NT_050318

14 | May 3, 2018 | The Northbrook tower news
northbrooktower.com
Glenbrook District 225 Board of Education
Proposed security procedures could bolster safety at GBN, GBS
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
Superintendent Dr. Mike
Riggle provided members
of the Glenbrook High
Schools District 225 Board
of Education with a comprehensive
list of safety
and security recommendations
for Glenbrook North
and Glenbrook South at
the board’s Monday, April
23 meeting.
Riggle began by saying,
“I want the community to
recognize this is an ongoing
effort,” but, he pointed
out, “there is an urgency”
in the aftermath of the Feb.
14 shootings at Marjory
Stoneman High School in
Parkland, Fla. that took 17
lives.
“There will be the same
protocols and the same
training with students
at Glenbrook North and
Glenbrook South, with
the grammar school districts
in the area and with
the Glenview and Northbrook
police and fire departments,”
he continued.
“We’ve got a lot of things
that are happening. To
share things in detail (with
the public) would in itself
be a compromise in our security.”
Riggle told the board the
District 225 administration
is making the following
recommendations to be
implemented prior to the
2018-19 school year:
• that a new districtlevel
position be added to
oversee all safety and security
efforts for all district
facilities
• that adequate security
coverage be maintained
for after-school and
weekend events (a measure
that was approved
at the board’s March 23
meeting and implemented
April 2)
• that all district employees
be required to wear
identification badges
• that visitors during the
school day be required
to wear an identification
badge that differs from
those worn by district employees
• that a task force be established
to carefully study
improvements that can be
made to district facilities
and develop a three-year
strategic plan for facility
improvements to be approved
by the Board of
Education and incorporated
• that the volume and
quality of safety signage
at all district facilities be
improved
• that the existing telephone
system in all district
facilities be optimized and
that staff training be conducted
• that all administrators,
administrative assistants
and staff who supervise
student movement carry
two-way radios
• that the mass communication
system be explored
and expanded to
allow text messaging to
students during emergencies
In addition, the administration
is asking
for the establishment of
a Building Safety Advisory
Committee made
up of a cross-section of
school personnel, teachers,
parents, students and
first-responders from the
Villages that serve the
schools to review and discuss
various aspects of
school safety and security.
Board elects leadership
structure
Skip Shein was elected
to serve his ninth consecutive
one-year term as
president of the Board of
Education; Bruce Doughty
was re-elected and will
serve his second term as
vice-president; and Dr.
Rosanne Williamson was
elected to serve her 10th
consecutive term as secretary.
All three ran unopposed
and each candidate was
elected by unanimous
vote.
GBN student shares
powerful story
During the Glenbrook
Stories segment of the
meeting, board members
got to know Michelle Rogoff,
a charismatic GBN
senior, who was one of the
founders of the school’s
Women in Business Club
and is active in the incubator
program DECA, formerly
known as Distributive
Education Club of
America).
Rogoff was diagnosed
with Hodgkin’s lymphoma
prior to her sophomore
year, but that didn’t daunt
her. She started Michelle’s
March as a fundraiser for
the Leukemia and Lymphoma
Society and it
raised more than $50,000;
and in the aftermath of
her recovery, she counsels
cancer patients.
Rogoff said her life experiences
have helped her
realize “what’s really important
in life.” She wants
to continue to find ways to
empower her female peers
in business classes and
hopes to someday run a
company and spearhead a
nonprofit organization.
She joined the board
meeting via FaceTime
from Atlanta, where she
was pitching her business
and philanthropic ideas
at the April 21-24 DECA
International Career Development
Conference.
DECA is an international
association of high school
and college students — as
well as teachers of marketing,
management and entrepreneurship
in business,
hospitality and marketing
sales, and service — that
prepares students for careers
in these endeavors.
Northbrook/Glenview D30 Board of Education
Wescott principal, Maple students celebrated for achievements
Todd Marver
Freelance Reporter
The Northbrook/Glenview
School District 30
Board meeting on Thursday,
April 26, was full of
celebration.
Wescott School Principal
Dr. Chris Brown was
recognized for earning his
doctorate degree, and the
Maple School debate and
science teams were recognized
for recent successes.
“There’s some cake over
to the side,” said Superintendent
Dr. Brian Wegley.
“That’s to celebrate the
accomplishment of one of
our colleagues. We are celebrating
the culmination of
a whole lot of work by Dr.
Chris Brown, who has just
successfully defended his
195-page dissertation after
completing all of his doctorate
work, and he defended
that yesterday morning
and successfully did so.”
Brown also celebrated
his accomplishment with
Wescott students earlier in
the day.
“Today, we got to parade
him through the wonderful
Wescott School as his students
chanted ‘Dr. Brown’
and gave him high fives,”
Wegley said.
The Maple debate team,
coached by Christina Shin,
was recognized after several
members excelled at the
North Shore Middle School
Debate League tournament
at Wilmette Junior High
School earlier in the year.
The team includes Yoonsol
Cho, Moses Chua, Sky Elliot,
Alex Gabriel, Ishrak
Jalaluddin, Kelly Kim, Darshan
Kommanapalli, Theresa
Lee, Ryan Lim, Kalen
Mehta, Jack Miller, Tom
Mitchell, Irene Park, Sammy
Schwartzberg, Catherine
Tang and Nathan Yoon.
“My students have been
so inspiring to me,” Shin
said. “From seeing them
at their first debate tournament,
they were nervous
and they were definitely
novices. I remember coming
out of these tournaments,
they would then tell
me how they loved it. Getting
that trophy or medal,
they wanted to come back
and they wanted to get better.”
Shin added that students
learn life skills from competing
on the debate team.
“You research, you do
a lot of critical thinking
and you learn such important
skills,” she said. “A
lot of these students may
not have been that natural
debater, but they’re really
coming into their own.”
The debate team recognition
was personal for board
president Chuck Gitles. His
son, Brandon Gitles, who is
now a senior at Glenbrook
South, helped start the team
as a student at Maple.
“My son, who graduated
from Maple four years ago,
was one of the instigators
of the Maple debate team
and went to (Maple principal)
Dr. (Nate) Carter and
said, ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea
for a debate team,’” Chuck
Gitles said.
Brandon Gitles has been
a member of the GBS debate
team for the last four
years, and his father challenged
the current Maple
debaters to follow in the
footsteps of his son.
“He is right now in Lexington,
Ky., at what’s called
Please see d30, 23