GROWING COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY JOURNAL, INC.
ForestParkReview.com
Vol. 99, No. 47
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F O R E S T PA R K
REVIEW
Pastor Dave Steinhart of Forest Park Baptist PAGE 4
‘Urban Buddha’ ends up in Grant Park PAGE 6
NOVEMBER 23, 2016
D91 gets its ‘report card’
State summary shows room for improvement for Forest Park schools By JACKIE GLOSNIAK
L
Contributing Reporter
ast month, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released the annual “Report Cards” for school districts across the state. Per state and federal law, following the ISBE’s compilation of the reports, public school districts are legally required to release their report cards to the public.
Diverse student profile
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
SOLIDARITY: A unity rally was held in Forest Park, following the election of Donald Trump. Forest Park residents gathered on a cold Saturday night to show their solidarity with their diverse community.
Something to feel thankful about Class ring reunited with its owner after three decades
By THOMAS VOGEL Contributing Reporter
Early last summer, Scott McAdam was getting out his car in a Meijer parking
lot in suburban Homer Glen when he kicked something on the ground. Hearing a clanking metallic sound, the longtime Forest Park business owner looked down and saw an engraved class ring
belonging to one Erik DeLaney, a 1983 graduate of Thornton Fractional North High School in nearby Calumet City.
The report listed a total of 779 students enrolled in D91. The largest racial population of students was black students at 52.9 percent, followed by white students (22.3 percent), Hispanic (12.5 percent) and Asian (3.1 percent). The percentage of low-income students, 50.1 percent, roughly matched the state average of 49.9 percent. Also, 6.8 percent of students qualified as limited-English proficient, i.e. students who qualify for transitional bilingual education programs, and 16.2 percent were designated as IEP (individualized education plan) students who qualified for special education services. The instructional settings across the district indicate that Forest Park comes in below state averages for student-to-teacher ratios and average class sizes. Statewide, the average student-to-teacher ratio is 18.7, and in D91 it is 10.7. Considering kindergarten through eighth grades, the overall class size average in D91 is 16 as opposed to Illinois’ average of 21.1. With the high number of minority and low-income students in the district, Superintendent Louis Cavallo said Forest Park has been very accommodating to the varying needs of the student population.
See LOST RING on page 9
See D91 REPORT CARD on page 7
(708) 689-8060 See Page 14 For More Details
1215 S. HARLEM AVE