Diversity issues at DHS to be featured on Channel 7 news

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DeKALB - A segment on DeKalb High School's efforts to better handle issues related to racial diversity at the school could run as early as today on Chicago Channel 7 news. WLS-TV Assistant News Director Janet Hundley said the story had been scheduled to run today, but could be held due to breaking news and continuing coverage of Hurricane Rita and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "For whatever reason they decided to not run the story they were going to originally run," DeKalb High School principal Lindsey Hall said earlier this month. "They came back (the week of Aug. 29) and wanted to do a follow-up on what seemed to be a negative story on how we are addressing the story." Racial tension at the high school last year prompted district administrators to create a task force to study diversity. The task force issued a report in January that made numerous recommendations and found that the school "failed to communicate a clear, consistent message as to inclusiveness and discrimination." Hall said she and high school teacher Sue Wong were interviewed by the television station. Wong is heading a new group, Project Breakthrough, which came out of the initial diversity task force. Project Breakthrough is working on addressing some of the issues brought up by the task force, such as creating a set of core values for the school and conducting diversity training. On Tuesday, the school board agreed to an additional expenditure of $100,000 to continue diversity training and consultation. Hall, who is in her first year as the high school principal, said she was touring the school during her job interview when the news team was initially at the school. Aracely Hernandez can be reached at ahernandez@daily-chronicle.com.