Good Wednesday morning, Evanston.
At Monday night’s District 202 School Board meeting, student representative Barbara Tomaradze, a junior at Evanston Township High School, told board members and administrators that the school did not take action against a former marching band color guard coach despite complaints of misconduct against the staff member.
That coach, Lorenzo J. Medrano, 61, was charged with child seduction in September for inappropriately touching a 16-year-old student at a high school in northwest Indiana where he also worked in recent years.
“Over the past week, a couple of articles have been going around about a prior ETHS coach that has been arrested for child seduction in Indiana, and it’s known that students at ETHS complained about this coach, but other fellow coaches protected him, and the complaints were dismissed and he kept working here,” Tomaradze said.
District 202 plans maximum tax boost, but may have to wait extra months for funds. Also during the same meeting, the board discussed the next tax levy.
Church pews could get a little more crowded for Evanston Catholics in the coming years if the Archdiocese of Chicago moves forward with possible consolidations involving four local parishes, as well as the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University.
In September, focus groups at St. Athanasius, St. Joan of Arc, St. Mary, St. Nicholas and Sheil began the complex process of reviewing various scenarios in which two or more parishes could merge.
On Monday, Evanston City Council members moved to end the longstanding practice of offering the first hour of parking for free in the city’s downtown parking garages, starting January 1, despite criticism from some on the council as well as the group that represents many local businesses.
Council members voted in support of the change, electing to keep parking free in the garages on Sundays — for now.
COVID by the numbers: Four new cases were reported yesterday in Evanston. The seven-day average is five.
An important note for newsletter subscribers: Some readers have been telling us that they’ve been getting the wrong emails in their inbox – instead of getting just a weekly email, they’re getting a daily email.
We’ve updated our preferences page to make sure that it’s easy to choose how often you hear from us. If you want to change your email preferences, here’s an easy fix: Click on the “Update preferences” link at the bottom of this email, check the box for the newsletters you want, and then save.
You can choose to receive the weekday newsletter plus the Sunday edition, or only the Sunday wrap-up. We’ll make sure to send you just the newsletter editions that you select. Thanks — and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused!
Elsewhere on the RoundTable website
Evanston Made’s holiday market opens, a space to ‘browse, buy and be delighted’. The market features a variety of handmade goods, including pottery, jewelry and wall decor available for sale, as well as several large art pieces, sculptures and paintings on display.
The art of making art: Carol Hammerman. Local artist Hammerman also teaches at Columbia College in Chicago, and she creates her work using all kinds of materials like metals, stone and wood.
Peggy Tarr: November notes. Our columnist reflects on the history of Veterans Day in the United States.
City of Evanston, police patrol and firefighter unions reach memoranda of understanding on staff vaccine mandate. Under the agreement, Evanston police officers and firefighters will have to show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing by November 15.
Around the web
NAISA reflects on anti-Indigenous hate on campus after Rock painting vandalized. Vandals defaced the Northwestern Rock Saturday night, which had previously been painted to honor Native American Heritage Month.
Chicago used the water supply as revenue, then punished those who can’t afford the cost. Thousands of Chicago homeowners, primarily in majority-Black zip codes, are in debt for missing water payments.
Comcast Xfinity internet outage created frustrating morning across Chicago — and the United States. Residents across the Chicago region and the entire country scrambled to get online Tuesday morning amid a Comcast outage.
In the United States, 25% of newspapers have ceased operation, and 2,000 community newspapers have closed in the past 15 years. The vacuum created when local journalism declines poses a serious threat to democracy. Our democracy relies on a free press to educate the public.
Through year-end, your donation to the RoundTable will be matched through commitments from national and local partners.
We have ambitious goals for the future – but we can’t do it alone.
Invest in Evanston. Invest in local non-profit journalism.
Like what you’re reading? Share it!
If you appreciate the RoundTable newsletter, please forward it to friends and suggest that they sign up!