Megan Welch, the coach of Riverside Brookfield High School’s esports team, said her team has grown from nothing to a fierce competitor within the Illinois high school esports community in under two years.
Last month, the team competed in a tournament at Bradley University, where they took home the first-place medals for both individual and team play in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the latest game in Nintendo’s crossover fighting series, in what Welch described as an “unprec-
D208 student walkouts carr y consequences
But one parent says students have a constitutional right to protest
By GREGG VOSS Contributing Reporter
Like all U.S. citizens, students at Riverside Brookfield High School have certain freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution, including First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and assembly.
But departing campus during a school day in the name of those rights carry consequences, according to principal Dr. Hector Freytas. In a letter delivered to parents and students in February, those consequences are outlined for students, including being assessed an unverified absence that can’t be cleared by a parent or guardian. Students leaving during a test or quiz won’t be allowed a makeup, and they won’t be permitted back in school for the remainder of the day or for after-school activities.
For seniors, leaving could also result in losing a final exam exemption, a privilege students gain by achieving a high grade in a given sub-
PROVIDED BY MEGAN WELCH
From le , Megan Welch, Camden Truesdale, Daniel DeHoyos, Julian DeHoyos, Declan Gibbs, Matthew Feeney and Daniel Malave pose for a photo at their tournament at Bradley University. Gibbs is the team’s highest-ranked solo player while the others played as a crew.
Brook eld hires new parks and recreation director
Matt Odom brings 15 years of experience in other park districts
By STELLA BROWN Staff Reporter
Brookfield has hired Matt Odom as the village’s parks and recreation director, filling the gap left by the October departure of Luke Gundersen.
“His personality blends in with what we have been amassing and assembling here with Brookfield. [He is] an easy guy to get along with, a guy who can articulate a vision for the future and lead us on a path to how he’s going to get there while at the same time having a sense of humor and keeping a good perspective,” said Village Manager Tim Wiberg.
Odom’s first day was Tuesday, Feb. 17. His salary is $116,000 annually, Wiberg said. Odom comes from the Warrenville Park District, which he led for nearly seven years as the superintendent of recreation.
“I oversaw all of their recreation programs and special events, everything from athletics to dance to camps. We had a fitness center there as well, and anything and everything recreational programming, I oversaw,” he said. “I was also their safety coordinator, so I was very involved with organizing that committee and pursuing various safety initiatives and smart goals and working with our risk management agency on a re gular basis.”
Before that, he held a series of positions within the Fox Valley Park District, which serves Aurora, Montgomery and North Aurora. That was where he met Stevie Ferrari, now Brookfield’s assistant village manager.
“We had a very good relationship [at Fox Valley], and she reached out to let me know that this position was open. She told me about it, and I was very intrigued,” he said. “I’m still managing roughly the same number of staf f, and the budget is similar, but it’s sort of expanded my scope. At Warrenville, I was just in recreation; here, I’m overseeing parks and recreation, so I get to get more involved with parks and capital projects. It was an opportunity for me to move up, and it made a lot of sense.”
Odom said his move to Brookfield al-
lowed him to continue working with a smaller community, which he prefers. At Fox Valley, he said the district had served “nearly a quarter of a million people. It was the second largest park district in the state of Illinois besides Chicago. That was very different for a boy who grew up in a town of 3,000 people.”
He said the move also gives him an angle to get involved with local government.
“For the past 15 years, I’ve worked for park districts, which are their own agencies, their own governing bodies,” he said.
“I’m working for a municipality now, which gave me a different avenue to pursue. I was a political science undergrad major.”
Odom said his favorite part of working in recreation has been interacting with and serving the community. He said he started his career studying spor ts management but quickly pivoted once he realized he would have to work in sales.
“I wanted to be involved in the community and serve the community, and I sort of stumbled into parks and rec. I was in my graduate program interning and not nec-
essarily really happy with the direction things were heading, and I reached out to my local parks and rec department. I lived in Yorkville at the time, out west,” he said. “I reached out to them and started volunteering, and that ended up becoming my career path over the last 17 years. I couldn’t have asked for it to tur n out any better.”
Wiberg said he hopes Odom will continue to build on the parks and recreation department’s success in expanding “the breadth and scope” of its programming by being “a little innovative.”
One project Odom hopes to see through, which he said enticed him during the hiring process, is the community and recreation center that Brookfield officials have discussed over the past year as contractors have conducted a feasibility study.
“I’ve never been part of building a facility from the ground up, so that was a big draw for me,” he said. “I’ve only been here for eight or nine days. I’ve already sat in several different meetings looking at capital projects for parks. The scope [of Brookfield’s projects] is big, but it’s exciting.”
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Barrera
River Forest, IL 60305
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PROVIDED BY BOB UPHUES Parks and Recreation Director Matt Odom is Brook eld’s newest hire
Is AI doing harm to local students?
Responsible use of fast-changing tools needs to be taught, education leaders say
By GREGG VOSS Contributing Reporter
A recent nationally distributed op-ed featured a provocative headline:
Why aren’t we talking about the har m AI is doing to students?
But is that the opinion of education leaders in Riverside and Brookfield about the wave of ar tificial intelligence that has entered virtually every aspect of society? Well
“We recently just talked about AI in terms of when we started giving calculators to kids, so, so long ago,” said Kylie Lindquist, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction for Riverside Brookfield High School District 208. “That was like everyone thinking, ‘But they’re not going to be able to do math in their head. We’re giving them calculators and that’s going to cripple them.’ And it was the same thing when we gave kids computers.
“I think AI is capable of doing harm, but I think it’s partially education’s responsibility to teach kids how to work with AI, and how to leverage AI, because it’s not going anywhere. It’s only going to continue to get better.”
Across town, at Brookfield-La Grang e Park School District 95, Cathy Cannon has a similar viewpoint about AI tools like ChatGPT.
“I don’ t believe it’s doing harm to students,” said Cannon, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. “I believe harm comes when we don’ t teach students to use these tools effectively. I feel like our job is not to ignore it’s there, but to effectively use the tools. We know (students) access it, we know they use it, so it is our job to teach them to use these tools ef fectively and safely.”
Ditto for Molly Marquardt, director of technology at Riverside School District 96.
“From a g enerat ive AI stanc e, if we take the education piece out, I think it c an be (harmful),” Marquardt said. “It is a system that d oes thinking for us. Yo u c an t ype things in and g et an answe r. I do think that in an education environment, as long as it is taught in a responsibl e and appropriate manner, I do n’ t think it is as harmful as some people understand it to be.”
RBHS students in the hallway in 2022.
Tools teachers use to detect AI
Lindquist said Riverside Brookfield High School is awaiting guidance re garding development of an AI policy from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) that should come around July 1.
However, she said RB has noted in its student handbook that unchecked use of AI for the purpose of plagiarism in doing an assignment that should be a student’s authentic work would be treated in the same way as it would cheating.
She referenced Brisk, a tool teachers can use to not only create materials, but it can also detect large-scale copying and pasting.
“For example, if I’m an English teacher and I gave a research assignment, I can run Brisk and it will show me a time-lapse vid-
eo of what my student is doing,” Lindquist said. “It has to be done in Google, and we’re a Google Reference district, so that works for us.
“You can see a time-lapse of this document being created. You can see typing if they are typing or pasting in huge chunks of information from other sources.”
Cannon said her district uses the tool GoGuardian, which gives teachers access to all student laptop screens on one screen so they can monitor the work being done. She added the district has been talking about AI for two years and are currently refining an AI policy at the district level.
What ’s not allowable with regard to AI?
But where the rubber meets the road,
hen students are actually work, what regard to of course, even paralaiming it as their own. wise, submitting AI-generated work as the same at Disy there is not necesstudents doing something ou can’t do t be done, ,” she said. essive disciaged in acasome sort of ’ve looked some sort of proof, ” she said. “At on the ascy
“We don’t want to say, ‘No, you can’t do this,’ we want to say this shouldn’t be done, and here’s an alternative.”
MOLLY MARQUARDT District 96
“That’s a first step. When you get into a second and third step that goes with, you can end up failing a course. You can end up being blocked from National Honor Society induction.”
The bottom line, however, is that AI is changing the way students are learning, and it’s happening almost at warp speed, Lindquist said.
“It’s enough to make your head spin a little bit,” she said. “I think we have a lot of people on our staff that are forward thinking and progressive with regard to their use of instructional technology. We have lots of people that are on the cutting edge of leveraging tools for the benefit of students and their colleagues.”
Brook eld awards Maple water main contract
Resurfacing may take place this year or may be delayed due to IDOT-contractor disputes
By STELLA BROWN Staff Reporter
Brookfield officials have awarded a contract for water main work along Maple Avenue as another of the village’s construction contracts remains in limbo.
Trustees on Feb. 23 voted to issue the contract to Suburban General Construction, Inc., a firm based in LaGrange Park, which submitted a bid proposal for $949,407.50, coming in more than $20,000 under the engineer’s estimate. Another contractor submitted a bid for just over $1 million.
Brookfield will cover 20% of the cost of the project, with 80% of the cost being covered by federal funding in the form of a grant from the Surface Transportation Program, which is administered by the Central Council of Mayors. That means Brookfield will only be on the hook for about $190,000.
The project will see a six-inch water main along the east side of Maple Avenue that is more than 80 years old abandoned in order
to shift its services to a 12-inch water main along the west side of the street, which is only about 25 years old, according to a village memo. The move will allow Brookfield to remove the redundant, older water main and reduce future maintenance costs.
The scope of improvements includes removing the older water main’s connections to the village water system, transferring water service lines and fire hydrants to the other water main or installing new ones along it, and removing and repatching the roadway in order to access the water system.
The contract calls for the work to be completed “substantially” by May 15.
At the meeting, Dan O’Malley, a project manager at Hancock Engineering, Brookfield’s contracted engineering firm, told officials he recommended moving forward with the project as another — a project to resurface Maple Avenue from Brookfield Avenue to 31st Street — has an uncertain future.
O’Malley attributed the resurfacing project’s temporary pause to what he called a
“lengthy and public legal dispute” between the Illinois Department of Transportation and the apparent low bidder on the project, a Hillside fir m called Builders Paving LLC
“IDOT has not awarded any projects to Builders [Paving] since late 2024. They’ve been at a standstill while these legal disputes continue,” O’Malley said. “We are still working with village staff to try to determine what effect this may have on the resurfacing, what effect it would have in terms of schedule and the funding that’s been committed for this project from the STP.”
It is not immediately clear when Builders Paving submitted its bid for the project, although trustees in October 2025 approved an ag reement with IDOT to confirm the department’s 80% share of the costs, which total about $2,800,000, leaving Brookfield’s 20% share at about $560,000.
In February, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that IDOT had paused awarding new contract to Builders Paving in late 2024 to investigate whether the company had ties
to Sebastian “Sam” Palumbo. Palumbo has been banned by IDOT from construction projects within Illinois since 1999, when he went to prison alongside one of his brothers and their father in relation to a federal fraud case.
According to the Sun-Times, Brookfield’s village engineer Derek Treichel, of Hancock, said the firm had been planning to start the resurfacing work in April but now has no estimate of a launch date. He said IDOT was resistant to the suggestion that it proceed with awarding the project to the next-lowest bidder after Builders Paving, which came in around $14,000 higher in total, and that the delay is causing concerns around potentially rising costs.
“[W]e don’t even know if it’ ll happen this year,” he told the Sun-Times Brookfield’s project is one of four IDOT contracts that Builders came in as the lowest bidder for but that have not seen movement due to the legal disputes. Altogether, they total about $5.7 million, according to the Sun-Times. With Cantata’s continuum of care, you can live your best life today, tomorrow and into the future. We’ve been here, right across from the zoo, for more than a century passionately serving the needs of local seniors. Tour our 10-acre campus today! 708-387-1030
Riverside OKs bike plan creation
Trustees approved spending $55,000 to research ways to impr
By STELLA BROWN Staff Reporter
Riverside officials on Feb. 19 approved the creation of a bike and pedestrian plan for the village, which will create a framework to improve safety for those walking and cycling through town.
The plan, as devised by Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., Riverside’s contracted engineering firm, will be created with feedback from the village and the community and will leave Riverside with recommendations for projects that can be implemented in the near-term, mid-term and long-term.
Near-term projects will be “low-hanging fruit” that Riverside can program into its budget or include in resurfacing projects within five years, according to a letter from Burke to the village Mid-term projects may need additional funding, while long-term projects will be major and require staff to pursue large-scale grants
The agreement with Burke will see its engineers reviewing Riverside’s policies and transportation plans and other plans focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety throughout the region, according to the letter. Engineers will “analyze the existing conditions” to determine which areas pose the most challenges and where constraints exist, taking into mind where people are coming from and where they’re trying to go
The final project will categorize projects for implementation and connect some projects to specific grant opportunities for the village to pursue.
Burke quoted the village $52,153 to develop the plan, although trustees agreed to budget $55,000 toward the project just in case.
“If additional public engagement or other meetings are required, we have that buffer We won’t have to come back to the village for a change order,” said Village Manager Jessica Frances She said the plan will include connector
routes that Kramer, the and thanked trustees and sidering the for signatures Vi end of to for the idea that traffic injuries are ine No forward sive is not lost on me the ing school drop-o plan will also streets for everyone.”
Brookfield Chamber of Commerce Business Spotlight
Aracely’s Bakery Remains a Community Favorite
The Brookfield Chamber of Commerce is proud to highlight Aracely’s Bakery, a longtime community favorite that has been sharing its rich baking traditions and family recipes with Brookfield residents and surrounding communities since opening its doors in 1982. Known for blending the flavors of Hispanic baking with beloved American classics, the bakery has built a loyal following through its strong market presence and deep community connections.
At Aracely’s Bakery, everything is baked fresh daily. Their pastry selection features traditional Hispanic favorites such as conchas, cuernitos, and bolillos alongside American classics including croissants, cinnamon rolls, and danishes. This unique
combination reflects the bakery’s mission of bringing cultures together through food, offering something familiar and welcoming for everyone who stops by.
Beyond pastries, Aracely’s is equally known for its savory offerings. Their hearty sandwich menu is made on freshly baked bolillos, delivering quality and flavor that keeps customers coming back. Another standout is their award-winning tamales, prepared using a cherished family recipe passed down through generations. Favorites include savory pork tamales and poblano pepper and cheese tamales, each made with care and authenticity.
Family is at the heart of everything Aracely’s Bakery represents. With six generations of family members contributing to the business, the bakery
is more than a place to grab a meal it is a living legacy built on tradition, hard work, and community connection. Aracely’s has also been a dedicated vendor at the Brookfield Farmers Market for the past 14 years and participates in five additional markets each season, expanding their reach while maintaining the personal touch customers love.
For over four decades, Aracely’s Bakery has created more than baked goods; it has created memories. Every bite carries the warmth of tradition and generations working together. If you haven’t had the chance to try their food yet, be sure to visit them on Opening Day of the Brookfield Farmers Market on June 6th and experience firsthand why Aracely’s Bakery remains a community favorite.
9667 Franklin Ave, Franklin Park, IL 60131 Aracelysbakery.net 708-352-1767
Wok Restaurant
ESPORTS
edented feat.”
from page 1
“This is a team that people reco gnize. These are players that people know about. One of my crews players is known as the scary [Princess] Peach kid because he only plays Peach, and it’s disgusting,” she said jokingly.
cars to play oversized soccer.
Welch, a special education teacher at RB, was hired in 2023 with the team in mind.
“They were looking for somebody to be an esports coach. It was in the application. I really hadn’t considered it before, but I play video games, so I was like, ‘Yeah, totally,’” she told the Landmark.
She said only four students showed up to the team’s first meeting, where she didn’t have a plan of action.
“I was like, ‘Listen, I know as much as you do. We’re going to figure this out together,’” she said.
Members of the team also compete in tournaments for Mario Kart, Nintendo’s cart-racing game, and Rocket League, a game where players use rocket-powered
Slowly, the group grew as students brought friends and nar rowed the scope on the kinds of games they wanted to play Now, there’s a core group of about 14 stu-
dents, with others coming less consistently or focusing less on the competitive aspects, Welch said.
“Now, I have a team that I can take a to a tournament two-and-a-half hours away. They’re getting here at 6 a.m. They’re getting on the bus. I’m like, ‘Let’s go.’ They get there; they absolutely crush it,” she said. “There is this kid that we’re friends with from a totally different school district who is really good at watching people play and giving them immediate feedback on how to make their game better. We’re connected with all these different groups of people.”
When it comes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Welch said the team has a burgeoning solo player, Declan Gibbs, who is ranked third in the state, while the other members compete as a crew.
In crews matches, players compete in a series of duels, fighting to knock out their opponent while retaining as many lives as possible, which they carry over into the next duel once the opponent is fully eliminated. The victor is declared when one crew has all of its players eliminated.
all for their extreme ef fort, their extreme teamwork. It’s really, really, really impressive.”
Welch said her students have found community within the team.
“A lot of these are really high-achieving kids. I went to this high school, so I remember how it is. You’ve got your grades, you’ve got your sports, you’ve got your fine arts, and you’re trying to do everything at a high level. That’s great, but it’s also so good-feeling to do something fun at a highlevel, too. Something with your friends,” she said.
“There’s this camaraderie. ere’s this collaboration. ey’re de nitely not sitting there and playing things and not talking.”
MEGAN WELCH Team coach
At the tournament at Bradley, Welch said the crews team was initially eliminated, but due to the double-elimination format, they climbed the losers’ bracket before facing of f against the undefeated team — and beating them.
“When we won the losers’ bracket, we had to go back up to the grand finals and actually face the team tha t had knocked us into the losers’ bracket,” she said. “It was
“This is their space. They come in here so frequently, even when it’s not their practice day, because they enjoy playing. They want to help each other get better. I hear them coaching each other with a lot of technical language.”
It might be easy to remain skeptical about the world of esports if you’re unfamiliar, but Welch has posed an open invite to the tournament RBHS is hosting on Saturday, April 18.
“It’s almost impossible to conceptualize until you’ve seen it,” she said. “There’s this etiquette. There’s this camaraderie. There’s this collaboration. They’re definitely not sitting there and playing things and not talking. You should hear Mario Kart teams play against each other and do callouts … I could name every translatable skill, but if you come and see it, you will know. The energy and enthusiasm and genuine joy is wild to experience, and you will understand. Even if you’re not a fan of video games, you can see it and understand.”
“I was a newly single mother. I was working overnights and I needed help. You never know the course of how life is going to just take you, but we all want connection in some way. We want to belong and be accepted, and be cared for and be seen.”
“I was a newly single mother. I was working overnights and I needed help. You never know the course of how life is going to just take you, but we all want connection in some way. We want to belong and be accepted, and be cared for and be seen.”
“There are people that are in need. People that don't want to admit it. They think people are going to look at them as a failure—not being worthy. Sometimes people, they're ashamed to ask for help. Well, you know, sometimes you need help.”
“There are people that are in need. People that don't want to admit it. They think people are going to look at them as a failure—not being worthy. Sometimes people, they're ashamed to ask for help. Well, you know, sometimes you need help.”
“I went in the army at 17. I got orders for Korea. It messed me up. This food pantry—a lot of the people that come, they've had bad luck in their life. You'd be surprised how many veterans. Bad things happen to good people. Don't judge. Believe me, we feel bad enough”.
“I went in the army at 17. I got orders for Korea. It messed me up. This food pantry—a lot of the people that come, they've had bad luck in their life. You'd be surprised how many veterans. Bad things happen to good people. Don't judge. Believe me, we feel bad enough”.
“My mother and father were first generation here. I've worked since I was 15 years old. I'm 74 and taking care of my sister. A couple of years ago, I had a brain bleed. Then I had COPD. What I like about this pantry—they don't make you feel bad because you need a little help.”
“My mother and father were first generation here. I've worked since I was 15 years old. I'm 74 and taking care of my sister. A couple of years ago, I had a brain bleed. Then I had COPD. What I like about this pantry—they don't make you feel bad because you need a little help.”
“Every volunteer I've encountered, I don't feel judged by any of them. I'm gonna continue to come and ask for the help that I need for my children and for myself. I have a medical assistant career. I have a full-time job. People judge. It's not stopped me. I think it's made me stronger. Knowing I'm a first generation, Mexican American born here. And I'm going to make my parents proud.”
“Every volunteer I've encountered, I don't feel judged by any of them. I'm gonna continue to come and ask for the help that I need for my children and for myself. I have a medical assistant career. I have a full-time job. People judge. It's not stopped me. I think it's made me stronger. Knowing I'm a first generation, Mexican American born here. And I'm going to make my parents proud.”
S e n s e o f C o m m u n i t y : A c l o s ek n i t e n v i r o n m e n t f o s t e r s m e a n i n g f u l r e l a t i o n s h i p s a n d r e d u c e s l o n e l i n e s s .
B u i l t - I n S o c i a l N e t w o r k : L i v i n g a m o n g p e e r s i n a s i m i l a r l i f e
Village Trustee Joseph Fitzgerald recently commissioned “About Town,” a large painting by Chicago-based visual artist David Heo. The painting features a man and a woman sitting on separate benches in a green park with one ofRiverside’s iconic gas lamps. The man is looking at a copy the village’s general plan that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed in 1869 while the woman takes in the scene around her.
c o n n e c t a n d b u i l d s u p p o r t i v e n e t w o r k s
C o n v e n i e n c e : O n - s i t e d i n i n g , f i t n e s s , a n d c o m m o n a r e a s m a k e g a t h e r i n g w i t h f r
Fitzgerald said he hopes to work with businesses and organizations within the Riverside community to rotate who hosts the painting in order to spark conversation about the village and its ties to Olmsted’s other projects.
“Around
“The whole theme ofit is connecting Central Park’s lineage, which Olmsted made, with Riverside’s identity,” he said. “It’s a conversation-starter. It elucidates Riverside as a whole and how the lineage came to be.”
“We recently got the Illinois state
marker
here, but I still think that we’re a little underrecognized as to the importance of what we’ve done and how pretty it is here.”
JOSEPH FITZGERALD Riverside village trustee
ceremony.
As of Friday, Feb. 27, “Around Town” is making its home at Riverside Foods for two or three weeks, Fitzgerald said. Its next home isn’t certain yet, but ifthe project picks up steam, Fitzgerald said he hopes it can transcend the village’s borders.
“Riverside is the first planned community in the U.S. We have the opportunity to have a rare, direct connection with Olmsted and some ofthe other areas that he’s done, not only in New York but across the country,” he said. “We recently got the Illinois state marker here, but I still think that we’re a little underrecognized as to the importance of what we’ve done and how pretty it is here. I’ve always been involved in art, and this is a way to tell the story and make it more broad and exciting.”
He said the project was inspired by a trip to Portland, Oregon.
“Someone asked, ‘Where are you from?’ Like, ‘Oh, I’m from Chicago.’ ‘Chicago proper?’ I’m like, ‘No, a little place down the way. It’s a small community called Riverside.’ [They’re like,] ‘Oh, Olmsted’s Riverside!’” he said. “Olmsted built a number ofparks out in that area.”
Fitzgerald said the project ties into his goal as a trustee to designate Quincy Street as an arts district within Riverside.
“It doesn’t mean that we have to knock down buildings to do this. We have the Arts Center there, we have Higgins Glass, we have [Colorsmith] Stained Glass, we have the craft distillery. We’ve already got to the bones to do that. Why can’t we start edging our way towards that?” he said. “It’s wonderful to see the activation of businesses and space over on Burlington, but it’d be nice to be able to bridge that over into this area as well.”
STELLA BROWN
Tow n” by Dav id Heo, commissioned by Joseph Fitzgerald, was on display at the village’s sesquicentennial closing
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we have to hold students accountable if they leave campus without permission.
“It’s written in our policies and procedures,” he said. “Other kids could play hooky and go home. You have to be in school. That’s our charge.”
He said ifschool administration gets wind ofa potential walkout, it attempts to meet proactively with the organizing students to understand what they are trying to achieve
“Ifthe students are decided to walk out, if(they) are reasonable, we’re open to allow them to gather in the stadium,” he said. “We’ve used it in the past for students who want to voice their feelings on climate change, school shootings.”
Freytas said the school has a good relationship with the police departments of the villages ofRiverside and Brookfield and meet with them several times each year to discuss safety and security issues.
e more unite div ide t a walkout is not
tioned midday nd) disr upts ning ronment, t good for , not good for students.”
YTAS RBHS principal
“We tell them, ‘There could be a walkout,’ they have always been responsive and a partner,” he said. “We give them the head’s up. We can’t involve ourselves outside of campus.”
Barsotti said there is a larger issue than school rules.
“The students ofRiverside Brookfield High School are not just protesting for themselves … they are protesting to protect our rights,” Barsotti said. “It is utterly and absolutely unfair to punitively penalize any student that exercises their right to free speech.”
Point taken, Freytas said, but there are alternatives to student walkouts and demonstrations.
“There are more things that unite us than divide us, but a walkout that is not sanctioned midday (and) disrupts the learning environment, that’s not good for learning, not good for students,” he said. “I believe students can write emails or letters to leaders and they can attend public forums . There are plenty events and moments that kids can attend and support.”
PO LICE REPO RT S
Brook eld police called on dispensary protester
On Feb. 19, Brookfield police responded to the intersection of 31st Street and Park Avenue after a passerby called to report a man wearing a neon construction vest who had been holding a poster that read “Buy Weed Here.” An officer located the man and informed him of the complaint. The man said he was against the possibility that the storefront at 9046 31st St. could soon be used to open a cannabis dispensary. He declined to provide his information to the officer, and police took no further action.
The village board voted last week to prevent the dispensary from going in.
Man with missing headlight cited
Brookfield police ticketed a 51-year-old Chicago man on Feb. 18 after observing his vehicle was missing a headlight.
Around 12:12 a.m., officers were conducting patrol and heading south on Prairie Avenue when they observed a northbound car missing its driver side headlight. The officers made a U-turn and pulled the vehicle over at the intersection of Prairie and Ogden avenues.
After the officers made contact with the driver, he identified himself and said he did not have a driver’s license. Police ran the man’s name in combination with his birthdate through the database and confirmed his license had been suspended.
Police cited the man for his inoperative headlight and for driving on a suspended license. They set a March 10 court date and sent the man on his way with the passenger, whose driver’s license came back clear, in control of the car.
Wheaton man caught with expired registration
Brookfield police on Feb. 17 ticketed a 21-year-old Wheaton man for driving with an expired registration tag.
Around 7:16 p.m., an officer on routine patrol observed the man’s car with the expired tag on display. The officer ran the
license plate number through the police database, which returned the name of the vehicle’s owner and confirmed that the re gistration had expired.
The officer initiated a traffic stop at the intersection of Ogden and Park avenues and spoke with the driver of the vehicle, who provided an expired driver’s license. A run through the database told the officer the license expired in January.
The officer issued two citations to the man and set a court date of March 10 before sending him on his way.
These items were obtained from the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Feb. 16-23; they represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
Compiled by Stella Brown
Opinion
LETTERS
Embarrassed about Ames School
Lately I have been really disappointed in the appearance of Ames Elementary School. My kids went to this school decades ago, and I must admit that it made a much better impression than it does today This morning I walked behind the school where the parking lot and student dropoff is and was shocked to see tons of salt spilled all over the sidewalk. We haven’t had any meaningful snow lately to justify this irresponsible excessive salt dump. Not only will kids track this into the school and their parents’ cars but the damage to the environment and waterways is well known. I would be surprised if the grass and plantings along the building wall survive
Another concern is the playground area. Several months ago a heavy layer of wood
chips was put down over the open area north of the basketball courts. Big mistake. The wood chips are now scattered all over the brick walkway and quickly clo gged the storm drain there. The storm drain is covered by wood chips and can’t even be seen now. This whole area should have had artificial turf installed in the beginning instead of the grass that quickly turned to mud under the trampling of little feet.
Certainly the amount of our property taxes we pay that goes to the school district will allow it to hire better maintenance staf f who actually care about the school grounds and how it reflects on the school and its staf f. Right now, it is just an embarrassment.
Ray Lutha
FRESHLOCAL
Student enthusiasm gives me hope
T hanks so much for printing the very uplifting ar ticl e about the RB Clarion newspaper by Ms. Pisano. It is wonderful to know that print journalism is still alive and well at RBHS. T he enthusiasm of the students gives me hope for the future. It was nice to hear that the students actually wanted to go to class in order to produce their paper. I was only sorry to hear from the one student who said it was the only class in which she could express herself honestly. As an RB teacher for almost four decades, I always hoped that my students could be themselves Keep up the good work, RBHS.
Jan Goldberg Former RBHS teacher
OBITUARIES
David J. Lubawski, 66, of Brookfield, for merly of Lyons, died on Feb. 25, 2026. Born on Dec. 19, 1959, he was the father of Michael (Heather) Lubawski, Melissa Lubawski Matthew (Stephanie) Lubawski and Marc (Amanda) Lubawski the grandfather of James, Zackar Thomas, Nolan, Langley, Hadley and Gertrude; the son of the late Leonard and Marie Lubawski; the brother of Richard (Susanna) Lubawski, Kathleen (Tim) Swaekauski, Michael (Gail
Lubawski and Steven Lubawski; the uncle of many nieces and nephews; and the for mer spouse of Deborah Krystyniak. Visitation will be held on March 3 from 3 to 7 p.m., Family Remembrance Service at 6 p.m. at Johnson-Nosek Funeral Home, 3847 Prairie Ave., Brookfield. Private cremation.
ondolences, memories and photos may be shared with the family at www.JohnsonNosek.com.
Sports
Nazareth girls basketball earns another trip to 4A state semis
Roadrunners ride 23-game winning streak to 6th downstate trip since 2018
By BILL STONE Contributing Reporter
Nazareth Academy senior girls basketball standout Stella Sakalas often has a welcome visitor alongside the court just before the end of halftime wearing a school hat and trademark scarf.
“That’s my dad,” Sakalas said. “Oh my gosh, he gets so excited. That scarf, he loves it. The scarf is his calling card. He usually just gives some fatherly advice and it works out well.”
Whatever the plans for the second half
Monday, Sakalas and the Roadrunners responded in a big way at the Class 4A Lyons Township Super-Sectional. They defeated Waubonsie Valley 54-42 to earn the program’s sixth downstate trip in the past eight postseasons behind a 13-2 run after the game was tied 37-37 with 6:26 remaining.
Senior Lyla Shelton (team-high 18 points with 4 three-pointers), Sakalas (9 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists), juniors Sophia Towne (17 points with 3 threes), Sam Austin (5 points, 11 rebounds) and Molly Moore (4 assists) and freshman Mia Gage (4 rebounds) contributed for the Roadrunners.
“It means the world,” said Sakalas, the 5-foot-10 Brigham Young recruit. “I’ve been playing with some of (my teammates) since fifth grade so it feels like such a full-circle moment, being able to go back downstate with all of these people I love so much.”
Nazareth (31-3) plays in the state semifinals at 2:30 p.m., Friday, at Illinois State University in Normal against Belleville East (28-5) in its downstate debut. Opponents in the third-place game (8:15 p.m. Friday) or state championship (6 p.m. Saturday) are Loyola Academy (332) or Rolling Meadows (23-10).
JOHNSTON
Nazareth’s Sophia Towne (5) raises the championship plaque with her teammates a er defeating Waubonsie Valley 54-42 during the Class 4A Lyons Super-Sectional, March 2, in La Grange.
championship team in 2023 for 3A and started for the second-place finisher in 2024 after Nazareth was moved up to 4A. Towne was the first player of f the bench in the 2024 semifinal and championship games.
Nazareth’s Stella Sakalas (32) dr ives to the basket between the Downers Grove North defense dur ing the Class 4A Hinsdale Central Sectional nals, Feb. 26, in Hinsdale.
The Roadrunners have won 23 straight since their last loss Dec. 30 to complete a 1-2 trip at the Tampa Bay Christmas Tournament in Florida.
Sakalas was a key reserve on the program’s first state
“Now it’s more important to me to be able to do this with this team and these seniors. This is always our goal, too,” Towne said. “This atmosphere is always so much fun to play in. I think all of our emotions got into the game. That’s how we got the lead at the end.”
The Roadrunners’ fourth-quarter surge included seven points and a three from Shelton and six points on three baskets by Towne, often from feeds by Sakalas, who had four assists along with two baskets.
The Warriors (32-4) overcame an early 14-3 deficit with five threes in the second quarter to tie the game 25-25. After tying the game at 37 on a conventional threepoint play, they made just 1 of their next 13 shots until a last-second layup.
The end result was a single-game season low.
“That tells you our defense is working,” Nazareth coach Eddie Stritzel said. “You
can’t take [downstate] for granted. We’re going to give it our all. We’re a 3A school so we’re really using that as momentum.”
Waubonsie won the East Aurora Sectional by defeating Benet Academy, which the Roadrunners beat 44-37 Jan. 28 for a share of the East Suburban Catholic Conference title after losing their first meeting 58-36 Dec. 13 – their only loss this season to an Illinois opponent.
Last season, Nazareth’s season ended on the same LTHS court in a one-point loss to eventual 4A state champion Kenwood in the sectional semifinals.
“We still watch the game,” Sakalas said. “Especially at this court, we figured we had to win this game, literally just had to score more points than the other team. We just kept saying that.”
Nazareth boys basketball
The Roadrunners (15-18), the No. 6 seed in the Class 3A Hinsdale South Sectional, lost to No. 3 Wheaton Academy 57-40 in the Ridgewood Re gional final Friday after beating No. 9 Ridgewood 57-46, Feb. 25.
STEVE
STEVE JOHNSTON
LTHS swimming hits peak with fth-place nish at state
In 2025, Lyons Township High School senior Matthew Ferguson went 4-for-4 at the boys swimming and diving state finals –top-eight, first-team all-state performances in each of the maximum four events. When Ferguson achieved the feat again Saturday, he gladly shared the spotlight. The Lions collectively celebrated a great meet with a fifthplace finish at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont with 149 points
That included two school records, climaxed by Ferguson, seniors Jack Hannon and Patrick Rhatigan and junior Jovan Mijailovic breaking their 400-yard freestyle relay school record in the final event after first doing so at Friday’s preliminaries.
“It was our goal all year to do this. After [prelims] it felt good to come out and kind of do my thing and see us do our thing,” Ferguson said. “The team felt like family this year We were so close to each other and it really helped us in the end. [Top 5] was definitely our goal but [Saturday] was really special. It wasn’t just the guys that swam [but also] the guys that swam at sectionals, the guys who swam with us all year. I’m super-excited. It was honestly a dream come true.”
Rhatigan (4:29.66) and Ferguson (4:32.38) finished 2-3 in the 500 free. The third-place 400 free relay (3:01.64) edged Friday’s 3:01.67 that broke the 3:02.99 school record from 2018. The four also were fifth in the 200 free relay (1:23.91).
powerhouse status. Rhatigan, who lives in La Grange, already knew his future teammates from swimming at age 10 and had been coached by Rodriguez during those younger club days.
“It’s been a really nice transition. I adapted well to the team culture and everything,” Rhatigan said. “Coming from Fenwick, I have nothing but good things to say about that program but they were stroke driven (with the butterfly, breast and backstroke). I didn’t really have those training partners in the 200 and 500 (free). Having someone like (Ferguson) to really push me every single day, to be the best version of myself in and out of the water was phenomenal.”
They shared their success and mutual respect with the 500 free finals
Lyons Township’s Jovan Mijailov ic (le ), Jack Hannon, Patrick Rhatigan and Matthew Ferguson earned multiple all-sta te medals at the boys sw imming and diving state nals Saturday.
Another school record came from Mijailovic, whose fifth-place 44.82 in the 100 free bettered his 44.91 Friday that first broke the 45.00 school record by Henry Claesson in 2018. Mijailovic also was seventh in the 50 free (20.74). In the 200 free, Ferguson (1:38.92) and Rhatigan (1:39.92) were fifth and sixth. In the consolation finals (9th to 16th place), Hannon was 15th in the 100 free (45.69).
The Lions jumped from finishing 11th in 2025, two points from the top 10.
“I don’t think there was anything else I could have really asked them to do at all. Between sectionals, these past two weekends, they’ve been near perfect. That’s extremely rare in any sport but in this sport it’s extremely rare,” LTHS coach Erin Rodriguez said. “That 400 free relay was a highlight because it was a culmination of all of them together. That has been our strongest relay all
year and to break a record from 2018 and to do it again [in finals], that means a lot.”
Ferguson and Hannon returned from last year’s all-state 400 free (6th) and 200 free (7th) relays. Hannon, who will swim at Eastern Illinois, joked how Claesson coached him several summers at the Western Springs Service Club since he was 8.
“[Breaking records] was kind of nice because we finally got our last taper meet. We finally got to be the same speed as my coach,” Hannon said. “[The 400 free relay record] was kind of surreal. It felt like we were all waiting for it to happen and it finally happened senior year. [In finals] it didn’t even feel like we broke it. It just felt like we had our best races and it was just the best way to end.”
Having Rhatigan transfer from Fenwick for his senior year and Mijailovic improve tremendously elevated the free relays to
“Honestly, [I’ll remember] touching the wall after that 500 and seeing 4:29 was just phenomenal. And then to turn to my right and see [Ferguson] come in third place and just give him a hug, knowing that’s exactly what we worked for all season,” Rhatigan said.
As a junior, Ferguson was eighth in the 500 free and fifth in the 200 free
“We didn’t think that we’d be 2-3, maybe, but we knew we were capable,” Ferguson said. “We worked our butts off all year and I couldn’t have asked for a better training partner.”
Mijailovic credits FMC club coach Dave Krotiak for improving his times through better race execution, especially turns. He’s already in sight of the school records for the 200 free (1:37.85) and 50 free (20.55).
“I think that seeing my name up on the (record) board is something that’s going to motivate me,” Mijailovic said. “The first time I went under the (100 free) record, I was just amazed. It (was my highlight) and breaking the 400 free relay record as a team to end the season.”
Fenwick’s Posluszny nishes with more state swim medals
Breaststroker from Riverside achieves 5 career all-state performances
By BILL STONE Contributing Reporter
Senior Jack Posluszny of Riverside soon discovered his potential upon joining the
Fenwick High School boys swimming team.
“My freshman year I was never a very serious swimmer, but when I started doing breaststroke, I kind of realized it was my strongest,” Posluszny said. “Ever since, I
started training as hard as I could and made it all the way here.”
Posluszny was speaking at his third state swimming and diving meet at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont and after again reaching
the consolation finals Saturday following top16 preliminary finishes in Friday’s preliminaries.
In his final high school race, Posluszny was 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke (season-best
COURTESY OF ERIN RODRIGUE
Bulldogs’ strong basketball season ended by Simeon
Hot-shooting Wolverines stop another RBHS 20-w in season in regional
By BILL STONE Contributing Reporter
Already a key contributor for the Riverside Brookfield High School boys basketball team, senior Colin Cimino dedicated himself to significant improvement this season.
“Last year, I was pretty much an outside specialist. I think I shot two times more threes [than two-pointers],” Cimino said. “I added a driving component. Overall, I became more aggressive. I was in the weight room pretty much every day in the offseason and I think that contributed to my aggressiveness on the rebounding end. And I think I became more of a vocal leader.”
Another strong group of seniors, fueled by three-year starting guard Cameron Mercer, provided the foundation of the Bulldogs’ continued success that once again ended all too soon in a challenging sectional. The Bulldogs, the No. 6 seed in the Class 4A Mt. Carmel Sectional, lost their regional opener to No. 11 Simeon 66-45, Feb. 25.
Mercer and sophomore Noah VanTholen each had 18 points and 4 three-pointers for the Bulldogs (23-8). Other contributions in-
56.92) after earlier contributing the breast leg to the 11th-plac 200 medley relay (1:33.84) following a season-best 1:33.13 F Besides being his third year in the consolation state finals (9th to 16th place), these also we highest state finishes in both races. The medley was 14th in 2025 and 15th in 2024. Last year, sluszny was 12th in the 100 breast after a lifetime-best 56.59 in prelims, just 02 from the school cord set in the 1990s
“[This state meet] was such a perience. It was so much fun to do with team for one last year,” Posluszny said. “[I’ll remember] just all of the practices with my teammates. Swimming at Fenwick has been the greatest experience of my life.”
cluded Cimino (7 points), senior Ben Biskupic and VanTholen (5 rebounds each) and VanTholen (5 assists).
For RBHS, this was only the third loss in its final 18 games — a stretch that included beating Glenbard East 69-64, Feb. 2, en route to earning a second consecutive share of the Upstate Eight Conference East Division title with the Rams. Simeon (18-9), meanwhile, is 10-1 since the start of 2026 and also edged No 2 Whitney Young 55-54 in Friday’s regional final.
“Simeon’s obviously better than a No. 11 seed,” RBHS coach Mike Reingruber said. “Our sectional’s tough. No doubt about it. We had a great season overall and the boys have a lot to be proud of.”
Hoping for their first regional title since 2022, the Bulldogs reached 20 wins for the seventh consecutive complete season and swept their rivals – Lyons Township (55-40, Jan. 17).
“Just looking at the experience we had, there was a general idea we were going to be a tough team to beat and I think we showed that throughout the year,” Cimino said. “This was
LTHS boys basketball
The Lyons Township High School boys basketball team needed a great effort Friday if they were going to upset No. 1 sectional seed Curie in the Class 4A Jones Regional
final. Little did the No. 9-seeded Lions realize just how much they ould have to overcome
Only trailing by eight points halftime, the Lions were hampered by a rough second half in the 73-51 defeat to snap a 12-game winning streak that included a comeback victory over No. 8 Oak Lawn in the Feb. 25 regional semifinals by scoring the final eight points.
enior Owen Carroll (19 points with 2 three-pointers, 4 rebounds) and juniors Grant Smith (21 points with 4 threes, 7 Woods (5 points) and Timmy Sloan (5 assists, 4 rebounds) led the regional final ef fort for the Lions (23-7).
The season included a share of their first West Suburban Conference Silver Division title since 2015 behind their starting five, which also included senior Tommy Blyth, and consistent bench play from seniors Tommy Sloan and Dylan Holcer and junior Grayson Lee.
The Lions were eliminated by Curie (28-1)
a really close-knit group. We had so many fun memories. The Glenbard East game was definitely a top memory. Every year beating LT was fun. And being able to play in the [York] Tournament is always a great memory.”
Mercer was named the UEC East Player of the Year. Cimino also was All-UEC and Biskupic and VanTholen received honorable mention.
Mercer led the Bulldogs in scoring (20.8 points per game), threes (87), steals (75), charges taken (11) and free-throw percentage (.832) by making 149 of 179.
Mercer graduates as the Bulldogs’ leader in career three-pointers (213) and fourth in varsity career points (1,415) over three seasons.
Cimino (9.8 ppg) came six points from averaging double figures, followed by VanTholen (8.4), senior Liam Enright (8.0) and Biskupic (6.9). Cimino (181), Biskupic (173) and Mercer (167) led in rebounds and Enright (116) and VanTholen (106) led in assists.
The Bulldogs’ eight seniors also included Walker Burns, usually the first player of f the bench, Aaron Guzman, Peter Laube and Charlie Sloan.
in the postseason for the third straight year, last year in the re gional semifinals. The Condors have won 18 straight since its lone loss to defending 4A state champion Benet 74-41 Dec. 31.
Needing strong outside shooting, the Lions were 8 of 25 from three-point range. Yet they only trailed 25-17 at halftime and closed to 25-20 on a Carroll three early in the third quarter. Behind seven offensive rebounds in the quarter and a 10-point outburst with three threes by Michael Oliver, the Condors responded with a 17-4 run to lead 42-24 with 3:12 left in the period. Justin Oliver extended the margin with 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter
The Lions also battled foul disparity that contributed to LTHS coach Tom Sloan receiving back-to-back technical fouls and game ejection with 6:19 remaining and Curie leading 57-35. Sloan appeared to be questioning a guarding foul not being called at the top of the key in front of the LTHS bench.
During the first half, Sloan turned and told vocal fans to let the officials officiate
“Cameron put together one of the best careers and single seasons individually in RB history,” Reingruber said. “Really all of our seniors contributed a tremendous amount to this season and the program as a whole. All of the great leaders, hard workers gave their blood, sweat and tears. They’re a pleasure to coach.”
In the re gional, Simeon took control behind shooting 50 percent (24 for 48), including 7 for 14 from three-point range and 26 points in the paint.
Back-to-back threes from Mercer cut the second-quarter deficit to 23-16, but Simeon was back ahead 36-21 by halftime and 58-28 after three quarters.
RBHS shot 33 percent (17 for 52) and was 9 for 30 on threes (30 percent) by making its last three attempts
“We didn’t shoot it well and we needed to shoot it well,” Reingruber said. “Simeon played well. There’s no doubt about it. For a long stretch, we didn’t play bad. We just didn’t make shots. We didn’t make timely shots. Once we got behind, Simeon executed against everything we tried to get back into it.”
The Lions received the game’s first seven fouls and had more than twice as many fouls called extending into the second half
With their backs against the wall against Oak Lawn, the Lions overcame trailing 51-47 with 2:46 left after once leading 26-10 with 6:17 left in the second quarter. Woods (14 points with 4 first-quarter threes, 7 rebounds), Smith (14 points, 9 rebounds), Carroll (12 points, 5 assists, 4 steals), Timmy Sloan (7 points) and Blyth (4 rebounds) fueled the comeback. Three straight turnovers from the defense and three straight Smith baskets in crunch time shifted the momentum.
Down four, the Lions pressed and Carroll stole the ball and fed Smith for the layup. After a five-second inbounds call, Smith scored on a driving layup and then turned a steal by Blyth into another driving score for a 53-51 LTHS lead with 1:10 left.
After Oak Lawn missed a potential tying shot, Carroll hit one of two free throws. Smith then rebounded a missed potential tying three, was fouled and added one free throw with 7.5 seconds left.
JACK POSLUSZNY
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