Brandhorst, Williams-Lee, three officers of the Community Council and Supt. Greg Johnson. It came after seven Community Council members, including all three leaders, made public comments at the March 7 school board meeting defending the Community Council and stating how valuable they felt their work was.
The most pointed comments at the school board meeting came from Community Council Secretary Cara Carmody.
“I was shocked, saddened and confused by the comments made at the Feb. 22 board meeting by past members of the Community Council who now serve as D200 school board members,” Carmody said.
Carmody noted that the school board has final say about the membership of the Community Council.
“I was confused by the comments that we no longer represent the community accurately,” Carmody said. “Additionally, it was stated that we are not diverse enough. While we understand that concern and we want to make it as diverse as possible we are a volunteer organization. We have no control over who signs up for Community Council. In fact, as clearly stated in our bylaws, members shall be appointed by the board of education and nominated by the superintendent. We welcome diversity but the council has no control over its members.”
According to the Community Council’s bylaws members can be nominated to serve on the Community Council by current members of the council, members of the OPRF Board of Education, high school professional staff, principals of eighth-grade feeder schools or feeder school staff and other interested people. The superintendent typically recommends a list of members that the school board then approves. According to the Community Council bylaws the Community Council shall consist of 45 members.
The Community Council, which meets monthly during the school year, was created in 1968, with the original name of the Citizens Council, to serve as something of a community support group, advisory group and sounding board for OPRF. It has no power to act and doesn’t take votes. Members serve two-year terms and are eligible to be selected for second, consecutive two-year term.
“To hear that we do not have a mission or purpose was shocking to me,” Carmody said. “We’ve always had a clearly defined mission and purpose.”
Michelle Siu, a co-chairperson of the Community Council, questioned the alleged lack of diversity of the Community Council noting that the current three leaders all have a different ethnic background. Siu, who is of Asian ancestry, grew up in Central American and immigrated to the United States as an adult. Mark Jackson, the other co-chairperson, is Black while Carmody is white.
“I just wanted to let you know that we are a pretty diverse group,” Siu told the school board March 7. “I mean it’s a group of members of the community of different ages, different ethnicities, genders. I would say that most of the people do have kids who go to OPRF but we also have people who are particularly interested in the community who don’t have kids at OPRF or have kids who have graduated from OPRF.”
At the March 12 meeting, 12 of the 17 members who attended were white, three were Black and two were Asian.
Jackson, who said that he was recruited to join the Community Council as part of an effort to increase the council’s diversity, said that he has found serving on the Community Council a positive experience. He urged the school board to look upon the Community Council as a resource.
“The Community Council is an arrow in your quiver,” Jackson told the school board. “Together we can test new ideas, collect instant feedback and pivot as needed. That’s the purpose of the Community Council, to work in concert with D200, to align with you and promote your goals. At the Feb. 22 board meeting the question was asked should the board continue its relationship with Community Council. Instead I suggest the question should be how does D200 use the Community Council to achieve its goals because I think together we can draw others similar to me off the sidelines.”
School board president Tom Cofsky said on March 7 that there are no plans to disband the Community Council. Rather, he said, the board is reviewing all school and parent organizations that members of the school board interact with to see where the board members can most valuably spend their time.