No New Trier Seminar Day In 2018

WINNETKA, IL — New Trier High School administrators want to move away from an annual all-school seminar day, returning the event to its previous schedule of once every several years, the district's board of education was told last week.

At an April 17 board meeting, the school's administration presented feedback from this years event and said attendance numbers and student surveys from this year's controversial Feb. 28 event were positive.

Assistant Superintendent Tim Hayes reported the results of those surveys and focus groups, describing them as "highly positive." He said overall attendance was up 12 percent at this years event.

Although the subjects of previous seminars have differed, New Trier held days of seminars for students on issues relating to racism and civil rights in each of the previous years.

In 2016, the event was criticized in right-wing media outlets. Then, ahead of this year's event, a group including some local parents protested the event. It accused the student and faculty-organized event of radical left-wing bias and asking for the event to be modified or cancelled. Hundreds of people packed the auditorium at the school's Northfield campus for a Feb. 20 meeting to offers their opinions on the event.

Heading forward, although the school does not intend to hold an all school event focusing on civil rights or racism next year to coincide with the observation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, the New Trier administration will continue to look for ways to incorporate discussions about race into its curriculum and professional development in many different forms, Hayes told the board.

New Trier plans to hold classes on Martin Luther King Day next year. Hayes told the board class periods could be slightly shortened in order to make room for a longer morning advisory period that day. While he said it was important to have some acknowledgement of the significance of the day, it should be balanced with care for the anxiety of students, especially freshmen, about preparing for upcoming exams.

Superintendent Dr. Linda Yonke said next year's MLK Day curriculum is still being worked out.

“The whole point [of] this discussion [is] we want to get away from the idea that the only time we talk about race is on a special day,” she said.

Board members appeared broadly supportive of the administrators suggestions to return to the previous format of holding such seminar days every two to five years, which it has done since the early 1990's, school administrators said.

» Watch Video: New Trier High School Board of Education April 17 Meeting

» Read More: School board meeting targeted by supporters and opponents of New Trier High School's "racial civil rights" curriculum.

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Top photo: New Trier High School Superintendent Linda Yonke