We imagine a world where Lake Forest and Lake Bluff's public schools serve as exemplary models for North Shore school districts, producing consistently high levels of academic achievement due to a culture that promotes academic rigor, curricular integrity, operational transparency, and responsible budgeting.
To bring our vision to fruition, we plan to grow Parents Care into an enduring pillar of the community as an independent and non-partisan organization that provides academic, operational, and fiscal oversight and advocates for student-first policies and budgets.
UPDATE: Yesterday, we sent you an email concerning the below troubling story of a man on the sex offender registry being arrested for unlawful presence in a school zone. Our investigation into this story continues, and we wanted to share additional information we have discovered in the last 24 hours since we sent our email. We've learned that the man was charged because police believed he was on the grounds of the Lake Forest Park District and the preschool operating at that property, which is directly adjacent to Deer Path Middle School. This puts the man near the Lake Forest Park District, Deer Path Middle School, and the preschool (in Illinois convicted sex offenders are not allowed within 500 feet of a school). As you can see in the map below he was frighteningly close to DPM. Lake Forest Park District and School District 67's Deer Path Middle School share an area south of Deerpath Road in Lake Forest, This picture is taken from the Park District property where the man was apprehended, just a short walk to the Deer Path School playground. We believe District 67 has a duty to report this dangerous incident to parents. The presence of a registered sex offender near school grounds, especially in proximity to children, represents a potential safety risk that parents deserve to know about. Deer Path Parents deserve to know so they can ask their children if, God forbid, they had any interaction with this individual. Transparency and timely communication are critical in maintaining trust between the school district and parents. Reporting the incident would have allowed parents to stay informed and be vigilant, reinforcing the district's commitment to the safety of its students and community. By not reporting, the district risks appearing to downplay or conceal information that parents would consider critical to their children's safety, which could erode trust and confidence in the administration. We will continue to investigate this matter and share with you what we learn. Best regards, Parents Care.
October 03, 2024Dear Lake Forest & Lake Bluff Neighbors, "Better schools through community oversight." That is Parents Care's motto and what has motivated us daily over the past two years. The events that transpired in Lake Forest Schools involving yet another alleged child sexual groomer have reminded us all of the necessity of independent community oversight and the vital role you play in helping it succeed through your support.
August 29, 2024We are writing to inform you about a deeply concerning issue that has recently come to light. Thanks in part to the vigilance and determination of Parents Care and conscientious whistleblowers in the District, we were able to remove a potentially dangerous new District 67 hire under active police investigation from the classroom before he was given access to children. Yesterday, we submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to District 67, specifically seeking information about new hires, including a detailed inquiry into the background of Markise Jackson, a newly hired teaching assistant. In our FOIA request, we shared with the District, Board President, Superintendent and Human Resources lead a troubling news article discovered through our simple due diligence Google search. The article reveals that Mr. Jackson, a former teacher at Tremper High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, resigned in lieu of termination amidst a criminal investigation into "inappropriate conduct." According to the article, he is under active criminal investigation for inappropriate conduct with students by the Kenosha Police Department. Read the News Article (We did not make this information public yesterday in the abundance of caution and a desire to verify that the new hire was the same individual. We would have gone public today before the first day of school had the District not responded or acted.)
August 20, 2024
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