A pair of high school seniors learned the importance of a strong community when their social studies teacher took them on a field trip to study real-world civics.
Alan B. Shepard High School students Michelle Fernandez and Aiden Wright, both 18, shadowed Alsip trustees Monday night during a Village Board meeting.
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“For one of my assignments they had to attend a town hall meeting,” said Kelly Myron, who teachers U.S. government, Advanced Placement government and other courses at the Palos Heights school.
“I really like the project,” Myron said. “They learn how to address their town if they want a stop sign or something. This is the process.”
Wright, of Palos Heights, said he plans to attend the University of Illinois and study to become a constitutional lawyer.
“I’ve always had an interest in government,” he said. “I’ve always found local government especially fascinating. As I’m trying to discover future paths in life I think it’s best to experience them firsthand. This is a great opportunity.”
Fernandez, of Crestwood, said she plans to study nutrition at Benedictine University in Lisle.
“My neighbors go to town hall meetings,” she said. “I sometimes join them. We go together. They’re older. We try to stay involved.”
Fernandez and Wright sat at the dais and were introduced as honorary trustees for the evening.
“I’m just usually out there sitting, but now I’m up here, so it’s different,” Fernandez said.
A larger group of eight students was expected but several participants had to attend another school function, Alsip Mayor John Ryan said.
“We were supposed to have a student government night with a few more students and apparently the National Honor Society got ahold of those students at the last minute,” Ryan told the audience.
A large crowd packed the room where the Village Board meets. Many were Alsip police officers and members of their families who were there to see Officer James Tyszko promoted to sergeant.
Ryan administered the oath of office to Tyszko, who swore to uphold the constitutions of the United States of America and the state of Illinois to the best of his abilities.
The students were also able to witness Cook County Judge Patrick Brennan swear in three newly reelected Alsip trustees. Incumbents Richard Dalzell, Christine McLawhorn and Christopher Murphy ran uncontested in the April 4 consolidated election and are due to serve until 2027.
Village Clerk Renee Harding said Brennan handles foreclosures, liens and similar cases in the chancery division at the Daley Center. He previously worked as legal counsel for the Cook County sheriff’s office. He was first elected in 2006 and voters retained him in 2012 and 2018.
“Thank you for joining us this evening and for your service to the law that keeps us safe and protects our interests,” Harding said.
“This is really one of the great parts of the job,” Brennan said. “I like being here for these events. I really appreciate the invite.”
Fernandez and Wright were treated to an excellent display of how a unit of government can conduct routine business with professionalism and respect. The same cannot be said of many other communities in the Southland.
Students learn the three branches of America’s federal government are the executive, legislative and judicial. State governments mirror the model. At the local level there is not much of a judiciary, but the executive and legislative branches are active and important.
The village board or city council are the legislative branch. When trustees or alderpersons adopt ordinances by majority vote, they’re making laws that will govern the conduct of people who live and work in the community or visit.
The mayor or village president oversees the administration, which represents the executive branch. At the local level this often is led by a village manager or city administrator, and various chiefs or department heads oversee police, fire, public works and other operations.
The Alsip Village Board Monday voted on such routine orders of business as approving a $832,647 payroll to compensate village workers for their services for a period of about two weeks.
The board approved accounts payable of $567,801, meaning contractors and vendors who paved streets, trimmed trees or performed other work for the village were paid for their time.
Some might consider Alsip’s smooth handling of such routine affairs to be boring or uneventful. But boring is good in government. People should not take for granted when elected and appointed officials take their oaths of office seriously.
In Alsip, one gets the sense that people working for the village respect how they are paid by taxpayers and they try to do their jobs as efficiently and effectively as possible. Mayor Ryan, for example, was proud to show off a new police vehicle parked outside Village Hall and praised police Chief Jay Miller’s research that led to the purchase of six new Dodge Ram 4×4 pickup trucks.
“You’re going to see more of those outfitted the same way,” Ryan said. “With all the equipment officers have today, everyone loves driving a truck. I think it’s a practical piece of equipment to have.”
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I asked Fernandez and Wright what they thought about the status of American government.
“I feel like we’re in a very tumultuous time,” Wright said. “I think it will be interesting to see how politics evolves and changes over time, especially over the next few years.”
“We’re going to really see where this country is headed, what direction it’s going to go,” he said. “It’s really in the balance at the moment. It’s hard to say what’s going to happen. It’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen in coming days, even.”
Fernandez’s response indicated her understanding about the importance of living in a community where people care about and support one another.
“I think the past couple years, especially after COVID, we’ve been very separated,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of growing and building that we have to do together. I think we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.