Dupage Policy Journal

Elmhurst District 205 parent Tom Chavez is calling out York High School for treating a hanging noose in a teacher’s classroom differently than a noose hung from bleachers at the football stadium last year.

Chavez points to a noose hanging in teacher Lindsey DiTomasso’s classroom as part of an art display. 

“We argued about political bias where the school has put everybody on notice that there they are trying to create an environment where everybody feels safe. It's just rhetoric," Chavez told DuPage Policy Journal. “Because a noose is offensive and a symbol of hate, and yet this teacher has been allowed to display it in her classroom."

Chavez said he sent an email to the superintendent, the York principal and the D205 Board of Education, that basically said, "Hey, this was a symbol of hate when it was hung in the rafters of a football stadium and was investigated as a possible hate crime. The Elmhurst police were called to investigate, and here you've got one in a classroom, so what gives? Where's the oversight?"

"I guess it's only OK to use a noose, which is a symbol of hate if it [is] aligned with your political beliefs," he said. "Obviously, when it's hanging over an American flag, it's being promoted as we're a country that lynches people or hates people. It's just complete nonsense and just doesn't have any place in any classroom, anywhere in District 205.”

Last year the Elmhurst Police Department launched an investigation after nooses were found hanging from the football field bleachers at York High School. In that incident, the investigation concluded the act was a protest by students over the mental health effects of COVID lockdowns. Messages accompanying two nooses read "Let them play!” and "Hear us now! Please!” No one was charged in the incident.

DiTomasso, a 1993 graduate of Hinsdale Central High School, has been a social studies  teacher at York High School for the past 22 years. She also currently serves as a staff coach for the Chicago Empire. She previously served as a head soccer coach for the women’s varsity team. DiTomasso began her career as a social studies teacher at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School.

DiTomasso has been accused of teaching Howard Zinn’s interpretation of American history – that Chavez sees as historically inaccurate, biased, and Marxist – in her classroom without an opposing text to provide a different perspective.

Chavez, who has been an Elmhurst resident for 16 years and has graduated two kids from the district and has a third in the school, said he disagrees with what he calls the lack of transparency the district has used in its decision making. He has been a frequent critic of D205’s administration. He noted the school has fallen victim to what he sees as a far left curriculum. He first noted a $46,000 contract between the district and Corwin Deep Equity training. In that instance a Freedom of Information Act request by Patch was turned down by the school district with Kathy Schmidt, the district's Freedom of Information Act officer, noting “the materials are valuable and protected trade secrets of Corwin.”