RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside ONLINE AT rblandmark.com
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Vol. 32, No. 12
March 22, 2017
ELECTION
2017
Our picks
Brookfield eyes tax delinquent properties PAGE 4
See our candidate endorsements PAGE 11 Where to vote PAGE 19
Longtime RBHS department heads step down PAGE 7
North Riverside fire privatization dealt another blow Appeals court affirms circuit court ruling on jurisdiction By BOB UPHUES Editor
A 2014 bid to have a Cook County Circuit Court judge declare the village of North Riverside had a right to unilaterally terminate its contract with union firefighters fizzled on March 15 when the Illinois Court of Appeals upheld the circuit court’s ruling that it had no jurisdiction over the matter. In an eight-page ruling handed down by a panel of three appellate court judges, Justice Terrence J. Lavin wrote that the village’s argument that it was merely raising a legal question about its right to end a collectively bargained contract with firefighters was “patently disingenuous.” Rather, the appellate court ruled, the circuit court “properly dismissed the village’s complain. As exclusive jurisdiction lies with the [Illinois Labor Relations] Board.” It’s not clear exactly whether or when the matter will end up as the subject of binding arbitration in front of the Illinois Labor Relations Board. But, North Riverside Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. told the Landmark in a phone interview that the March 15 decision would not be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and that the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court is now dead. “I really believe this thing should be resolved,” Hermanek said. See PRIVATIZATION on page 10
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
PACKING THE PLACE: Students packed the atrium at Riverside-Brookfield High School on March 15, staging a sit-in to protest the school’s board’s decision not to rehire social studies teacher Jill Musil.
RBHS teacher out, touching off protest
Students stage sit-in after board votes to not renew popular instructor By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
Last week was one of the more emotional ones in recent history at Riverside- Brookfield High School. On March 14, the District 208 Board
of Education voted unanimously not to renew the teaching contract of popular social studies teacher Jill Musil, denying her tenure and effectively ending her teaching career at RBHS at the end of the current school year. The school board, following the rec-
ommendation of Superintendent Kevin Skinkis and Principal Kristin Smetana, stated Musil had not acted professionally in dealings with administrators, community members, and students. See PROTEST on page 8
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