By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – A resolution is being drafted intended to make all school kids feel welcome in Unit 5, including so-called Dreamers, according to the district’s superintendent.

A month ago, Bloomington’s District 87 school board unanimously adopted a resolution embracing diversity and seeking to provide a welcoming and safe environment for all students and their families.

Like his District 87 counterpart, Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel said he’s heard some of the same fears from kids worried about their futures in the U.S. due to the divisive political debate about what to do with kids, whose parents are undocumented immigrants.

Daniel said learning should be students’ main concern.

“We’re always going to be first and foremost concerned with our students and their ability to come to school, feel as if they’re there for an education, and not to have concerns other than that. That is their purpose, to learn and to hopefully assimilate and be productive citizens,” the superintendent said.

School Board President Jim Hayek said he would entertain a declaration to make kids feel at ease, even though he considers Unit 5 a “fairly inclusive” district.

“We support all the kids of the district, regardless of where they come from, or their backgrounds. That’s the beauty of public education,” Hayek added.

Superintendent Daniel said there’s no timetable for a resolution to be presented to the Unit 5 school board. He said some of the same kids who lobbied in Springfield for an end to the budget impasse are helping draw up the resolution.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]