W E D N E S D A Y
August 24, 2022 Vol. 43, No. 4 ONE DOLLAR @wednesdayjournalinc
@wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL @oakpark
of Oak Park and River Forest
Special Section Page B1
OPRF tightens security and links to police
BEER ME!
New safety chief emphasizes key security points By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
APRIL ALONSO/Contributor
(L to R) Zack Day, Rich Bloomfield and Greg Williams, energetically share the brews from their Funkytown Brewery with festival-goers at the Oak Park Microbrew Review in downtown Oak Park. on Aug. 20. The three are local graduates of Oak Park and River Forest High School, class of 2002. See more photos on page 16.
In the wake of a student being found with a loaded handgun on school property but outside the building last spring officials at Oak Park and River Forest High School are upgrading their campus security practices this year. The mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in May in which a shooter killed 19 students and two teachers and the mass shooting in Highland Park on the July 4 have only intensified concerns about hardening the school’s security practices. “We want to make sure our house is protected,” said OPRF’s new Director of Campus Safety Cherylynn Jones-McLeod at an Aug. 11 Committee of the Whole Meeting of the OPRF District 200 Board of Education. Jones-McLeod took on her new position July 1. She previously was the Assistant Director of Campus Safety at OPRF until leaving last year for a short time to take a job at the Heartland Alliance. In the wake of the school shooting in Texas two school board members were open to revisiting the See OPRF SAFETY on page 8