College Professor Opposes 112 Referendum

The following letter was written and submitted by Gizella Meneses, a professor of Spanish at Lake Forest College.

As an educator at Lake Forest College, and with three children currently in the Highland Park School District, I am adamantly opposed to the D112 Referendum. While there are many logistical reasons to oppose the creation of the single “mega” middle school—including cost to the taxpayer, increased traffic, and the significant spike in student commute time—I wish to focus on a single issue: The learning environment.

Simply put, middle-school students benefit from small schools, and more-intimate pedagogical communities. No matter how much dazzling technology we place in a large school, and no matter how we mitigate the negative effects of a large school with smaller teams, there is still no substitute for the neighborhood school: a place in which a genuine sense of community can readily be established; in which all its members can potentially create meaningful connections; and, above all, a safe, familial environment for children in which human interaction remains the focal point. In other words, keep our schools as small, manageable, and close-to-home as possible for our children, and vote “No” on the D112 Referendum.

On a practical note, as a resident of the Highlands, the location of the school would create a serious traffic problem and a long, maybe the longest, commute for our children. Similarly, the Latino community of Highwood would also be greatly impacted; for example, how does a family with no transportation arrive to a fine arts’ night or a basketball game at the new “mega” middle school when you live Highwood?

I am not against a reconfiguration, but we need a plan that respects the values of our community. This isn’t it.