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Schools

Community Joins 113 Effort in Force

Leadership committee to present findings to Board May 21.

Scores of local citizens jumped at the opportunity to help School District 113 shape the course of its capital improvement project at and after voters .

Those charged with coordinating the effort to begin plans anew will present their report of nearly a year of study to the Board at its May 21 meeting.

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Though voters did not want to spend the money on the initial plan that would have built new athletic complexes at both schools as well as razing a 98-year-old building at Highland Park and replacing it, the referendum did not change the schools’ needs.

The District 113 School Board and Superintendent George Fornero reached out to the community and asked for people to become involved making sure the primary group opposing the referendum, Education First, was represented.

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“We met with representatives of and invited them into the process,” Fornero said. “We coordinated representation from the study groups (to include people from Education First).”

Five committees were formed containing administrators, board members, educators and citizens to delve into specific areas needing attention as well as a leadership committee charged with coordinating the entire process. The leadership committee will be the group presenting the report May 21.

With people representing divergent viewpoints, one of the things that came out of the work was the ability of people who had been strongly opposing each other to work together.

“How well the community came together was exciting,” Board and leadership committee member Michael Smith of Deerfield said. “People disagreed but everyone was cordial reaching consensus, not unanimity.”

Old Highland Park Building Can Be Saved

One area of contention during the referendum campaign was whether a building put up in 1914 at Highland Park High School should be razed or renovated. The plan was demolition but some minds have been changed.

“It can be rehabilitated,” David Brint of Highland Park said. He is a real estate developer and member of the leadership committee. “It’s the cost that’s an issue that has to be examined. Rehab should be less expensive but not always. It was well built.”

Brint was not involved with the effort to pass or defeat the referendum, but after calling Fornero to offer suggestions on what to do found himself drafted.

Sam Shapiro, and the group investigating the possibilities for the 98-year-old Highland Park building along with the athletic facilities, disputed the strength of Education First’s representation.

“It was supposed to be citizens but there was the superintendent, the Highland Park principal, the two athletic directors, staff members and two people who were associated with CARE,” Shapiro said. .

Though Shapiro felt 13 of the committee’s 18 members may have opposed his view, experts like Brint concluded the building could be saved. “I had mixed feelings,” Shapiro said. “Some of the concerns were heard.”

Effort Is for the Future

Marv Ehlers, a Deerfield resident for more than 50 years who arrived in town before Deerfield High School was built, welcomed and praised Shapiro’s efforts on the leadership committee. Ehlers is a member and was affiliated with CARE. Ehlers sees the work as long term.

“You have to leave things better than you found it,” Ehlers said. He is a former elementary school board member and was once a Village trustee. “We have a responsibility to put this in the perspective of how things will look 20 to 30 years out. This is not for ourselves. It’s for the next generation.”

As he gets ready to see the proposal the leadership committee will make to the Board May 21, Fornero is thankful for the talented people who volunteered their time and feels better for the effort.

“We have grown a lot in this process. I have learned an incredible amount. We’ve gone so much deeper,” Fornero said. “Our community is wealthy in terms of expertise,” he added about the citizens who joined the effort. “We couldn’t have paid for it.”

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