Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Superintendent Eric Olson is facing a coordinated campaign by a group of parents calling for the Board of Education to fire him in what public commenters said was a response to Olson’s attempt to move the date of a holiday-themed musical concert.
Another parent, however, is organizing district residents in support of Olson, and she characterized the parents that want Olson fired as a small but vocal group.
A few parents critical of Olson came to speak at the Nov. 17 meeting, saying they objected to a quickly-reversed decision to turn the Holiday Sing into a Spring Sing. But the meeting showed the scars of disagreement that had rocked the district earlier this year over COVID-19 protocols, masking and vaccination requirements.
After expressing her unhappiness with Olson’s communication around the Holiday Sing, public commenter Ashley Moran told the board, “you guys have already been sued because of choices he has made with COVID mitigation…. I ask you guys to realize [Olson] is more of a liability than he is an asset.”
Olson, whose contract was unanimously renewed by the board for another two years in August 2022, told Pioneer Press the initial move to change the Holiday Sing to Spring Sing was based on agreement among the district’s music teachers.
“[The music teachers] wanted to move forward with moving the Holiday Sing to a Spring Sing, so that it could be more representative of everything the students have learned throughout the entire year,” Olson said.
Olson added that he understood parent skepticism about the change and said the pushback might have been more intense because “since the pandemic, we all want to get back to normal,” he observed.
There were also the values of tradition and the fact that change is hard, Olson said. Ultimately, he said, he felt this year wasn’t the right time to move the event.
“I think it was going to be too disruptive for our community,” Olson said.
Families found out the Holiday Sing would take place as usual through a short district email.
“I understand there’s been some talk among families regarding the annual holiday sings at our elementary schools,” the email read. “Please know that the holiday sings will occur just as they have in the past, and particular details will be communicated by each school.”
The note closed with Olson inviting parents with questions or concerns to reach out to him.
Public commenters objected both to the way they’d been notified about the potential change, which they said was disrespectful and not transparent enough, and to the implications they saw in the change from Holiday Sing to Spring Sing.
Public commenter Peter Popovic speculated that Olson was “trying to get rid of Christmas.”
“Where did you decide that a holiday’s not a holiday anymore?” Popovic asked. “Either you’re a pagan, a satan worshipper, or downright evil.”
Some public commenters said they suspected the proposed change from Holiday Sing to Spring Sing was due to the influence of Ivette Dubiel, a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant who has been working with the district.
Commenter Danielle Fuksa said she was “shocked to know what this facilitator tries to preach to these schools and what she tries to come in and discuss.”
“I feel like that’s where [Olson is] getting these things where he wants to cancel the daddy-daughter dance, or not put Columbus Day on the calendar and then go ahead and cancel the Holiday Sing,” Fuksa said.
Olson told Pioneer Press he had recommended the district hire Dubiel after noting that she’d consulted for many of the district’s peers around the region and grouped her work with the district into two areas.
First was education on what the current diversity, equity and inclusion landscape is like in schools. Second was professional development around current laws and guidelines regarding teaching about race, gender and other identities.
“I would really say it was much more about being informative than telling people what to do,” Olson said.
District 64’s Freedom of Information Act Request log shows that there have been nine Freedom of Information Requests seeking information about the district’s Diversity and Equity Leadership Team and other diversity initiatives.
Earlier this month, a website calling itself Informed Parents of District 64 went live with posts about Dubiel, mathematics instruction at the district and books that address issues of gender and sexuality in young people.
A Pioneer Press reporter contacted the website author to ask for comment, but the website author would not reveal their name, and baiduhai/Pioneer Press policy prohibits using anonymous sources under almost all circumstances.
One District 64 parent, Megan Esterling of Niles, is organizing a group of parents who support Olson’s work in the district to attend and make comments.
Esterling, who teaches in Northbrook’s School District 28, pointed to a recent special education audit, the addition of full-day kindergarten and major construction projects in the district.
“I think right now we have an excellent superintendent who is keeping the focus on student growth, and also keeping the focus on continuous improvement in our district,” Esterling said.
She told Pioneer Press she thinks the critiques of Olson come from a small, vocal group of parents.
“These are public schools and they are for everybody,” she said. “And if [the district is] not meeting the needs of a very small group, then perhaps those people should go to a different, private school.”
The next Board of Education meeting is set for Dec. 15 at Jefferson School.