Dupage Policy Journal

Awake Illinois Founder Shannon Adcock is highlighting recent reporting on poor academic achievement levels by this generation of elementary school students. 

Noting a recent Wirepoints study, Adcock said harsh Covid protocols and increasingly politicized environments have led to diminished achievement levels. 

“Pre-Covid, approx 30% of Elmwood Elementary students were not proficient at reading and math," Adcock told DuPage Policy Journal. "Post-Covid, Naperville parents are understandably worried about the learning loss from virtual learning as well as activism replacing academics. Studies show that districts which implement social justice and equity plans tend to result in a downward trend in academic performance over time.” 

Naperville Community Unit School District 203 pays salaries averaging nearly six figures for teachers, annual raises between three and four percent and provides other benefits such as subsidized insurance and pensions despite slipping performance. The teachers union recently signed a new contract with Naperville CUSD 203 but "additional information regarding the agreement will be shared pending ratification by the NUEA membership and approval by the Board of Education,” Wirepoints reported.

Naperville 203 was recently caught up in a scandal when a parent complained about a male teacher known to wear fingernail polish to class, prompt children to consider altering their pronouns and reading a book aloud to his class in which a father teaches his son how to wear a dress, according to Dupage Policy Journal. 

Naperville 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges noted his disagreement with the characterization in a previous article but failed to point out any inaccuracies, Dupage Policy Journal noted. 

Awake Illinois has also recently been keeping an eye on drag shows. Its Awake Downers Grove chapter has issued a call of action and started an email campaign against a drag show scheduled at Downers Grove Public Library which is open to grades 7 to 12.