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Topinka to be inducted into LGBT Hall of Fame

The late Judy Baar Topinka, the pioneering Riverside politician who served in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly before winning election as Illinois comptroller and Illinois treasurer before her death in 2014 will be inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame later this year. The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, according to its website, “was founded in 1991 to honor people and entities, nominated by the community, who have made significant contributions to the quality of life or well-being

JUDY BAAR TOPINKA of the LGBT community in Chicago.” Topinka is being inducted as a “Friend of the Community” for her supportof LGBT causes when it was risky for politician, Democrat or Republican, to be associated with the movement.

She supported Illinois’ Marriage Equality Bill and was the only Republican speaker at the Nov. 20, 2013 ceremony at the University of Illinois at Chicago where the bill was signed into law.

Topinka was “a consistent and firm supporter of gay rights. Even when attacked by members of her own party for her gay rights support, she never wavered,” her induction bio states.

This year’s induction ceremony will be held virtually, due to COVID-19 restrictions, on Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in recognition of National LGBT History Month.

Zoo doc fi nalist for ‘Hero’award

Dr. Mike Adkesson, vice president of clinical medicine for the Chicago Zoological Society, is one of five veterinarian finalists for the American Humane’s annual Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards. Now in its seventh year, the awards honor those who dedicate their lives to making a difference in animals’ lives with

DR. MIKE ADKESSON outstanding nary care. A p veterianel of veterinary professionals and animal care experts from around the country selected Adkesson and the other finalists from more than 250 nominees.

The winners will be honored at the 10th annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards, which is scheduled to air nationwide as a twohour special on Hallmark Channel this fall.

“Dr. Adkesson works tirelessly to ensure that the more than 2,500 animals under his care at Brookfield Zoo are healthy and thriving,” said Bill Zeigler, senior vice president of animal program for CZS. “He leads a team of caring professionals, and advocates for pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible in zoological medicine by continually elevating the standards of care.”

Adkesson is past-president of the American Association of the Zoo Veterinarians and an adjunct assistant professor with the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Avina is Junior of the Year

Julie Avina, of Riverside was named Junior of the Year for 2019-20 by the Riverside Junior Woman’s Charity. Avina volunteered nearly 150 hours over nine months of service to the community, helping maintain the community garden, leading the club’s inaugural Health and JULIE AVINA Wellness Fair and “acting as the epitome of grace and determination,” according to Juniors Secretary Sarah Magner, “as we made the pivot to an online auction after two fundraisers were cancelled.”

On campus

■ Several local students were among those receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May, including Brookfield residents Kristyn J. Colon (M.S. in library and information science), Hannah M. Dziura (B.A. with honors in dance), Marie C. Johnson (J.D. cum laud e in law) and Paris Monaghan (B.S. in earth, society and environmental sustainability); Riverside residents Jordan M. Bravo (M.S. in library and information science), Benjamin Chmura (B.A. in political science and East Asian languages and culture), Kathryn A. Collins (B.S. with honors in journalism), Nerija Cuplinskas (B.S. in integrative biology), Olivia E. Gyssler (B.S. in molecular and cellular biology), Bridget A. Hannon (Ph.D. in nutritional sciences) and Lukas R. Kulbis (B.S. in computer science); and North Riverside resident Sarah M. Schoenheider (B.A. in sociology). ■ Among those receiving degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison during an

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B IRTHDAY G OES T O T HE D OGS Last weekend, Bianca (le) and Alexandra Jacobucci, 7, of Brook eld asked for animal shelter donations for their birthday this year in lieu of actual gis in order to do something positive during a challenging time. On Aug. 9, small gathering of neighbors and close friends celebrated their birthdays, abiding by COVID restrictions and rules. About 10 families donated towels, sheets, dog and cat food, dog bowls and paper towels. …e girls and their mom, Jennifer, dropped o† items at the Hinsdale Humane Society on Aug. 13.

online ceremony in May due to the coronavirus pandemic were Riverside residents Andrew Hanley, who earned a master’s degree in engineering, and Nick Pavlakovic, who received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. ■ Several local students received bachelor’s degrees from Marquette University in Milwaukee this spring, including Brookfield residents Mariela Hernandez (biological sciences) and Shannon O’Connor (criminology and law studies); North Riverside resident Enrique Trujillo (economics); and Riverside residents Guillermo Arroyo (mechanical engineering), Brendan Jones (economics), Riley Mullen (criminology and law studies), Jonathan Ricchio (civil engineering) and Kathleen Suess (nursing). ■ Brookfield resident Kevin Fitzgerald will be among the 209 spring graduates of Quincy University who will receive a degree during a special outdoor ceremony on Sept. 5. Fitzgerald earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. ■ Killian Elwart, of Brookfield, received his bachelor’s degree in political science from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh during a virtual commencement ceremony in May. ■ Riverside resident Nicole LaBelle was among those awarded bachelor’s degrees during a virtual commencement ceremony at Miami (Ohio) University in May. ■ Erin Engstrom and Camryn Hamilton, both of Brookfield, were named to the dean’s list for the 2020 spring semester at Ripon (Wisconsin) College for achieving a semester grade-point average of at least 3.4 on a 4-point scale. ■ Brookfield residents Maddie Hanrahan (vocal performance) and Ryan Swift (accounting) and North Riverside resident Francis Urbanski (finance) were named to the 2020 spring semester dean’s list at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington for earning a semester GPA of at least 3.5. ■ Dana Dombrowski, of Brookfield, was named to the 2020 spring semester dean’s list at Knox College in Galesburg for attaining a GPA of least 3.6. ■ Brookfield resident Matthew Nicolai was named to the 2020 spring semester dean’s list at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. ■ Isabella Nardi, of Brookfield, and Stef Manchin, of Riverside, were among those named to the 2020 spring semester honor roll at the University of Kansas. ■ Brookfield resident Charlise Domabyl and Riverside resident Michelle Jacobs were named to the 2020 spring semester dean’s list at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for attaining a semester GPA of at least 3.66. ■ Riverside-Brookfield High School graduates Leah Rettke and Melissa Donnelly were among the 38 student-athletes at Triton College named NJCAA All-Academic members during the 2019-20 school year.

Rettke (volleyball), who posted a GPA of 4.0, was named to the NJCAA All-Academic First Team, while Donnelly (softball) was named to the All-Academic Third Team for attaining a GPA of 3.7.

REMOTE Making their point

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entering the building daily if the district kept its plan to have students attend in person.

Teachers strongly opposed a school boardapproved plan that blended in-person and remote learning out of concern for their safety in the midst of the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

Before the Aug. 11 school board meeting where the hybrid plan was unanimously adopted, a large group of teachers rallied in front of the school, calling for a fully remote start to the school year.

After the school board voted to adopt that plan, the teachers union, the Riverside Brookfield Education Association (RBEA), decided that stronger action was required.

As they entered the building Friday morning for their second institute day of the new school year and approached the required temperature checks, teachers refused to read the COVID-19 symptom placard and demanded that the symptoms to be read aloud to them.

One teacher reportedly demanded that the symptoms be read to him in Spanish. A couple teachers reported having symptoms and one was taken to an isolation room. With this slowdown, it took about 25 minutes for 100-plus teachers to enter the building.

RBEA President Dan Bonarigo, a math teacher, said teachers were trying to follow the rules and their contract, but they also wanted to simulate what it would be like for large numbers of students, some of whom do not speak much English, to enter the building if students were allowed to attend school in person.

“We were worried about the logistics of that process, and I think the administration was able to see that the logistics of that process were more than we had originally

thought,” Bonarigo said.

One parent who had a firsthand report of what happened at the school Friday morning had a different reaction to what the teachers did.

“I just find the way the teachers went about this to be deplorable,” said a RBHS parent who asked not to be identified because she did not want to jeopardize their child’s relationship with her teachers. “They acted more juvenile than our kids do. They threw a temper tantrum and derailed the system.”

Bonarigo took exception the teachers’ antics being called juvenile.

“The teachers were supporting the more cautious and safe approach to opening school,” Bonarigo said. “I don’t think that advocating for safety above all else would be considered juvenile.”

RBHS Principal Hector Freytas declined to answer specific questions about the how the teachers acted when they entered the building Friday morning.

“I don’t want to focus on what the teachers did or did not do,” Freytas said in an email. “They are good teachers. I’d rather the community be upset at me. I don’t want the students and families to have any misconceptions about our teachers. At the end of the day, all the teachers wanted is for our students to learn safely, and I admire them for that.”

Some school board members, however, were more critical of the teachers’ actions.

“They were out in their lawn chair [before heading into the building en masse],” said District 208 board President Wes Smithing said. “It was a planned endeavor.”

Smithing said that most in the community wanted to return to the in-person instruction to the extent practical, noting that nearly 88 percent of students chose the hybrid model.

“The union is not listening to the community,” Smithing said. “The union gave us an all-remote plan through the committee. The committee is primarily made up of union members. They gave us a plan with two-anda-half hours of instruction on a Friday, and

BOB SKOLNIK/Contributor SPEAKING UP: RBEA President Dan Bonarigo reads a statement in support of remote learning prior to the school board’sAug. 11 unanimous vote to adopt a hybrid option that included in-person attendance.

BOB SKOLNIK/Contributor ON THE MARCH: Teachers march in front of Riverside-Brook eld High School on Aug. 11, advocating for a fully remote start to the school year, prior to the District 208 school board meeting where the school board voted to adopt a hybrid model.

that’s unacceptable to the board.”

Board member Laura Hruska was disappointed with the switch to all-remote learning which was made on Friday by District 208 Superintendent Kevin Skinkis after consulting with Smithing and some, but not all, board members.

“It’s not what the students or the parents wanted,” Hruska said.

RBHS sophomore Veronica Hunt was not happy about the switch to all-remote learning, but hoped that it would be better than last spring.

“I’m a little disappointed about it,” Hunt said. “I do understand that we have to do what’s safest. I’m going to try to do my best to be optimistic about the change of plan. I am a little worried about the remote learning, but I think that RB is going to be able to pull it off better than last time.”

Unlike last spring, the remote learning plan this year is going to require teachers and students to be online together at specified time periods. The plan is being revised after school board members wanted a more robust plan than the one unveiled at the Aug. 11 school board meeting.

Under that plan students would attend classes online with their teachers present from 9:35 a.m. until 2:05 p.m. on Mondays, for 3.5 hours on Tuesday and Thursdays, and for about 2.5 hours on Wednesdays and Fridays. Each class period would meet online three times a week.

The administration and the RBEA are meeting this week to try and work out a more robust remote schedule.

“Now that we are going fully remote, my number one priority is that students don’t feel isolated, that they are fully engaged and continue to receive rigorous coursework that they are accustomed to getting by our excellent RB teachers,” Freytas said in an email. “We are adding more hours to our fully remote instructional model, continuing many extracurricular activities virtually and in-person, and doing more well-being checks either in person through home visits or online.”

RBHS students are coming to school in person this week for one half-day orientation session spread over four days. Less than 13 percent of the total student body will be in the building at the same time.

The remote schedule will begin on Aug. 24. All remote classes will be taught by RBHS faculty. With the decision to go to fully remote learning for at least the entire first quarter, the administration has scrapped plans to outsource remote learning to a third-party provider.

Skinkis said the decision to switch to allremote learning was made in response to revised guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health that were issued on Aug. 12. The day after those guidelines were issued, high schools in Hinsdale District 86 and Downers Grove scrapped their hybrid plans for the fall and switched to all-remote instruction. But RBHS did not make the same move until after the teachers’ action on Friday morning.

Smithing maintained that what happened Friday morning is not what made the school to switch to all remote learning.

“We ultimately made the decision based on the governor’s and the state mandate,” Smithing said. “That is the ultimate reason. We didn’t make it because of the union.”

Despite the changed guidelines, three local elementary school districts, Riverside District 96, Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95 and LaGrange-Brookfield School District 102, say that they are continuing with their plans to offer partial in person instruction to students when their school year starts.

“We’re moving forward,” said District 95 Superintendent Mark Kuzniewski.

The first day of school in District 95 is Aug. 24.