West Cook News

Oak Park and River Forest High School students will learn more next year about racism, "gender identity," immigration and social justice issues.

Those are the topics of books suggested for instruction May 12 by Laurie Fiorenza, Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning at the school.

Fiorenza submitted 27 books to the school board for consideration at a committee of the whole meeting.  It approved them unanimously, without asking a single question.

OPRF's English Division will purchase more copies of the book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.  

Fiorenza called the book a  "wonderful rendering of American history through the lens of equity and anti-racism."

"Several historical accounts that have been 'whitewashed' in history or ignored are now named and described in the text," she said.

OPRF will also purchase students copies of Malia Nunn's When The Ground is Hard, a story of a teenage lesbian breakup and makeup. It features the gay protagonist taking on bullies and vindictive and prejudiced teachers at a parochial school.  

Fiorenza recommended the book as a "well-written and engaging story of a girl in 1960s Swaziland who, while attending an elite private school, struggles with issues of class and race."

ABC LGBTQ

OPRF’s Advanced Placement (AP) English students will be reading The ABC’s of LGBT+ by Ashley Mardell and Forward: A Memoir written by lesbian soccer star Abby Wambach.  

“This sports memoir of one of the greatest women's soccer players of all time is honest and courageous as she shares her inner struggle to reconcile the various parts of herself," said Fiorenza.

OPRF's History Division will purchase and distribute Black Lives Matter at School, by Jesse Hagopian.  

The book offers generalized lessons on "institutional racism... ableism and disability, public education, prison reform, housing and employment, and healthcare," Fiorenza said.

The high school’s Instructional Materials policy says submitted books “should provide quality learning experiences for students.” 

Materials should “enrich and support the curriculum”, “promote critical reading and thinking” and “depict cultural diversity in an unbiased way.”  

Board members had no questions for Fiorenza, just praise. 

Board member Mary Anne Mohanraj called her choices “apropos to the moment.” 

Mohanraj writes and publishes erotic short fiction when she isn’t leading OPRF high school or teaching outside the district.

In 2014, OPRF high school adopted  stated goals including promotion of the Marxist concept of “equity” as well as “Transformative Teaching and Learning." More recently the board unanimously approved a ban on so-called “honors” classes.  

Fiorenza’s rationale for eliminating the practices of placing students in classes by ability included “the practice is racist and causes black and hispanic students to score lower on standardized tests.”    

In 2016 Phil Prale, OPRF Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction advanced 14 books, including the Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Citizen: An American Lyric, by Claudia Rankine, and Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosely. 

Prale himself recommended the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Sean Covey.  

A complete list of 27 new books for the 2022-2023 school years recommended by Fiorenza can be found here.

The list recommended by Prale in 2016 can be found here.

59% of OPRF students are proficient in math, 66% proficient in reading and 60% proficient in science according to USNews, which ranked college readiness of OPRF graduates at #1550 out of 17,843 schools ranked.