W E D N E S D A Y
August 30, 2017 Vol. 36, No. 2 ONE DOLLAR
@oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Park districts, D200 ramp up community pool talks
Truck grub Corhel Vaidos, of Chicago, orders food from Chesa Rollins, of Chicago, on Saturday, Aug. 26, during the Rotary Food Truck Rally at Keystone Park in River Forest. More photos, page 3.
Taxing bodies have until Dec. 1 to hammer out an agreement on a shared facility By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
Discussions among officials representing Oak Park and River Forest High School District 209, the Park District of Oak Park and the River Forest Park District about a proposed community recreation center — which would include a swimming pool — are getting more serious. Earlier this month, the D200 school board approved a memorandum of understanding that, according to the text of the document, is designed to “ensure consistent communication between D200, PDOP, RFPD, and key stakeholders regarding project scope, timing and funding.” The memo was signed by D200 Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams, PDOP Executive Director Jan R. Arnold and RFPD Executive Director Michael Sletten. The memo stipulates that if the taxing bodies aren’t able to secure funds for the proposed recreation center from “local community organizations and potential partners” by Dec. 1, 2017, then the memo would be invalid and the center “would not be constructed as described in the memo.” So far, talks have focused on a proposed See COMMUNITY POOL on page 12
Dominican at 20
Special pullout section
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
OPRF seeks to overhaul gender equity policy D200 community agrees policy doesn’t protect transgender students By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
Stacia Smith, a mother of four Oak Park elementary school students and an advocate for LGBTQ students at Oak Park and River Forest High School, read aloud a list of complaints and anxieties she’d compiled from numerous transgender students at OPRF during the public comment
portion of a District 200 school board meeting held last week. “Girls on one side, boys on the other,” Smith read. “Where do I fit in? Teachers make fun of my pronouns. These are the people who are supposed to protect us. Ask for my pronouns. Normalize this. There should be no boys or girls gym class.” Smith had read roughly a half-dozen comments before her allotted three minutes were up. She could’ve gone on, she said. With the collective anxiety of OPRF’s transgender students growing, the D200 school board and administration have been eager to expand and beef up the district’s existing sex equity policy.
The school board took the first steps toward a comprehensive overhaul of that policy during that Aug. 22 board meeting, where at least 50 students, parents and community members joined with Smith to vent their concerns and worries about current policies and procedures, as well as offer some policy recommendations of their own. District 200’s Policy 7:10 governs the provision of equal educational opportunities for students at OPRF. The policy states that “equal education and extracurricular opportunities shall be available for all students without regard to color, race, See GENDER EQUITY on page 15
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