RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside $1.00
Vol. 35, No. 35
August 26, 2020
Virtual reality Riverside American Legion Post seeks to grow online PAGE 3
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Former Cook County commissioner charged with extortion PAGE 2 District 96 inks lease for Hollywood Association land PAGE 11
Sells won’t seek 3rd term as Riverside president
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Ballerine confirms he will run to be village’s chief executive Lauren Mantel bumps a pass to a teammate during a pickup game of volleyball on a steamy, 95-degree day on Aug. 24 at the sand courts at Kiwanis Park in Brookfield.
By BOB UPHUES Editor
Ben Sells, who is entering the home stretch of his second term as Riverside’s president, will not run for re-election in 2021, instead throwing his support behind Joseph Ballerine, who has confirmed he will be running for the village’s top post. Ballerine, 61, who has been involved in village government in some form almost continuously for
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
See SELLS on page 13
60 percent of D96 teachers oppose in-person learning Recent union survey shows growing support for remote start
By BOB UPHUES Editor
As Riverside Elementary School District 96 teachers prepare to be reunited with their students inside their classrooms for the first time
since March, the faculty’s union leadership on Aug. 19 made clear that a solid majority of teachers did not support the school district’s hybrid in-person learning plan. Riverside Education Council co-presidents Katie Kayastha and Jen Ohlman informed the
school board that in a survey just days before last week’s school board meeting that 60.2 percent of District 96 teachers did not support the in-person learning plan. According to Kayastha, who summarized the survey results for the school board, just
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37.7 percent of teachers favored the district’s hybrid learning plan, which blends both inperson and remote instruction. The school district has also offered families an all-remote See SURVEY on page 13
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