Women still fighting for equality, as D203 situation demonstrates

Aug. 26,1920, is the day the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing white women the right to vote was certified. Only decades later did Black, brown, Asian and Native American women win suffrage.

Despite the vote, women still battle to control their own bodies, wages and working conditions. Their leadership in the public sector and labor unions is second to none, if only officials would listen to them.

So, when I read that Naperville District 203 teachers were once again begging for a raise, I was disgusted but not surprised. The vast majority of teachers, as well as nurses and librarians and their support staffs, are women. Most of them and their male coworkers are underpaid and undervalued even though Naperville’s highly rated status is because of them.

Why? Because the U.S. economy of capitalism was built on and still depends on the free or underpaid labor of women at home and in the workforce. Secondly, the federal government prioritizes using our tax dollars to fund wars over education and health care. This leaves states, cities and towns struggling to meet the needs of their residents.

Taxing homeowners to fund local public education is not the answer. This tends to pit home and small business owners against public schools and their unionized teachers and staff, who deserve quality wages and working conditions. Many retirees are struggling to maintain their homes for one, not to mention that younger Naperville workers can’t afford home ownership or the high rents here.

It’s past time for Naperville school districts and the Naperville City Council to look at the bigger tax picture, call on federal officials to prioritize public education and speak up in support of all workers who make our city great. It shouldn’t take another constitutional amendment or ordinance to give teachers what they earn and deserve.

Mary Ann Curtis, Naperville

Negotiating new deal with IMEA is the right way to go

Kudos to the Naperville City Council, which instead of voting to renew or reject the IMEA contract extension request instead agreed to negotiate a new deal with the electricity provider. Now all that remains is to work out environmentally sound sources for Naperville’s electricity when the current IMEA contract expires in 2035.

Good work NEST and to all who showed up at the council rally and meeting on the Aug. 19!

Barbara Lipkin, Naperville

Time to fight fire with fire when it comes to Trump’s tactics

We live in a country where the president of the United States is apparently allowed to call up governors and tell them to invent more Republican Congressional districts for him and then those governors respond by saying, “Yes, sir!”

This is a bald-faced, unabashed attack on the democratic values our country was founded on and the people of Texas are being betrayed by their Republican representatives. I am so proud that when the Democratic members of the Texas Legislature left their state to stop that redistricting, Gov. Pritzker and our neighbors right here in DuPage County welcomed them with open arms.

I am also heartened by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for a special election this November for California to also redistrict, but only if Republicans do so first. California is leading the nation in standing up to Trump’s authoritarian overreach, and I hope Gov. Pritzker and the people of Illinois will prepare to do the same.

We can’t simply lay down for a president who has already begun steamrolling our rights and freedom. We must be prepared, as Gov. Newsom says, “to fight fire with fire.”

Jill Grauman, Winfield

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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/29/letters-naperville-203-equality-contract-imea/