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Vol. 35, No. 52
@riversidebrookfieldlandmark
December 23, 2020
Local nursing homes just a week or so from getting vaccine PAGE 7
Riverside board gives green light to design floodwall PAGE 8
RBHS principal calls failure rate ‘alarming’
Dressed in holiday style North Riverside’s answer to the North Pole is on 8th Avenue
35% of students on track in Nov. for at least one failing 2Q grade By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
The pandemic and remote learning took a toll on area high school students’ grades this semester, which ended Dec. 18. As of mid-November, 35 percent of RiversideBrookfield High School students were on track to receive at least one F in the second quarter, which is more than double the failure rate of one year ago. “I know that this is alarming,” RBHS Principal Hector Freytas told the school board at its Dec. 8 meeting. “I’m not happy with it.” Older students are doing the worst, with 41 percent of seniors at RBHS having at least one class with a grade of F as of mid- November compared to just 18 percent one year ago. Thirty-eight percent of juniors had at least one failing grade compared to 19 percent last year, 34 percent of sophomores had at least one F compared to 16 percent last year and 27 percent of freshmen had at least one F compared to just 12 percent last year. Freytas said many students might have assumed that a state-mandated policy last spring that performance during remote learning could
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
THE MAN WITH THE BAG: Nothing was going to put a damper on the 2020 Christmas season for Brian Przybylski, who turned the front of his in the 2500 block of 8th Avenue into festival of lights and decor, a place where every weekend this month he has greeted kids and families dressed as Santa Claus. By JACKIE PISANO
F
Contributing Reporter
or as long as he can recall, Brian Przybylski has always loved the magic of the holidays. From the first time he helped his father decorate the house as a child, to leading his own family in their annual effort stringing together lights and
strategically placing dozens of whimsical Christmas figurines on the front lawn, Christmastime is truly near and dear to Przybylski’s heart. And despite the social distancing, anxiety and uncertainty of in 2020 disrupting the normality and traditions of the holidays for most, nothing was going to get in the way of Przybylski and his yuletide spirit.
In fact, it made him realize he had to kick things up a notch. As soon as the Halloween decorations came down, the Christmas decorations began to go up. In early November, the North Riverside resident and his family worked tirelessly to bring the spirit of the season and create See HOLIDAY on page 12
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