Opinion

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Like many or most white Americans, we’d never heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre. This was the horror of a hundred years ago last week in Oklahoma where an entire Black community in Tulsa was flattened, burned by a hate-fueled white mob which killed some 300 residents.

Didn’t turn up in any history books from our collective youth. Just as the 1919 race riots in Chicago were not represented in our fourth-grade study of our city’s history.

Also absent from our white-centric American history was Juneteenth, a celebration of the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the Civil War was long over and people who had been enslaved were free.

We admit we’d never heard of Juneteenth until 10 years back when Rory Hoskins, then a village commissioner and now the mayor, raised it as a point of pride worth celebrating in town. His annual pool party at the park is a summer highlight that is back this year. A Juneteenth flag was raised at village hall this week. And Juneteenth events have grown from Forest Park into neighboring communities. Now Illinois is on the verge of making Juneteenth a state holiday. Hoskins certainly gets some of the credit for that.

June is also Pride month, a recognition and celebration of the benefits we all receive in our embrace of our gay neighbors and friends. One of the great civil rights revolutions of our time is how quickly and fully most Americans have come to see the fairness and benefits of an inclusive approach to the LGBTQ+ communities.

Forest Park has traveled that inclusive path. Indicators are the month-long recognition of Pride at the Forest Park Public Library and the partnership struck at the newly opened Play It Again Sports with the Howard Brown Community Health Center in the city. Exit Strategy has a special rainbow sherbet beer in June in honor of Pride.

Forest Park is always at its best when it is at its most diverse and inclusive. We see it in our schools, we see it in increasingly diverse village commissions and elected boards. We see it when we shop and eat on Madison Street.

OPINION

9,000 ‘F’ grades and 9 holes in the bottom of the boat*

Rodney Alexander, president of the District ing for Superintendent Henderson, she stated 209 high school board, often sounds like that the number of failing grades is “unaca Black Baptist preacher. He has the ceptable” to him and his administration. One cadences, riffs, vocabulary and the pas- response, Wilson said, is that the district is sion of, say, Hope Tabernacle’s Pastor Bill requiring many students to retake one or Teague here in town. more classes this summer.

To understand where he is coming from, you A major change, she noted, is the district’s have to know that he is not an ordained pastor but move to a “No-Zero” policy, which gives credit nevertheless understands his work as president of to the effort students apply to their work as the board of education as called, inspired, anointed well as they how they perform on exams. She and guided by God. It’s also important to know that his day job is working as a parole officer, and that may inform his emotional response to education in D209 when he talks about the “school to prison pipeline.” TOM HOLMES explained that poor academic performance is influenced by multiple factors, quoting a statement made by her boss in a press release dated March 12: “Letter grades do not always indicate a

Above all else, when it comes to education, he is student’s knowledge or understanding of the passionate about the students in the district’s three high material and they certainly don’t reflect the struggles that schools. So when he gave his report to the African-American our students have to balance each day — from grappling clergy assembled virtually at their monthly PTMAN (Pro- with learning disabilities to navigating home-life issues that viso Township Ministerial Association Network) meeting on present learning barriers.” March 3, he became palpably upset when he noted that dur- Supt. Henderson’s statement leads me to an analogy. If the ing the fall semester 9,000 ‘F’ grades were issued to students boat we are rowing toward success in school and ultimately in the district by their teachers. Where his report fell short, I think, was his singling out D209 teachers as the main problem in the system. He told the ministers, “If student achievement in the district is going to improve, the culture and climate in the classroom in general and the mentality of teachers in particular has to change.” Although he said that he was not blaming teachers alone, he did come down pretty hard on them, particularly for resisting the move back into the classroom for in-person learning. “Paying for teachers to fail our students,” he declared in an interview with the Review, “will no longer be tolerated in District 209.” in life has nine holes in the bottom, plugging one of them won’t prevent it from getting swamped. Even if we plug five, we will still have to expend a lot of energy bailing water instead of rowing toward our destination. The question, of course, then becomes why is the D209 boat leaking? Teachers must bear some responsibility, but so should the administration. What about poverty? In my conversations with District 91 administrators over the years, they’ve told me there is an almost one-to-one correlation between a kid’s socio-economic situation and their academic performance. What about the feeder schools? What about the effect of remote learning on students because of the virus, especially

When I asked Maggie Riley, president of the Proviso those who don’t have the required technology? What about Teachers Union, to respond to Alexander’s statement, she systemic racism? What about the absence of fathers in some pointed her finger back at the administration. She said in many families? And as long as we’re on that subject, what an email, “The Proviso Teachers Union continues to find about the justice system that keeps some of those fathers in Mr. Alexander’s comments disheartening and demoralizing. jail because they are unable to raise the money to post bail? Instead of deflecting and placing blame on the teachers, he And finally, what about the students themselves? Alexanshould be addressing our district’s real problems.” der refers to them as “our babies,” which gets an emotional

She explained that D209 teachers want to be back in the response. But these “babies” are capable of making babies. classroom but only if they are safe. “We previously asked As a youth mentor told me, “Our kids might be victims but the district to have an industrial hygienist assess building my job is to help them not think of themselves as victims.” conditions and offered to pay for that study. Despite there Songs about unrequited love often use lines like “I guess I being no cost to the district, our request was refused.” used my heart instead of using my head.” In our conversa-

She went on to claim that the problems causing poor aca- tions about student achievement, it seems clear to me we demic performance are more deeply rooted. “The district’s need to use both. ‘fix’ for the high number of failing grades,” she asserted, “is Making the boat seaworthy will require all of us — teachto instruct teachers to water down the curriculum and pass ers, students, administrators, parents, feeder schools, early students to raise the graduation rate … too often promot- childhood learning opportunities, churches, the police, ing them to the next level class when they have failed the government, adults with no children, youth soccer coaches, prerequisite course.” etc. etc.

So I asked the D209 administration to give their perspec- The question then becomes: Is each of us on board? tive on the huge number of failing grades. Nicole Wilson is *I wrote most of this column a month before the Alexanthe district’s executive director of communications. Speak- der/Medina battle went public.

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7401 Madison St, Forest Park (708) 689-8029 Edward Maroney, 60

Forest Park Middle School teacher

Edward J. Maroney Jr., 60, died on May 26, 2021. Born in Chicago, he grew up in Oak Park and lived in Forest Park. He attended St. Giles Elementary and Oak Park and River Forest High School. He received a B.S. degree in Communications-Radio/TV/Film from Northern Illinois University and his MEd from Dominican University.

Upon graduating from NIU, he began a career in Chicago advertising, editing television commercials for Editor’s Choice and Swell Pictures. He spent many years not only establishing an impressive portfolio, but also building long-lasting friendships with his colleagues.

At the age of 45, he decided to pursue his unrealized dream of becoming a teacher. For the past 13 years, he taught math and language arts at St. Procopius Catholic School and Forest Park Middle School. He never lost his love of editing, and while at Forest Park Middle School, it was not uncommon for the students and teachers to see him in their classrooms and hallways with a video camera, collecting footage for a unique film that he would edit and present to each eighth-grade graduating class.

In addition to film and education, he took every opportunity he could to enjoy the game of golf. He and his wife April were members of the Riverside Golf Club, where when he wasn’t on the course swinging a club, he could be seen on the patio enjoying a cocktail with one of his many golf buddies.

Of the many gifts he gave to those who loved him, perhaps the most poignant was his example of strength, courage and unwavering grit that saw him through 43 years of illness and suffering, with little complaint or concession.

Ed Maroney was preceded in death by his parents, Edward J. Maroney Sr. and Margaret (nee Freiman) Maroney. He is survived by April his wife of 28 years (nee Paul) and their adorable dog and steadfast companion, Max; his 10 siblings, Mark, Susan, William, Kathleen (Gary) Lorenz, Patricia, Margaret (Thomas) Wilkinson, Elizabeth (Timothy) Carey, Mary (James) Houser, Judith (William) Jordan and Colleen (A. Marc) Gilardi; 18 nieces and nephews, one great-niece, a brother-in-law Rodney (David) Paul-Jones, and his childhood best friends, Ted Hans and Rich Trofimuk.

While the family uses this time to remember Ed privately, a Celebration of Life event will be planned for a later date. Donations in Ed’s memory can be made to the Greater Chicago Food Depository at Chicagosfoodbank.org/maroneymemorial.

EDWARD MARONEY

Maryann Davin, 88

Longtime Forest Parker

Maryann B. Davin, 88, a longtime resident grandmother of Andrew, Aidan, Renee, of Forest Park, died on June 1, 2021. She was Dylan, Kaitlin, Zennan, Seth, Anton and Mithe wife of the late Richard E. Davin; the kaela; aunt to many and a friend to all. mother of Kathleen (William) Lang, Karen Visitation was held on June 4 followed by a (Christos) Daravalis, Kristeen Mazurek, funeral service at Woodlawn Funeral Home, and Karol (James) Woods; the grandmother 7750 W. Cermak Road, Forest Park, with inof Charmaine (Eric), Eric (Julia), Jennifer terment at Woodlawn Cemetery. For more (Tony), Melissa (Chris), Tiffany (Ricky), Bri- information please call 708-442-8500 or visit anne, John (Kassy), and Trisha; the great- www.woodlawnchicago.com.