An online community for people living in and around Oak Park, Illinois.
Calling on current and former District 97 Parents
Some of you will recall the discussion here within LiveHereOakPark.com a few weeks ago about the topic of LGBT awareness/diversity training for parents and teachers at Beye school.
There is an attempt to get as many current and former D97 parents to sign a letter-to-the-editor showing support for Beye school and D97's diversity initiatives. The whole email is pasted below. If you support the statement and are a current/former parent in the district, please send an email with your name and affiliated school to D97familieswelcomediversity@gmail.com
------------Copy of Email----------
Dear Current/Former District 97 parent;
As you may know, one of our local schools (Beye School) has come under anti-gay attack for providing teacher in-service presentations with materials furnished by the Illinois Safe Schools Network.
For more information, see articles in the Wednesday Journal and the Oak Leaves.
Do you agree with the following statement: “We the undersigned, as current or former District 97 parents believe that that differences in culture, religion, ideas, and ethnicity contribute to the strength and richness of our community and our country. We support District 97 in its mission to meet the needs of a diverse population. Therefore, we applaud efforts in our schools to create a safe, secure, respectful environment for all students, staff and families, such as the recent initiatives at Beye School.”
If you agree, please do two things:
1. Send an email to D97familieswelcomediversity@gmail.com, stating your willingness to have your name attached to the statement above to be submitted to the Wednesday Journal and the Oak Leaves as a Letter to the Editor. Please include your name and which school your child/children attend(ed). For example: John Smith, former Mann School parent
2. Forward this email to all of your friends who are current and former District 97 parents. If you are on Facebook, please post it there. Please also be sure your spouse/partner has an opportunity to sign on.
The goal is to have this go viral and submit the bolded text as a Letter to the Editor to both local papers with hundreds (even thousands) of signers representing every District 97 school within a week.
Can we do this? Yes we can!
Thank you for reading and pass it on!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brooke Randazzo Eggert on -
Are you organizing this Jasson? If so, thank you!! I've posted on FB.
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Permalink Reply by John Metzger on -
Thanks for sharing this, Jassen.
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Permalink Reply by Jassen Strokosch on -
Just a quick update on this from one of the organizers who asked me to share here:
More than 250 names were gathered in less than 48 hours, representing every District 97 school! In order to have the LTE published in the 2/3 edition, the Wednesday Journal asked for the list of signers by 10:00 tonight night. (I had this conversation w/ the editor of that section at 9:30 tonight; I didn't actually email the files to him until 10:45!!! I thought we would have until sometime this weekend!!!) The Journal does not have room for all of the names in the print edition, so what might happen is a handful of names "above the jump" and the complete list online at their website. Many many thanks to everyone who responded so quickly and helped this go viral! We sincerely hope that we did not inadvertently misspell anybody's names. Also, a few names might have been missed. Some people did not include the names of D97 schools their children attended. In order to insulate the statement from possible charges (however spurious those charges would be) of "interference by non-stakeholders", the list of signers was limited to those who identified themselves as D97 parents or students. We are hoping that the Wednesday Journal will allow us to add more names to its website.
We will contact the Oak Leaves to see if they will also run the LTE for publication.
(Maybe the entire list of signers could be posted on Live Here Oak Park?)
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Permalink Reply by John Metzger on
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I don't understand the reason for not listing the names of people who supported the cause, just because they didn't list a school. Anyone who resides in Oak Park is stakeholder, regardless of whether or not they ever have had children in the public schools. Property owners pay taxes that support the schools; Renters pay rent to landlords who pay taxes that support the public schools.
I don't know how many people didn't list a school, but I would try to verify where they live. If it's in Oak Park, they should be included, no?
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Permalink Reply by Jassen Strokosch on
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It is a great point John. I think the issue is that with the very tight timeframe, verifying anyone just wasn't feasible. Therefore the benchmark just had to be if they listed a school. Had people even said, "Oak Park resident" it would have been fine or if there was more time to follow-up but that just wasn't the case.
John Metzger said:I don't understand the reason for not listing the names of people who supported the cause, just because they didn't list a school. Anyone who resides in Oak Park is stakeholder, regardless of whether or not they ever have had children in the public schools. Property owners pay taxes that support the schools; Renters pay rent to landlords who pay taxes that support the public schools.
I don't know how many people didn't list a school, but I would try to verify where they live. If it's in Oak Park, they should be included, no?
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Permalink Reply by Bob Walicki on -
Hey
Great job with this. The results are pretty impressive. Our little ones aren't in school yet, so following the instructions by the letter I didn't send an email of support. But, I'll be keeping an eye on this issue considering that we're less than 7 months away from being D97 parents!
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Permalink Reply by Jassen Strokosch on
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Well Bob, 7 months is right around the corner. Guess it's time to add you to some fundraising lists :-)
Bob Walicki said:Hey
Great job with this. The results are pretty impressive. Our little ones aren't in school yet, so following the instructions by the letter I didn't send an email of support. But, I'll be keeping an eye on this issue considering that we're less than 7 months away from being D97 parents!
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