Forest Park Review, July 20, 2022
O U R
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OPINION
V I E W
Forest Park invests in teachers
s it moves into a moment of profound and essential change, the District 91 Forest Park Public Schools have resolved one foundational challenge by coming to generous terms with its faculty. A new and multi-year contract was ratified by an enthusiastic and large margin by teachers and unanimously OK’d by the school board. And why not? The raises over the three-year term of the contract are high. But as the district prepares to open classes this fall with one fewer school building, teachers realigned in the remaining buildings and uncertainty over future plans for building configurations the district’s dedicated faculty are rightly concerned. Will fewer teachers be needed in the future? How will enrichment classes be structured? Can the district attract the new teachers and aides it might need in a difficult hiring environment? We’ve been supportive of this school board and its new superintendent, Elizabeth Alvarez, as they have made a series of tough decisions. But declining enrollment in this small district had to be addressed. And now there will need to be progress — slow and steady works for us — on student achievement. We are not bound by the results of standardized testing. But all involved recognize that Forest Park elementary students are not learning at the levels they will need to find success going forward. These raises are possible because generous Forest Park taxpayers have invested without fail in these schools. There is money in the bank. But it is not endless and taxpayers will rightly become stingier if this shrinking district cannot find its direction, build momentum and spirit and grow into a mighty engine that helps to grow our village.
Reiger Park’s moment Credit the Park District of Forest Park for getting its ducks lined up in a row. This ambitious district negotiated with village government to take over the planning and operations of most of Forest Park’s long overlooked and underused “pocket parks.” Now the district, with the help of supportive local state legislators, has lined up an essential $400,000 grant from the state to invest in the plain and unconsidered Reiger Park at the corner of Circle Avenue and 16th St. The largest of the pocket parks, Reiger is of good size and had some popularity in the south Forest Park neighborhood. But it was never planned, its use never maximized. That changes now as the district has the money in hand, has a preliminary batch of options and is about to re-engage the neighborhood in how it wants the space to be used. We’d expect it will wind up as a combination of active recreation space and some elements of a passive park for quieter use. Construction should start in the spring of 2023. And then the fun begins.
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I can’t stop this feeling, deep inside of me
E
nglish language doesn’t have a word that quite captures the feeling of anticipation, the feeling Winnie Pooh Bear explains, “Well, what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you eat it which is even better, but he didn’t know what it was called.” The Inuit word, iktsuarport (eek-soowuhr-pohk) is that feeling. When one of my friends brought spray paint to her Catholic high school because she thought it would be cool to graffiti a wall, she spent the day in a state of iktsuarport. With her paint can tucked in her backpack, she imagined putting her plan into action when the opportunity came. Once the school programs ended and she was alone, she took her private rebellion to a stadium wall. Secretly, she boldly expressed her bad attitude, and wrote the first thing that came to her mind. Her name. Both her first and last name, in big black letters. When she was called in the next day by the principal, as she retells the story, she was shocked they knew it was her. Sidewalks too hold the names of people etched into them when their short-lived wet stage can be used to secure a moment in time and place. Under the viaduct on Desplaines is Claudia and Katie who marked their passage in 2002. Not far from them is Laura and Petek. Savana’s name and heart is on the 1400 block of Marengo with neighbors Justin and Niko. On the 800 block of Thomas is a notable historical footnote, a sidewalk block with about a dozen neighborhood names and another note. In big letters it says, “Watergate was big when Ben did this!” According to a CBS article from 2014 the sidewalk had a crack and was repaired in 1973 by Ben Curran, who lived on the block and laid the concrete. His wife suggested making a historical note, and they did.
When Rep. Jamie Raskin delivered closing remarks during the July 12 hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack and said, “The Watergate break-in was like a Cub Scout meeting compared to this assault on our people and our institutions,” I thought about that sidewalk. While we do not have an English word that is equal to iktsuarport, we do have the word, demagogue. We use this to describe a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires, fears and prejudices of ordinary people rather than using rational argument and appealing to their better angels. Demagogue is the antithesis of our local Midwestern values. Locally, it is prized to think beyond one’s self and to consider others. In this case, the sidewalk scribblers considered future generations who might pass by. Courage, coupled with humility and an unselfish nature, are common values exhibited by our regional heroes, as seen in people like by Ray Nitschke, Joanne Winter, John Prine, Eugene Cernan, Greg Foster and Doc Rivers. Whenever our humble local values collide with a demagogue style of leadership, it creates friction. The cultural collision between those who value genuine gratitude, courageous humility, and consideration of others does not mix well with those who peddle fear, selective truths, authoritarianism, and disguise their pride through victimhood. I wonder if a crack in a sidewalk will be found in the coming months and a local will try to fix it, just as Ben did in 1973. Perhaps when they do, a message will be left for future generations to reflect on. I’ll savor my iktsuarport in the meantime and keep an eye out for that message.
JILL WAGNER
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