Updated 6/1/2021 9:25 PM
Two new state holidays approved by Illinois lawmakers last weekend will affect mostly state employees, and students and workers at public schools, if the bills are ultimately signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Legislators approved marking Juneteenth on June 19 every year, as well as making Election Day 2022 a state holiday, in separate bills during the final days of the legislative session. Pritzker is expected to sign both.
The bills would give state employees and school district employees the days off.
Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved Black residents in Texas learned from Union soldiers that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years before. Several cities, states and counties around the country have already designated the day as a holiday.
With union support, establishment candidates turn back critics of gradual school reopenings
Updated 4/7/2021 2:00 PM
Voters throughout the Northwest suburbs sent educators a message Tuesday for the most part endorsing the gradual reopening approach most districts have taken in response to the pandemic.
In school district after school district, candidates who put a priority on listening to the health experts were elected, apparently often with the help of teachers unions.
This was the case in Glenbard High School District 87, Stevenson High School District 125, Palatine-Schaumburg Townships District 211 and Northwest Suburban High School District 214.
But there were exceptions: In Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 and Barrington Unit District 220, voters split their choices between measured reopening candidates and those who were strongly critical of the remote learning environment.
Why pandemic drove so many challengers to run for school board Chanting Five days a week, Mary Anne and Kevin Sorensen of Aurora participate in a downtown Naperville rally by parents last month to urge school administrators to open schools on a full-time basis. Ryan Rayburn/for the Daily Herald
Stevenson High School students, parents and supporters rally at the Lincolnshire school for a return to in-person instruction in October. John Starks | Staff Photographer
Stevenson High School students, parents and supporters rally at the Lincolnshire school for a return to in-person learning in October. John Starks | Staff Photographer Students at Palatine High School pass through a temperature screening during the first day of hybrid learning in October.
Evanston Now
School elections: Why some are hot, others not
In search of an explanation for the packed race in one Evanston school district while the other lacks enough candidates to fill the ballot.
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With working conditions like those, it’s amazing that anyone would ever want to run for a seat on a local school board. Of course, despite all the downsides, there are huge upsides as well … the chance to positively influence thousands of young lives, work with interesting and dedicated people, and make your community a better place in which to live.