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Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Ernest Hemingway Foundation in Oak Park awards two $1,500 scholarships
Two talented young writers have won essay contests sponsored by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park. Sofia Fitzgerald, of Oak Park, a rising senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School, won the 2025 Hemingway Foundation Student Scholarship Essay Contest, which is for juniors in high school. Luke Voegtle of Westchester, who graduated this spring from Proviso Mathematics & Science Academy in Forest Park, won the 2025 Allan O. Baldwin Memorial Student Scholarship, which is for seniors in high school. 'The foundation has been around since '83,' said Executive Director Keith Strom. 'From the get-go, the foundation's mission was around preserving, educating, and storing the creative life and writing of Ernest Hemingway. It was an easy segway to try to support younger writers as well. There's been an essay contest the majority of the years.' Competitors have to submit a 300-600-word essay, which is reviewed by a panel. Each of the two winners receive a $1,500 scholarship. The Hemingway Foundation Student Scholarship Essay Contest winner is also given a mentorship with the Hemingway's writer-in-residence, who from 2024-26 is Kate Sjostrom. In addition, both winners will have their essays published in the tenth annual edition of 'Hemingway Shorts.' Sofia Fitzgerald's essay is called, 'My Journey Through the Biblioglass.' 'I wrote about the libraries in Oak Park and how much they mean to me, and my journey with them, and how it's evolved since I was a baby going there,' Fitzgerald said. Fitzgerald said she has been writing 'since I was a little kid, but this is the first time that I've published anything that I've written.' She decided to enter the Hemingway competition because, 'It seemed like a good opportunity to share my talent and love of writing.' She also entered the competition because she appreciated the writing prompt, which was to write about what your hometown means to you. When Fitzgerald learned that she had won the competition, 'I was genuinely so shocked. It was nice to see my work recognized.' Fitzgerald has already worked with mentor Sjostrom. 'Being able to have such an amazing mentor has definitely made me more willing and more excited to try and publish more of my work in my senior year,' she said. In terms of her career goal, although she loves writing, Fitzgerald said, 'I'm hoping to pursue something in international relations with the government.' Luke Voegtle's essay is called 'A Life of Adventure and Ikigai.' 'My essay was about discovering a Japanese concept called ikigai,' Voegtle said. 'It's focused around enjoying the smallest moments of life, like a small coffee chat with grandma or a nice conversation, rather than focusing on grand purpose. I went on a backpacking hike to Washington to explore this and search within myself and even though the journey was extremely tough, we met a woman there who helped us get through it and it was a life changing experience.' Voegtle is continuing that exploration, most recently backpacking through Europe with his brothers. He reported that writing has always been a passion of his. When he learned he had won the contest, Voegtle said, 'I was really excited. I was really honored because I've always enjoyed writing.' Voegtle will be attending the University of Michigan in the fall to study statistics. Hemingway Executive Director Strom reported that the two winners will also be recognized at an event in July. 'That's probably one of the most rewarding things of the various programming that we do,' Strom said. 'I get a kick out of seeing people being acknowledged for the talents that they have.'
Chicago Tribune
27-05-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Oak Park and River Forest High School teacher quits, alleges discrimination
A special education at Oak Park and River Forest High School who left her job and classroom with just two weeks left in the school year said in a public comment at a School Board meeting that she was forced to resign. Kiah Brown, who had taught at OPRF since 2019, addressed the OPRF District 200 school board at its May 22 meeting just six days after she abruptly left her job. In her approximately four minute statement at the meeting, Brown said she was forced to resign and that she believed her resignation constituted a 'constructive discharge,' a legal term meaning that conditions are so bad at a job that an employee has no alternative but to resign and is essentially fired. Brown told the board her experience at OPRF fell far short of the school's professed values of equity, inclusion and academic excellence. 'Unfortunately what I experienced and what I witnessed undermined those values,' a tearful Brown said at the meeting. 'Across departments and especially within the special education department, I observed inequitable treatment of students and staff and lack of support which led to the increase in turnover particularly among African American employees since the most recent change in administration. They reflect a pattern fueled by poor leadership practices, misrepresentation and the protection of internal leadership alliances over equity and accountability.' 'I've come to the point where the moral challenges I face within OPRFHS's system are no longer something I can ignore without compromising my own health and well-being,' Brown wrote. 'As much as I love the students I serve, I've realized that love cannot come at the cost of my own peace and professional integrity.' Brown also accused unnamed OPRF administrators of fostering a hostile work environment and inflicting psychological and professional harm on her. 'What I've endured is not isolated; it's part of a collective pattern of targeted attacks carried out by what I would describe as individuals operating like 13th graders,' Brown said. Brown, a math teacher, urged the board to look into what has been going on at OPRF and 'stop allowing image to outweigh impact.' 'You cannot continue to market equity by indirectly supporting those who perpetuate the antithesis and inadvertently punishing those who advocate for it,' she said. According to her LinkedIn page, Brown has just been hired as a case manager at Whitney Young High School in Chicago. 'Please be advised that Ms. Brown resigned for personal reasons,' Roberts wrote. Roberts told them a full time substitute who is a licensed learning behavior specialist at OPRF would take over Brown's assignments for the last two weeks of the school year. 'We would like to assure you that we have taken the necessary steps to ensure continuity of instruction for your student,' Roberts wrote. The School Board met in closed session at the meeting for 45 minutes with the district's human resources director Roxana Sanders and director of Special Education Andrea Neuman. After the meeting Sanders, Neuman and Superintendent Greg Johnson all declined to comment when asked about their reaction to Brown's public comment. New School Board president Audrey Williams-Lee had a short answer when asked about her reaction to Brown's comments. 'Everyone has the right to express their opinion and share their perspective,' Williams said. 'That's what our country is all about.' In April, Seneca Johnson, a Student Resource Center monitor at OPRF who has been on leave for the entire school year after filing a complaint with the federal Equal Opportunity Commission accusing administrators of discrimination, told the School Board that many top administrators, some of whom are Black, had discriminated against Black employees at the school. 'I want to speak on the disturbing reality of systematic injustice at Oak Park and River Forest High School,' Johnson said in a public comment at the April 10 school board meeting. 'For far too long the school has tolerated discrimination based on disability, age, sex and race, workplace retaliation, creating a hostile work environment that had disproportionately affected Black women and men.' The morning after the School Board meeting an OPRF spokeswoman said she couldn't comment about specific cases. 'We take them seriously and we do look into them,' said Karin Sullivan, the school's executive director of communications. 'It's a HR process and we follow our policies and procedures when it comes to investigations.' Two School Board members said that they want the school to look into what has been going on. 'It's obviously very concerning, it is something that needs to be looked into,' said Fred Arkin, the board's senior member. Arkin said that it was very unusual that a teacher would quit with just two weeks left in the school year and not finish the semester. Arkin was asked if he thought there was a problem with the workplace culture at OPRF. 'I think that has to be investigated,' Arkin said. 'Do I think there is a problem? I don't think there is a problem but I think we do need to dig into it and learn more about what's going on to determine if there is a problem.' But at a school with around 500 employees, 'It's difficult to make everybody 100% happy,' Arkin said. 'Obviously the two statements that we had from the two employees were very passionate, very emotional, but if there is something underlying that's a problem we've got to look at it,' Arkin said. New board member Josh Gertz said he has 'expressed concern toward the administration.' 'It's certainly something I intend to follow up on with the administration,' Gertz said. 'The other thing I would say is that it did seem that they had already begun a process of looking into the allegations and doing their due diligence which was welcomed, it was good to hear.'
Chicago Tribune
06-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Oak Park and River Forest High School assistant superintendent Laurie Fiorenza to resign
The administrator who oversees all things academic at Oak Park and River Forest High School is leaving the school at the end of this school year. Laurie Fiorenza, assistant superintendent for student learning, is resigning effective June 30. Fiorenza has been at OPRF for six years, the last four in the assistant superintendent position, after starting out as the director of student learning. It is not clear if Fiorenza has another job lined up and she has not responded to requests for comment. Fiorenza's undated resignation letter, obtained via a public records request, was brief and did not disclose her future plans. 'I am grateful for the opportunities I've had over the past six years to learn and grow as a leader alongside dedicated colleagues,' Fiorenza wrote. 'My time here has been formative, and I appreciate the experiences shaping my professional journey. 'As I transition to new opportunities, I appreciate my time in the district and the important work being done here. I will ensure a smooth transition and assist in any way I can to support the handoff of my responsibilities.' The morning after her resignation was accepted, Fiorenza sent an email to OPRF faculty and staff informing them that she was leaving and thanking them for their 'support, collaboration and shared commitment to students.' 'I'm grateful for the past six years and the chance to grow as a leader and to work alongside such dedicated and passionate colleagues has been truly meaningful,' Fiorenza wrote. District 200 Superintendent Greg Johnson confirmed that Fiorenza resigned but declined comment on the circumstances of the resignation. 'I think she did a lot of positive things for this district,' Johnson said. During Fiorenza's time at OPRF the school has received low marks in Five Essentials survey of teachers, which is mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education. In the most recent Five Essentials Survey, OPRF has received poor grades in instructional leadership, with a score of 16 on a 1 to 100 scale. OPRF was also classified as very weak in quality professional development with a score of 18 and received ratings of weak in innovation and program coherence. Fiorenza came to OPRF in 2019 after serving as principal of a middle school in Aurora. In her current role she is in charge of academics and curriculum. In OPRF's structure Principal Lynda Parker handles operations and school culture and does not play a major role in academic affairs. Before becoming the principal at the middle school in Aurora Fiorenza served as an assistant principal at a Batavia middle school. She began her career in Quincy working as a special education teacher, reading interventionist, director of an after school program and an assistant principal in the Quincy school district. The assistant superintendent position will be an important hire for OPRF. The school is completing the third year of detracking much of the freshman curriculum, meaning that it is getting near the time when meaningful evaluation of the Honors for All curriculum change can take place.
Chicago Tribune
11-02-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Black students suspended at higher rate; Oak Park and River Forest officials blame ‘trauma'
Although out of school suspensions at Oak Park and River Forest High School are down significantly from two years ago, Black students are still much more likely to be suspended from the school than other students. In a report presented Feb. 6 to the OPRF District 200 School Board, officials said the disproportionate rate of suspensions affecting Black students is not the result of discrimination at the school or evidence of implicit bias. They pointed at the standardized 'implementation of our Behavior Response Grid.' 'Students who commit specific offenses are disciplined in the same manner regardless of their race,' school officials said in the report. 'Stated another way, students are not being suspended or excluded from school due to their race or the decisions of those that implement disciplinary policy. Our policy is being implemented uniformly. 'Rather, our root cause analysis leads us to a more alarming conclusion: the students that are engaging in behavior that warrants out-of-school suspension tend to be of African American descent, and this is because these students are likely to have been impacted by trauma in their formative years, even before they become OPRF students. This trauma may have been in their homes, in their communities, or even in virtual spaces such as social media.' Only 19% of students at OPRF are Black, but they account for the overwhelming majority of out of school suspensions at Oak Park and River Forest. According to data compiled by the Illinois State Board Education, during the 2023-24 school year only two white OPRF students were suspended or expelled, compared to 17 students of other races. In the 2023-24 school year District 200 ranked third among all public school districts in Illinois in the racially disproportionate rate of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. Because OPRF ranks in the top 20% of school districts in the state in that statistic, the district is required to submit a Discipline Improvement Plan to ISBE outlining steps the school is taking to reduce the racial disproportionality in out-of-school suspensions. School officials presented their plan last week at the school board's Committee of Whole meeting. The plan will likely be approved with some tweaks at the School Board's Feb. 20 meeting. OPRF Principal Lynda Parker highlighted the steep drop in out of school suspensions at OPRF, but the racial disproportionality remains stark. During the 2022-23 school year, according to data provided by the school, Black students accounted for 51 of the 66 OPRF students who received out-of-school suspensions. In the 2023-24 school year only 22 students, 16 of whom were Black, received out-of-school suspensions. So far this school year 11 students have received out-of-school suspensions, eight of whom are Black, two Hispanic and one white. The strategy, officials told the board, is to reduce the behaviors that lead to suspensions, not just merely reduce suspensions, specifically for the school's African American students. That sharp decline in out-of-school suspensions over the past 2½ years has convinced OPRF officials that the steps they have been taking to reduce out-of-school discipline are working. Those steps include eliminating zero tolerance policies, employing restorative justice practices, adopting the work of racial equity and using it as a basis of all work at OPRF across all disciplines and departments, educating staff on equitable practices and creating a culture where equity conversations are the norm. Other measures have included creating an office of equity and the position of executive director of Equity and Success, creating a trauma interventionist position, creating a behavior response grid that identifies all possible student misconduct and emphasizes restorative justice rather than suspension and adopting an in school reflection model that emphasizes the teaching of skills specific to the disciplinary infraction. Parker said fights are what typically lead to suspensions, and discipline for other, less serious infractions, such as vaping in school, are less racially disproportionate. Trauma, she said, is the root cause of many of the serious infractions, such as fighting, that lead to out-of-school discipline. 'We are addressing the root causes,' Parker told the School Board. School Board member Fred Arkin asked Parker to define trauma. Parker mentioned a whole host of factors including being shuffled between homes, lack of stable schooling, moving from school to school, different expectations at home versus expectations at OPRF, different reactions to the freedom of OPRF, and problems managing anger. Assistant principal of operations David Narain mentioned another key element of trauma. 'I would just definitely add a connection of some sort of violence, either being the victim of or being a witness to or knowing some people who have been impacted by violence,' Narain said. The report also pointed to the school's proximity to Chicago as a factor. Narain told the School Board that most of the students who commit the acts that lead to out-of-school discipline have some sort of connection to Chicago. 'Our in school analysis of the suspension data is that the students involved in these incidents carry trauma in their history and our personal knowledge of these students,' Narain said. 'That trauma is coming from the city of Chicago and when we compare data from students who have been in Oak Park their entire lives and are also students of color, we do not see the same behaviors manifesting and therefore do not see them present in the data of out-of-school suspensions.'
