Vote on Morris High School mascot tabled again

MORRIS – The debate among Morris Community High School District 101 Board members whether to change the name of the school mascot will go on for at least another month.

For the second straight month, the board tabled a vote on changing the mascot.

However, Monday night’s board meeting saw some discussion that had most involved encouraged.

“This is the most discussion at one time that we’ve had on this,” District 101 Superintendent Craig Ortiz said as board members spoke about what they would like to see before taking a vote.

In the end, it was decided that the board will call a Committee of the Whole meeting – meaning that all board members will attend – sometime before the next scheduled board meeting, which is Dec. 13.

The main point of contention did not appear to be whether to change the name of the mascot. The questions seem to be how and when to implement a change.

“We will call a Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the mascot,” Ortiz said. “Hopefully, we can come out of it with a plan that everyone can be OK with.”

Board members Mike Wright and Matt Eber were the most vocal in needing a comprehensive plan, not only for when a possible name change would take effect, but also what disciplinary action might entail for students not wishing to follow the new rules.

Board member Suzy Brown pointed out the mascot name change didn’t just come up this year.

“It’s been about eight years coming,” she said. “I don’t think we want to hurry a decision that has been eight years in the making and do it without a proper plan.”

Like last month’s meeting, there was no shortage of public participation. However, during the public participation segment of the meeting, more time was devoted to SB 818, a bill ratified by the Illinois Senate and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker that will require schools to, among other things, teach students about LBGTQ+ individuals as well as gender identity. Those who spoke about SB 818 all asked the board to opt out of teaching the courses required by the bill. Dr. Dan McDonald spoke about the board’s policy about dual credit courses, asking the board to clarify language in the policy.

The board announced its intent via a 7-0 vote to sell $1.55 million in working cash fund bonds to increase the working cash fund. Also by 7-0 votes, the board approved a tentative tax levy; approved a revision to the Honors Recognition Program criteria; and approved the creation of a business manager position starting in the 2022-23 school year. The board also approved the assignments of four assistant coaching positions: Justin Martin as volunteer assistant boys basketball coach; Rebecca McKee as assistant track coach; Jen Price as assistant track coach; and James Farber as assistant track coach.

“Right now, our honors program criteria take into account quarter grades,” Ortiz said. “We are going to just go with semester grades from now on.”

Ortiz talked about winter weather-related emergency school closures. He said the district has five of them built into the calendar.

“We hope we don’t have to use them, but there are five,” he said. “We would use an e-learning model, which is different than the remote learning we used last year due to COVID. Remote learning was much more structured. The e-learning schedule will be more relaxed. We know there may be power outages, kids might have to go out and shovel snow, lots of different things, so we aren’t going to make them be logged on bell to bell.”

Principal Michael Gourley announced there will be a Veterans Day program at 2:10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, at the school. Other dates announced were an XHS dismissal on Nov. 17, Thanksgiving break Nov. 24-26, madrigal dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 4, semester exams Dec. 20-22 and winter break Dec. 23-Jan. 4.