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Vol. 102, No. 45
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REVIEW NOVEMBER 6, 2019
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Report card for D91 disappoints
Two out of three schools serving grades three and up “underperforming” By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released school and district report cards last week, and Forest Park District 91’s scores are disappointing. With small gains in some areas, two of the three schools serving children in grades 3-8 were listed as “underperforming,” with the third given a “commendable” rating.
Forest Park Middle School Forest Park Middle School is designated as an “underperforming” school by the ISBE, “a school in which one or more student groups is performing at or below the level of ‘all students’ groups in the lowest performing 5 percent of schools.” At the Forest Park Middle School, only 24 percent of students, less than a quarter of the school population, met or exceeded levels in English and Language Arts (ELA), a fall from last year’s 27 percent. Although a slight gain was made in math, with 12 percent meeting or exceeding expectations as opposed to last year’s 10 percent, in a school of 193 students that means only 23 were performing at or above grade level. See XXX on page 18
Courtesy DAVID ORTIZ
FOCUS: Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Ortiz (right) has risen quickly in the national boxing arena.
Hometown boxer ranked No. 2 in nation 16-year-old headed to US Championships By MARIA MAXHAM Staff Reporter
Sixteen-year-old Jeremy Ortiz is wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. Sitting at the dining room table with his father, he laughs as his little brother puts on his own headgear and boxing gloves. Ortiz is humble and polite. Respectful, with a slow but genuine
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smile. According to his father David Ortiz, who is one of his boxing coaches, Jeremy is also a good student. He doesn’t act for one second like he’s the #2 ranked boxer nationally in his age and weight class. But he is. When he steps into the ring, something happens — an intense but controlled fierceness emerges. “I can’t explain it,” he said. “It’s like I can hear what’s around me, but my only focus is on the match.” That focus is what has driven him to compete — and win — some
of the biggest tournaments in the country. “I’ve always liked contact sports,” he said. “I like to punch, and I love the adrenaline I feel during a fight. It’s incredible.” What makes Jeremy’s rise in the sport even more compelling is the fact that he’s only been boxing for about four years. He played football for years and was a junior blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do. He’s tried wrestling and Judo, doing well in both. But it was the minute he stepped into a mixed
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See ORTIZ on page 15
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