Having lived in Oak Park or River Forest for the last 21 years, I have grown used to the craziness that periodically emerges from the various governing bodies of their respective taxing units. However, even my jaundiced eye was taken aback by the proposal of District 200 board member Ralph Lee to subordinate the goal of attaining academic achievement for all students at OPRF to the goal of erasing the “achievement gap” between white students and black students. Elevating its eradication to the school’s first priority might make some sense if the achievement gap were a problem peculiar to OPRF, but it is not. Instead, the gap occurs rather consistently across the nation and is recognized by most who are objective on the topic as more of a cultural/economic phenomenon than an educational one.
Nonetheless, Mr. Lee intends by his resolution that OPRF devote extraordinary resources to solving a problem that is largely beyond its control. Or maybe what he is really proposing is to lower the overall performance of all students in the school, thereby closing the gap in Oak Park and River Forest without having to wade into the intractable societal problems that actually underlie this issue. Either way, this cannot be the desired approach of the majority of the taxpayers in District 200, who no doubt want to ensure that our high school serves the interests and needs of all of its students, not just the few, and who presume the school’s first priority will always be facilitating the highest academic achievement attainable by every student. Lee’s resolution will be disastrous guidance to the operation of the high school, and I certainly hope the Dist. 200 board rejects it resoundingly at its earliest opportunity.
Tom Cargie
River Forest