Brentwood Elementary School (260 Dulles Road, Des Plaines) will honor Alderman Dick Sayad and celebrate diversity and peace with a Peace Pole planting on May 1st beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the school.  The festivities start with a breakfast honoring Alderman Sayad for his outstanding support of Brentwood School and for his service to the community. An all school assembly will follow at 9:30 am.

A peace pole will be presented to Brentwood from the Community Character Coalition of Elk Grove. Students from Elk Grove High School with their teacher Jim Arey will represent the Coalition along with other Coalition members. The pole will be passed from the Elk Grove students to Brentwood representatives. Brentwood students will sing Let There Be Peace On Earth and will recite the phrase "let there be peace on earth" in several languages.

Brentwood's peace pole will be one of thousands planted around the world through the Peace Pole Project. Each pole stands seven feet tall and has four plates with the inscription "May Peace Prevail on Earth", each in a different language. Polish, Gujarati, Korean and English will be used on Brentwood's Peace Pole, as they are the languages most representative of the Brentwood community.

Brentwood's ceremony will also include student poems and stories about peace and what it means to them. Skits will be presented that highlight the multicultural nature of Brentwood's population.

Brentwood's principal, Wendy Allen stated, "This activity will be a wonderful way for us to celebrate the different cultures we have at our school and will foster understanding and an appreciation of the hope that Peace will prevail on Earth."