Chicago City Wire

At its March 13 meeting, the the Flossmoor School District Board of Education called up several students to honor them for their efforts and success. 

They first recognized participants in the District 161 Spelling Bee. This was the first year since the pandemic that the district was able to hold the spelling bee in person instead of virtually, having all the schools come to Parker Junior High to compete. 

The board was told students practiced before and after school, and had taken the written spelling exam to qualify for the competition. Elementary school students qualified if they were one of the top two spellers in their buildings during the December Spelling Bee.

The January District Spelling Bee had the top 19 students from grades 4 through 8, who competed in a two-hour competition that lasted 11 rounds. The first-place winner was Jacob, a fifth grader at Heather Hill Elementary and the runner up was 4th grader Charles from Western Ave. Elementary. Jacob was entered into the South Cook regional spelling bee, in which he competed against 28 top spellers from the area and took 10th place.

The board also recognized their eighth-grade boys basketball team. Coach Ronald Wright, a sixth-grade math teacher at the junior high, presented his players before the board. The team was a repeat from their seventh-grade season and had an excellent season that led to them attending the Illinois Elementary School Association State Basketball Tournament. Wright called up Jeff, Jeremiah, Asa, Anthony, Christian, and Ryan, some of the players who were able to attend the board meeting.

“This was an incredible ride. Excellent, young men,” Wright said. “I had the privilege of coaching them two years. It's rare where I get to have a seventh-grade team that felt they should have went further. And then they got hungrier and hungrier and they worked harder and harder and they did everything I asked them to do. And they excelled at a high level. Many of them still in the classroom as well. So I'm extremely proud of this group.”

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the district’s YouTube channel.

The board also discussed a settlement for objections of property taxes.

The board will meet again at 6 p.m. on April 17 at Normandy Villa 41 East Elmwood Drive.