Vol. VI No. 12
MARCH 23, 2022
Churchgoing, PAGE 5
vfpress.news
New food pantry opens, PAGE 3 Annual Tax Sale
Schedule inside
Proviso strike enters danger zone During press conference last week, teachers said administration threatening to axe makeup days By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
During a press conference held Friday, March 18 outside of Proviso East High School in Maywood, Proviso Teachers Union (PTU) leaders said that District 209 Supt. James Henderson is now threatening to refuse to pay them for makeup days. Union leaders said that on Thursday their membership rejected the district’s latest offer of a three-year contract, with 3% annual salary increases over the life of the contract. The union wants a two-year contract with 7.25% pay raises — 4.25% in the first year and 3% in the second year. The union said Henderson told teachers that if they didn’t take the offer, they would not be paid for any makeup days that are required for the district to meet the state mandated 180 instruction days. That means that the teachers would be giving up at least 10 days of pay, since that’s how long they’ve been on strike. If the superintendent’s threat holds, that means the longer the strike stretches on, the more pay teachers will forego. Union leaders, however, said that the sacrifice is worth it, considering what they’re fighting for. Maggie Riley, the PTU president and a teacher at Proviso West, said that the board has also refused to apply salary raises retroSee STRIKE on page 8
Berkeley celebrates 111-year-old with car caravan
Alice Thompson surrounded by (left to right) Sheila Thompson, Rosie Jenkins, Jerome Thompson and Dorethea Graham inside of Graham’s Berkeley home on March 17. Michael Romain
Alice Thompson, alive through two world wars and two pandemics, is still sharp in mind and style By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Last year, the village of Berkeley celebrated Alice Thompson’s 110th birthday with a caravan of emergency vehicles and village employees serenading the centenarian, who looked on the festivities through the window of her living room on the 1500 block of Victoria. This year, there was no serenading, but the Berkeley Fire Department paid Thomp-
son a visit again, driving in another caravan, this time to celebrate her 111th birthday. Three of Thompson’s 10 children were at home during the caravan on March 17 — the day Thompson was born in Flora, Miss. “Five of her children are still alive,” said her daughter, Dorethea Graham, 79. Graham said her mother has lived with her in Berkeley for 12 years. “We migrated from Mississippi in 1955,”
Graham said. “She’s got a bunch of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews — so many we can’t even count them.” Thompson’s oldest child, her 92-year-old daughter Rosie Jenkins, also joined her birthday celebrations. “I’m proud,” Jenkins said, when asked how it feels to have a parent around at that age. See ALICE THOMPSON on page 2