Officials have decided the make up of The DeKalb High School Task Force and have decided not to include high school administrators.

The task force, appointed by DeKalb High School principal Larry Stinson, contains 15 members of various ethnicities.

It includes two high school teachers, four students, five NIU employees and four citizens.

“This is an outstanding group of people,” said Larry Bolles, NIU’s judicial office director and the task force’s chairman. “Their credentials are impeccable.”

The goal of the task force is to investigate racial discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination among faculty, students and administration at DHS , Bolles said.

Stinson appointed the task force in response to a racially charged newsletter created by a group of black students and distributed throughout DHS in September.

The “E.G. Weekly.” commented on safe sex, military service and became threatening when it singled out specific students and used racial slurs, Stinson said.

Six students were suspended in the wake of the incident.

Although Stinson helped form the committee, he is not a member.

“He is a resource person. He assists us with space, he assist us with some material help if we need it, he assist us with writing materials if we need it, the logistics of things of that nature,” Bolles said. “But he is not a sitting member of the task force, and he does not and will not sit in on our investigation.”

Stinson and Bolles decided together to leave Stinson off the committee.

“I’m there to help them get their job done,” Stinson said.

He said he hopes the committee will help make DHS a welcoming place for all students. “That’s our goal,” he said.

Once the committee investigates, they will analyze the information and draw conclusions to form a recommendation for the superintendent and the Board of Education on any issues or concerns.

Bolles received information from community members expressing their concerns and has shared the information with the task force.

Bolles said he expects the investigation to wrap up around Dec. 17.

The task force plans to spend six to eight weeks surveying all of DHS’s students and parents, Bolles said. The survey’s exact process has not been decided.

The task force also will interview people “in the know,” Bolles said.

The task force’s first meeting was Thursday. Future meetings have yet to be scheduled.

In order to fully investigate discrimination issues, the task force meetings will not be open to the public.

“They’re private because it’s very important to protect the confidentiality of students and faculty,” he said.