RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside ONLINE AT rblandmark.com
$1.00
Vol. 32, No. 10
March 8, 2017
@R @RBLandmark
In the ground After three years Brookfield apartments going up PAGE 5
Riverside trustee named village administrator in Burr Ridge
PAGE 6
HH Gregg spares North Riverside location PAGE 11
Politics reportedly at heart of RBHS teacher’s troubles Student complaint about lunch-time talk may have been last straw By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
Supporters of Riverside-Brookfield High School social studies teacher Jill Musil – mostly students -- packed the room for last week’s District 208 school board meeting. They sat on chairs, on the floor, some stood in the back, and one even fainted during the meeting and was ultimately taken away in an ambulance. The board will vote at its March 14 meeting whether to rehire Musil for a fifth year of teaching at RBHS. If she is rehired, Musil will receive tenure and more job security. But students say that the administration has told Musil that she will not be rehired and instead offered her the opportunity to resign. According to students interviewed by the Landmark, the RBHS administration seems to think that Musil is too political and that she may have angered members of the administration by defending students’ right to protest. Musil spoke at an assembly on a newly created Positivity Day that was held in late November after racist graffiti was discovered in a girls’ bathroom. Students stood up and held signs during Musil’s brief speech. Students say that the administration believes that Musil helped organize or support the protest although the protesters insist that the protest was organized and led by students. See TEACHER on page 11
FILE
SO LONG, COACH: In 25 years as a basketball head coach, Tom McCloskey had a 437-236 record. He did his best work at RBHS, leading the Bulldogs to 15 straight conference championships, four regional titles and a sectional championship.
Bulldogs bid McCloskey fond farewell Coach impacted school, basketball program and community
By MARTY FARMER Sports Editor
The consensus is Tom McCloskey deserved better. The longtime Riverside-Brookfield High School boys basketball coach retired after the team’s last game in Feb-
ruary with the Bulldogs posting an uncharacteristically subpar 12-16 record. The team endured its share of adversity with the departure of two starters early in the season, five losses by 15 points or more and the end of its remarkable run of consecutive conference championships at 15.
The Bulldogs’ sustained excellence under McCloskey’s watch is what made this season so startling. While McCloskey is as competitive a coach you’ll find, coaching has never been about exclusively wins and losses. See MCCLOSKEY on page 17
Cyril Friend III n LPL Financial Advisor
“Your 401K Rollover Resource” Don’t leave your 401K at your former employer!
708.442.9234 cyril.friend@lpl.com
12 E. Quincy St., Riverside, IL
Securities offered through LPL Financial Member FINRA/SIPC