the village free press Vol. I No. 17
@village_free
DECEMBER 6, 2017
@maywoodnews
thevillagefreepress.org
Meet Kelauni Cook, PAGE 2
D209 debates nepotism policy changes Proposed changes would ban hiring of board members’ relatives By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
During a Nov. 7 regular board meeting, a series of proposed changes to the nepotism policy at Proviso Township High Schools District 209 prompted a heated debate between school board members about whether or not the changes are necessary. The changes, introduced by board member Ned Wagner, who heads up the board’s Policy Committee, would prevent anyone related to, or in business with, a sitting board member from working in the district for as long as that board member is in office. Wagner’s proposal goes beyond the district’s current nepotism policy, which only requires the district to practice “strict scrutiny in reviewing the hiring of any District employee who holds any familial or business professional relationship with any member of the Board or Administration,” according to the policy language. According to the current policy, “Qualified candidates who have applied for a job within the District, and who hold any of the above relationships with a member of the Board and/or administration, may be offered a job so long as the individual hired is deemed to be the most qualified applicant for the job and he/she has complied with all requirements of the application process.” Wagner’s proposed policy changes would prevent any candidate with an “interested relationship” with a board member or administration official from working in the district — regardless of qualifications. An interested relationship includes “a grandmother, father, mother, son daughter, brother, sister, spouse or domestic partner, niece, nephew, and cousin including all associated inlay and steps relationships.” According Wagner’s proposed changes, a business professional relationship is See D209 NEPOTISM POLICY on page 8
Alexa Rogals
CONFRONTING A ‘TREE-CESSION’: Karl Bergholz, a co-manager at Sandhill Christmas Trees in Oak Park, cuts the stem off of a tree for a customer on Nov. 27. There’s a national shortage of live Christmas trees this year.
Christmas tree sellers confront changing industry
Small sellers are dealing with national tree shortage, big box competition By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
For the second year in a row, there’s a national shortage of Christmas trees across the country, resulting in higher prices, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.
But the biggest problem facing local independent Christmas tree sellers like David Gunther, who owns and operates Ken’s Christmas Trees at the corner of North and 25th Avenues in Melrose Park, is the competition presented by big box stores. “Well, the big box stores deem it a shortage, which it is,” Gunther said during
a Dec. 1 phone interview. “Their supply is running out. The industry is changing so much,” said Gunther, who is a second-generation tree grower. “The chain stores, which were oversupplied at one point, are selling live Christmas trees just to get people to buy See CHRISTMAS TREES on page 4