Class is in on Veterans Day in D-300

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CARPENTERSVILLE – A majority of students in District 300 used to spend Nov. 11 at home, sleeping in and watching TV.

In general, the bulk of the students were not giving much thought to the true significance of Veterans Day, said Allison Strupeck, the district’s communications supervisor.

That will change this year, as the district conducts classes Veterans Day for the first time.

After consulting with various area veterans groups and conducting public hearings on the matter, the school board voted in January to hold classes on the holiday to make sure that students were learning about the significance of the day.

The district recently rolled out a list of age-appropriate activities for students at each building. Events include veterans reading to children in the lower grades, a professional World War II re-enactment at Hampshire Middle School, and lots of speakers from various wars.

“To maintain that support [from veterans groups], we needed to make sure our classroom instruction was meaningful on that day,” Strupeck said.

At some schools, virtually every class – from math to physical education – is putting some kind of focus on veterans in the day’s curriculum.

Some middle school students will go through a boot camp of sorts in their physical education class. Science classes at Jacobs High School will evaluate how DNA helps identify deceased individuals during wartime. Health classes at Carpentersville Middle School will learn about survival skills that would be needed in different environments, how to find food, how to take care of injuries, and how to combat mental fatigue.

“We’re in a time of war,” Strupeck said. “The meaning of the word ‘veteran’ is more relevant for schoolchildren. It should always be relevant, but it’s up to us to make it relevant.”

A previous attempt to start holding classes Veterans Day failed to get much support in the district in 2002. This time around, however, Superintendent Ken Arndt consulted various veterans organizations before floating the idea.

Instead of having the Veterans Day holiday off, the district will be closed Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. That move allows administrators to stay in line with previously approved union contracts that called for the day off.

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