Vol. VII No. 34 A carnival comes to Northlake, PAGE 8
AUGUST 31, 2022
vfpress.news
Tour de Proviso registration open, PAGE 4
D89 stresses safety as school year begins
At Aug. 16 meeting, district leaders outlined safety protocols, procedures to ease concerns amid national uptick in school shootings By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Students who attend Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview School District 89 returned to classrooms last week. And as they learned, the doors were closed and locked. Locked classroom doors may be the most potent symbol of how much has changed in American schools over the last 30 years. They’re a big cultural adjustment but necessary, D89 officials said during a safety presentation they gave at a Maywood village board meeting on Aug. 16. “All of our classroom interior doors are closed and locked at all times,” said James Vreeland, the district’s business manager and a former teacher. “It’s a hard thing to do [but] it’s a necessary component of our procedures to ensure that our kids go home safely every day to their families.” As of July, there had been 27 school shootings in 2022, according to an analysis by Education Week. Since 2018, there have been 119 school shootings — including the deadly See SAFETY on page 7
SHANEL ROMAIN/Staff Photographer
Lorenzo Webber, a minister at Empowerment Church in Melrose Park and the chaplain of the Maywood Police Department, prays during the Back 2 School Community Prayer at Stevenson Park in Bellwood on Aug. 27. Read more on page 2.
‘They always come back to Maywood’ Annual Maywood Old Timers’ Picnic on Aug. 28 provided village’s natives a moment to relive village’s glory years, reflect on its importance By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Deborah Johnson, 68, said she’s lived in Maywood since 1964. She said her family moved to the village from Chicago
when she was about 9 years old, she said. “I appreciate the fact that the village is small because it gives you a chance to know your neighbors,” Johnson said. Johnson was among a few hundred people who gathered at the park on Oak Street, just behind the Maywood police station, on Aug. 28 for the annual Maywood Old Timers’ Picnic. The event has been happening for more than two decades and attracts people from all over the country who make the pilgrimage to the village many people consider the historical and cultural center of Proviso Township. The Old Timers’ Picnic also featured a book-bag giveaway and vendor fair spon-
sored by area elected officials like Senate Majority Kimberly Lightford (4th), Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (7th) and Maywood Trustee Isiah Brandon. Maywood Supportive Living, the new affordable supportive living facility inside the old Baptist Retirement Home at 316 Randolph St. in Maywood, sponsored the food that attendees ate for free. “This is about old neighbors remembering the glory days in Maywood,” said Brandon. Tommy Bailey, 69, said he moved to Maywood from the West Side of Chicago See PICNIC on page 7