By Andrew Hackmack
District 13 officials paid tribute to Tress at last week’s board meeting, the first since his death. It was appropriate that the meeting was held at the Willow Road Elementary School, which his children attended and which is just a few blocks from Tress’s Franklin Square home.
School board President William Stris described Tress as a “longtime board observer.” He noted that Tress is quoted in meeting minutes as far back as 1952 and as recently as October. “He’s been active for 55 years in the District 13 and the high school district,” Stris said.
He added that he had known Tress since the early 1980s, when he was first elected to the District 13 board. In 1987, Stris presented Tress with a community service award on behalf of the high school district school board.
In the late 1960s, the student population began to decline and, Stris said, there was a strong movement in favor of closing North High School. Tress was on an advisory committee to the high school district, Stris said, which recommended keeping the building open.
District 13 had the same concerns with declining enrollment and surplus space a decade later. In 1979, Tress again served on an advisory committee, this time considering options for the four-building elementary school district. One option was to close Willow Road School, and the other was to sell the James A. Dever School to the adjacent Franklin Hospital. The committee recommended neither plan, and instead suggested that the school district rent out some space.
For years afterward, a portion of Willow Road was leased to the Norwood Park Nursery School. Stris said it was great foresight not to sell off a school, because the student population eventually began to grow and the space at Willow Road was reclaimed for the district.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Elizabeth Lison said it was sad not to see Tress in the front row last week. She described Tress as a self-appointed public relations person for the district. “He supported our educational system to the point where he bragged about it to the people in the neighborhood,” Lison said, adding that Tress backed the district’s budget every year, and would always speak positively of the school during the annual budget hearing.
Lison remembers the first time she met Tress. When she was appointed superintendent in April 2003, Tress came up to her, introduced himself, and got right to the point. “He told me what he expected,” Lison said.
What Tress expected, she explained, was continuously rising student test scores and for the district to provide clean and safe schools for its students.
Willow Road Principal Stephanie Capozzoli also recalls her first meeting with Tress when she came to the district six years ago: He shared similar expectations with her. She remembers his bringing her a plant and teaching her about the neighborhood. “I feel a real personal loss,” Capozzoli said, “but we have to carry on the legacy that he started.” She explained how important it was to Tress to be involved with the local community, especially the schools. He was also an active member of the Norwood Park Civic Association and a regular at the Elmont Public Library.
Maria Gregori, president of the Elmont Library Board of Trustees, said Tress was a regular at board meetings and library programs, and often used the library’s resources. Gregori said that Tress was instrumental in bringing the East Franklin Square Library District, which does not have its own facility, into contract with Elmont.
“He will be greatly missed,” Gregori said. “He was a very good friend of our library.”
If Tress felt that library officials were being criticized unfairly, Gregori recalled, he would always step up to defend them. Likewise, if he felt something wasn’t right, he would speak his mind. “When he wasn’t satisfied with something, he would let us know,” Gregori said, adding that Tress was always honest and fair.
District 13 board member Frank Chiachiere said that Tress was never afraid to speak his mind. “Ike, on more than one occasion, found it necessary to wait for me after a meeting,” Chiachiere said, and Tress took him “out to the woodshed” to talk about school district business.
Chiachiere said that while the two didn’t always agree, they shared a common ambition — to do what was best for the children of District 13. “Ike felt passionately about the schools,” he said.
Stris said that Tress always had an opinion, but was always fair and listened to both sides. He regularly offered a different perspective on any given topic of discussion. “He was a great guy,” Stris said. “I salute him for being an active member of the community. I know he’s up there looking down at us.”
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