CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The founder of the Village of Kenilworth 121 years ago, Joseph Sears, intended for the village to look like it does today: white. That has prompted more than 2,000 people to sign an online petition calling for his name to be dropped from the local school.
The petition was started by two graduates of New Trier High School in neighboring Winnetka, which is attended by students from Joseph Sears. And they have people talking.
Jack Yonover and Solomon Podorovsky spoke during a Kenilworth School Board meeting.
The petition said "for non-white people, Kenilworth has never been a hospitable place," and that dates back 121 years, to its founding by Joseph Sears.
"Kenilworth was founded in a manner that restricted diversity and that is something that unfortunately has continued to this day, whether there was intent from the residents across time or not," Podorovsky told school board members.
Yonover said, "re-naming the school would be a fantastic educational opportunity, because a lot of the kids that live on the North Shore don't understand the history of the North Shore. There's a reason that most of our neighbors are white and it's because of people like Joseph Sears who explicitly limited people who could buy houses and the residual effects of that."
School Board member Mia Casey Sachs said during the meeting, "We need to create a process to examine this in more detail and collaborate with the broader community to come up with a solution."
She said it might be uncomfortable at times.
Board member Stephen Potter said, "This is a great moment for our community to come together through Sears and to really embrace the moment."
And board member Lisa Metzger-Mugg applauded the students, saying, "I'm feeling very hopeful. I'm also feeling very encouraged."
The Board President, Evan Lukasik, said the board has heard the concerns.
"We are committed to creating and promoting a culture of inclusiveness and that includes examining our history, examining our name during the process," he said.
Some Kenilworth residents have been discussing the issue on the hyper local website site, "NextDoor." Some have argued that changing the name would take away from the heritage of the village.
