Records show $621,204 was sent to Heinemann from River Forest district 90 school officials between 2016 and 2024 as literacy rates took a sudden turn for the worst. Heinemann is the publisher of the debunked Lucy Calkins Units of Study curriculum and its associated books for new classroom libraries. This figure does not include more money paid to Lucy Calkins and Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for consulting and training, and it doesn’t include the cost of all other curricular and instructional changes made in the name of “equity”.
Heinemann is one of the named defendants in a Massachusetts class action lawsuit that alleges “Ignoring this expert and research consensus about the essential role systematic phonics instruction plays in successful literacy education, Defendants published a raft of early childhood literacy products—such as curricula, teacher trainings, and alleged literacy assessment tests—that pay lip service to phonics at best and ignore phonics completely at worst.” Rates of learning literacy in River Forest began to decline immediately after officials started spending on “equity”. The district was quiet on the topic, refused to share details of curriculum changes with parents, and deceived parents with flowery phrases like “balanced literacy” and outright lies. Why so cruel to kids?
At the time, a handful of district 90 school officials were adopting a pedagogy focused on “equity” or limiting student learning. If it sounds barbaric, warning, it is. Less learning for K-8 students would ease the transition of those who eventually attend OPRF high school where separate standalone honors classes for freshman have since been eliminated. Under a superintendent that studies Marxist changes in education, OPRF’s 2023-2028 strategic plan names “racial equity” as its top priority and “transformative education” a close second. Students reported in a recent survey the new pedagogy was “teaching to the middle”.
The same records show school officials hired DEI social justice consulting firms National Equity Project in 2016 and Systemic Educational Equity LLC in 2024 with the documented total outlay of $251,543. The National Equity Project describes itself as helping to “transform systems into equitable, resilient, and liberating environments”, while Systemic Educational Equity, LLC is a full-service diversity, equity and inclusion consulting firm.
There is still confusion between the district’s two elementary schools over whether “social justice equity” means denying reading skills or teaching them. In 2024, Willard elementary school, stilling clinging to “balanced literacy”, has 44.4% of third graders not meeting expectations in English language arts, whereas Lincoln elementary, whose teachers fired Lucy independent of board and superintendent guidance, has just 13.9%. The total cost of the program aimed at denying students their full potential far exceeds $872,747, with one of the most costly losses the resignation of many experienced teachers. The district is closed-lipped on staff turnover under “equity”.
In 2024 River Forest district 90 reported their 9 month daily average attendance at 1263 compared to 1327 in 2016, having 216 full time employees compared to 165 in 2016, and total Educational disbursements/expenditures of $32.6 million compared to $23.9 million in 2016. (See source in data table)
It's E3, where equity still means fairness.
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