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Students and parents urge board to keep funding affinity groups and DEI supports
Summary
More than a dozen students and several parents told the board that affinity groups and diversity/equity initiatives provide essential support; speakers asked the board not to defund those programs or to remove key staff.
A sustained string of public‑comment speakers at the April 28 Community High School District 128 board meeting urged the board to continue funding affinity groups and district diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) supports.
Students, parents and club leaders from Vernon Hills High School and Libertyville High School described affinity groups — including the Black Student Union (BSU), Jewish Student Union (JSU), Muslim Student Association (MSA), LASSO (Latinx student group), Asian/Pacific Islander Union and others — as spaces that foster belonging, leadership and college readiness. Several speakers described planned college trips, state competition qualifications and student leadership developed through those programs.
Speakers included students Isaiah Collins, Kira (Kieran) Thomas, Emily O Chang, Kamara Harris, Charlotte Hill, Mikaela Bowling, Leila Rahmi, Hanan El Reyes, Leo Shifrin and others; Libertyville speakers included Andy Trobe and Tatiana Valdez and LASSO co‑presidents and participants. Parent and community speakers also described personal experience with the programs and urged continued investment.
The student speakers detailed concrete activities supported by affinity groups: planning college visits to historically Black colleges and universities, organizing cultural summits (Asian American/Pacific Islander and Latinx summits), hosting lunch‑and‑learns on responding to discrimination, and preparing students for state and national competitions. Several students said cutting funding would remove leadership opportunities and safe spaces; one student said the loss could prevent underclassmen from seeing college as an option.
Board President Jim Batson thanked commenters and said the board values student voice; the board did not take action during public comment. Speakers urged the board to consider the programs’ educational value and asked that funding and staff advocates who support the programs not be eliminated.
