W E D N E S D A Y
April 26, 2017 Vol. 35, No. 36 ONE DOLLAR
JOURNAL
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of Oak Park and River Forest
Principal and parents talk discipline at Brooks
Bald is bad ass Three donors get their heads shaved as a crowd gathers in front of Nando’s Peri-Peri in downtown Oak Park in support of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the March for Science on April 21.
Some argue ‘zero tolerance,’ others advocate for supportive response By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
There was tension last Friday morning at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School as a large crowd of parents, school and district administrators and teachers gathered in the school cafeteria to discuss and debate the response to multiple incidents of altercations and the display of weapons in the two middle schools this week. Parents and families at District 97 are on edge after three separate incidents involving middle school students that occurred on April 17. All of them are currently being investigated by the district and Oak Park police. And the issues were roiling social media among District 97 parents last week. The incidents, two involving weapons and one a reported altercation between four students, prompted district officials to convene a community meeting on April 21, re-evaluate existing safety and discipline policies and implement a series of changes at Brooks that are designed to monitor student interactions more closely. In one incident, a student reportedly See BROOKS MEETING on page 12
For more photos, turn to page 18.
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
Festival Theatre could get liquor license
Park district pushing for license, but village reluctant By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
It’s a decades-long tradition in Oak Park to take a picnic and a bottle of wine or some beer to Austin Gardens and catch a show at Festival Theater – but there’s a catch. Drinking in the park is against the law
and always has been. The Oak Park Police Department has made it a practice of looking the other way, but now the Park District of Oak Park is asking the village to make it official. They’re asking that Festival Theater be granted a temporary liquor license for the shows to make it clearer that drinking is only allowed during the theatrical performances. The Oak Park Board of Trustees considered the proposition at its April 17 board meeting, but ultimately tabled the proposal
because of a surprise proposal by village staff for its own version of the ordinance. Village staff recommended that no ordinance be approved and the village maintain the status quo. Oak Park Police Chief Anthony Ambrose agreed. But the board appeared willing to approve the new license. The proposal for a special-use BYOB (bring your own bottle) liquor license has been discussed extensively and recomSee FESTIVAL THEATRE on page 16
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