In a time when people lived in crowded cookie-cutter apartments, often with a bedroom over another, at night the upstairs resident taking off a shoe might drop it with a loud thud. Then those below would wait, as the saying goes, for the other shoe to fall.
These days, some Park Forest residents fear such a metaphorical crash could come with a possible dreaded announcement that Rich East High School will close its doors.
School District 227 officials will hold the final two community forums Tuesday as they attempt to gauge public sentiment for any of their six proposals for the future of Rich East in Park Forest, Rich Central in Olympia Fields and Rich South in Richton Park, the three high schools they oversee.
The meetings will be 1 p.m. at the district office, 20550 Cicero Ave. in Matteson and at 6 p.m. at Rich Central High School.
Last week, fellow Daily Southtown columnist Ted Slowik detailed the plans and problems of the district, the six options it has on the table and the hostility of Park Forest residents to any change that would close the community’s cherished school. For the record, these choices range from making Band-Aid repairs to all schools, closing one or more schools, building a new school or even moving two schools into the empty Lincoln-Way North high school building in Frankfort. All but the last option, district officials said, would boost property taxes.
The domino theory for the district goes like this: A steady decline in student enrollment over the past few years will lead to fewer dollars coming from the state that some three or four years down the road could mean the district would start to operate in the red. The result would mean higher property taxes for south suburban communities with some of the highest tax rates in the state.
For obvious reasons, Rich East seems to be in the line of fire. It is the oldest school, opening in 1953. It also is the school with the smallest enrollment — just more than 900 students — and the one that costs the most to repair. All this has raised anxiety and anger Park Forest residents.
Social media comments and community meetings have been crammed with complaints about the way District 227 officials are handling the process. While some voices argue for pulling the plug on the school, others push for community action of some sort to keep the doors open.
There have been numerous ideas thrown out. One proposed plan would turn all schools in the Park Forest, now in four different school districts, into one unit district, which would also include Talala elementary school in the Will County section of the village. Another suggestion would make Rich East, which was renovated 40 years ago, a national historic site, as was done with the pristine art deco façade of Bloom Township High School in Chicago Heights.
I have always maintained that Park Forest is a different kind of community and believe it has a strong core of citizens seeking to keep alive the viewpoint of its founders; that despite problems that may shock other communities to its roots, there is something in the work ethic of its citizens that keep them looking for answers, not bemoaning possible fates.
The case for saving Rich East is a combination of village pride and emotion. The building is a great focal point of the village as it sits along Sauk Trail, the most traveled road in town. To some, this 56-acre site is an appealing oasis along the busy thoroughfare in a long stretch of homes and strip malls from Western to Cicero Avenues.
For years, Rich East has been a point of civic pride for residents. Even if you lived in town but sent your children to other schools, Rich East was still the town school. Despite everything Rich East was, for many, a symbol of stability –— the bright star atop the tree. It was the school were opera star Dawn Upshaw sang, where actor Tom Berenger studied, where NBA star Craig Hodges shot baskets, where national champion Julius Mercer ran track, and the school from where our daughter graduated.
No one knows what the district will decide, but there are those determined to keep that second shoe from falling.
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