District 205 Threatens Teacher of Challenged Content with Disciplinary Action
The board needs to hear from community members who support teachers and a strong public education.
A beloved teacher, Kelly DeLoriea, has been threatened with disciplinary action. While the stated reasons may differ, at the heart of the matter is that she dared to keep the works of Howard Zinn, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Linda Pastan in her classroom. But the Elmhurst community showed up at Tuesday’s school board meeting to show their support for DeLoriea and the freedom to teach. The teacher also spoke on her own behalf, and her comments are in full below. The district took “no action” Tuesday night which means this matter is currently unresolved. Please email boardofeducation@elmhurst205.org and kcampbell@elmhurst205.org with your support for teachers and a public education that helps democracy survive and thrive.
My name is Kelly DeLoriea, and I attended D205. My dad played football at York. My uncle was editor of the York Hi and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. My cousin Ryan just graduated with his own big dreams and bright future.
I attended Edison, Sandburg, and York. I swam, stayed on the high honor roll, was on NHS, an Illinois State Scholar, and on law team. My sophomore year, I won the Citizenship Award.
While student teaching in 2005, I sat in the Green and White as Illinois’ Junior Senator addressed York’s student citizens and future voters in a centrist and respectful speech.
Back in the 1980s, the district had decided to close Sandburg. My parents were PTA Presidents, so they fell into political activism. When the issue was put to referendum, I remember making buttons and canvassing with mom talking to neighbors about projected enrollment, building upgrades, and the value of a walkable, neighborhood school. I have vivid memories of scary dogs, rude comments, and being uncomfortable, and I remember asking “Why do we keep doing this?”
My parents’ responded by explaining American democracy – the idea that citizens go to the ballot box to determine the direction and choices for their communities. Firm believers in the marketplace of ideas, they felt it was essential that we develop the capacity to talk respectfully with neighbors about issues, even when we disagree.
Schools were polling places, and tall booths adorned with Stars and Stripes lined the hallway on election days.
My emerging consciousness that our democracy and our public schools were somehow connected began in my formative years as a student in Elmhurst, and I am reminded of that often in this social and political context and my role as a teacher at York.
Our public schools stand tall on foundational pillars of democracy and self-determination. They are a living, breathing apparatus predicated on the idea that all citizens need the requisite tools and skills to fulfill their individual potential AND participate in a healthy and sustaining democracy. The idea that schools are apolitical places requires a misunderstanding of our storied history. Many of our forebears have argued that education plays a critical role in the protection of democracy.
Thomas Jefferson opined that public education was “the only public institution capable of enabling. . . every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom.” Citing Jefferson in a 2006 Times piece, Education Professor Hank Rubin interpreted those words, writing “Just as a free press helps ensure the integrity of government, public education helps to ensure that democracy survives.”
I am heartened to see so many people here tonight who understand the close relationship between democracy and schools that public educators, Board Members, and citizens are empowered to uphold.
Folks willing to use their voice as everyday citizens to move the levers of power towards justice and fairness in peaceful and respectful ways, who value a marketplace of ideas, and who commit to civil public discourse. Citizens who believe in the Constitution and are willing to exercise their voices to defend those values and the choice to do what is right, even when it is not easy.
As I drove by Sandburg today, a crew was fixing the entryway, pouring concrete, and making improvements to the building in advance of students’ return, and I felt grateful. The question of Sandburg’s fate is probably long forgotten, and soon this meeting will be, too, but I have always believed in the power of this community to support and invest in instead of tearing down our schools. Thank you all for your time.