PEACE Center’s supportive approach boosts senior attendance at TTHS D205

An alternative school within Thornton Township High Schools District 205 is helping raise students’ attendance rates.

The PEACE Center uses a restorative justice, non-punitive approach to education at the district. It provides wraparound services, including counseling, behavioral management training, and connects students to social workers.

Attendance rates from PEACE Center seniors’ increased by 3 percent over the past three academic quarters, according to a report from Director of Colleges and Careers Tony Ratliff, delivered at the district’s regular board meeting on March 12.

Overall chronic absenteeism at the Center, in which students miss 10 percent of school days within an academic year, decreased in all grade levels by approximately 36.77 percent, according to Ratliff. 

School administrators credited the district’s PEACE Center for equipping students with the skills to improve their academic careers and secure employment in various areas.

“These [staff] have fostered a supportive school culture, encouraging students to attend regularly, stay engaged, and we remain committed to sustaining this upward trend and closing the attendance gap,” Ratliff said.

Official business 

The district is planning to add a new transportation supervisor, prompting plans for a new office space at the district’s central office in South Holland. The board approved the latest initiative by awarding Stretch and Sons Construction Company a $13,980 contract to complete the project.

The board approved a two-year academic calendar for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years.

The board unanimously approved a slate of trips for various extracurricular activities. Thornwood High School’s speech team will travel to the state finals in Peoria, staying overnight. Thornridge High School varsity baseball team will play in the Field of Dreams tournament in Dyersville, Iowa.

Public comment 

Superintendent Nathaniel Cunningham, Jr. assured a public commenter that the federal government had not undergone any changes during the Trump administration that affected the district’s funding.

Author Omar Yamini, who attended Thornridge, advocated for the district to help teens and adults expunge their criminal records. An Illinois law provides second chances to ex-offenders who completed high school or other academic programs while incarcerated. The legislation allows them to apply for record expungement and/or sealing without waiting years to finish the process.

“We would love to bring a program like this to the district to help remove whatever barriers these young people will face, because they will get denied on college applications because of these adult cases,” Yamini said.