And let me tell you, it was a scruffy looking cast, with every third guy sporting a substantial stubble. “For the role,” as they say in Hollywood.

But while those cast members had to avoid the razor for a couple of weeks, senior Tanous El-Kareh had to submit to it.  Sylvi Re, the head of makeup and costumes, shaved the top of his head in an effort to create  an aged look for his character, The Boss.

The play will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 2, in the school’s  Clarence Johnson Auditorium.

The production is inspired by the Federal Theater Project of the 1930s, said director Demetrios Pappageorge,  an English and drama teacher at the school.  The FTP used federal money to put labor-theater groups to work, and the result was often a bare-bones style.

In addition to performing the challenging script, which includes strong language and situations of racism and violence, students will confront the demands of building sets out of crates, blankets and planks while the show progresses.

The show is also a culminating event for U.S. History and sophomore English classes, which study the Great Depression and Steinbeck’s controversial novel.  Students in these classes will see the play as an in-school field trip on Friday morning.

The D99 board will vote on the matter at its March 15 meeting at 7 p.m. at South High School. An e-mail circulated by parents indicates the agenda item described as “a resolution authorizing notice of dismissal to non-tenured final year probationary teachers” refers specifically to Klamm and will require a roll call vote of the board.

This is appropriate, given the substantial support for Klamm from students, parents and teachers. After all, the board in this case — as with all district personnel matters — is the court of last resort.

In the vast majority of cases, school boards routinely take the administration’s recommendation on which teachers to cut loose and which to award with tenure. But Klamm’s case is different: The stakeholders are demanding to be heard on the sort of teacher they want in their school.

Any parent will recognize that it’s exceedingly rare for dozens of Downers Grove residents to agree so completely on a teacher’s  effectiveness. In fact, I can’t recall ever hearing this sort of consensus on any tenured teacher over the last dozen years my kids have attended Downers Grove schools.

“This isn’t controversial at all,” Claire Marich, a DGN mom told me. “There aren’t 50 people on one side and 50 on the other. It is with one voice that the community is speaking here.”

The question is whether the community will be heard.

I’ve observed our local boards for years and there are dramatic differences in how they respond to the voice of the people.

Both the village council and park board routinely hear from the public and, on occasion, respond affirmatively to the input they receive.

Even when they chose not to — as in the village council’s recent decision to suspend Heritage Fest or the park board’s decision to approve cell phone towers in parks — our elected officials feel compelled to explain their decision, often at considerable length.

Our local school boards operate differently. In the first case, there are generally few residents who attend meetings and even fewer who address the board. In no case that I’m aware of has public fervor significantly impacted a decision by one of our school boards.

In large part that’s because most school board members embrace the role prescribed by the Illinois Association of School Boards, an interest group. They hire the superintendent. They set policy. They don’t micromanage.

Unfortunately, they also don’t initiate. And they generally are loathe to reject the recommendations of the administration.

In a town like ours, with competent, dedicated and level-headed top administrators, that generally isn’t a problem. Unless or until a situation like the Andy Klamm case sparks the interest and concern of so many.

Like it or not, the Klamm situation is raising serious questions, and the repercussions are likely to extend beyond this particular incident.  Many parents are wondering whether the schools they support in myriad ways are open to their input. Teachers are questioning whether they want to spend their careers in a climate of compliance. And the DGEA is asking the administration to clarify its definition of an “excellent teacher.”

Then there is the administration, which seldom experiences such scrutiny over its decisions.

Come Monday night, the D99 board also will on display as members decide Klamm’s fate. Residents will want to see whether the public outcry has impacted members’ deliberations — whether in this case they see themselves as servants of the administration or as the public servants they were elected to be.

Lord Roger Bramble, the deputy lieutenant of London, surprised marching band members today with an invitation from the queen to perform at the 2011 New Year’s Day Parade in London. He was accompanied by Bob and Geraldine Bone, the parade’s directors.

The invitation makes North one of approximately eight high school and college bands to be so honored.  The South High band performed in the parade in 2005.

As parades go, it’s a bloody behemoth: 10,000 performers from around the world, a street audience of 500,000 and a television audience numbering tens of millions.

“This prestigious invitation, offered to a small handful or college and high school bands in America each year, honors the hard work, dedication and musicianship of our students,” said Brayer Teague,  North’s fine arts department head.

“It also recognizes the tremendous support our school enjoys from parents and guardians. To each we send our congratulations and gratitude.”

North ranked 1,242 out of 1,500 schools, outpacing Naperville Central, Naperville North,  Hinsdale South and Glenbrook South. Its “Equity and Excellence” rate — the percentage of all graduating seniors who scored a three or better on at least one AP test whether or not they took an AP class — was 28 percent versus the average of 15.2 percent for all schools.

For purposes of the rankings, Newsweek also considers the number of International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests administered by schools. According to the magazine’s Web site, a score of  “1.00 is a modest standard” which can be reached if  “only half of its students take one AP, IB or Cambridge test in their junior year and one in their senior year.”

However, only five percent of an estimated 27,000 American public high schools met that standard, according to Newsweek. Clearly, the mag is a big proponent of AP classes. This from reporter Jay Mathews:

“To send a student off to college without having had an AP, IB or Cambridge course and test is like insisting that child learn to ride a bike without ever taking off the training wheels until the day you send the kid onto the city streets alone. It is dumb, and in my view is a form of educational malpractice.”

It’s an interesting point of view, but one that may not fly here in Downers Grove. How about it? Do you feel AP courses should be an essential part of each kid’s high school education? And if your child has taken and passed AP tests, were they honored by their college of choice?

I heard of one outstanding 2009 graduate who will enter a selective college as a sophomore this fall due to the number of AP successes he racked up at North. One the other hand, the son of an out-of-state friend had to repeat physics in college despite a high AP test score because his school preferred to keep their engineering students matriculating in lockstep.

Clearly, most of us wouldn’t mind shaving a year off the exhorbitant college tab, but does it really work that way? Inquiring minds want to know.