Progress Illinois

Parents and advocates in support of keeping West Pullman Elementary open called out Chicago Public Schools officials at a public hearing last night, asking if they've ever set foot in their school or its surrounding neighborhoods.

“Have you been there,” asked Susan Garza, a South Side resident and CPS counselor, after district representatives presented their case to the hearing officer. "Have you been to West Pullman? Because your portfolio is really impressive, but you haven't been there.” Read more »

Emmet Elementary School’s utilization rate is 66 percent, higher than a handful of other Austin neighborhood schools.

Even still, the Chicago Public Schools wants to close it at the end of the year, and that decision continues to puzzle some West Side community members and parents who spoke out against the action before Emmet’s final community meeting last night.

“Unfortunately we have an administration with this corporate ideology of privatizing education that uses our data to punish schools rather than use them as tools to go ahead and improve our children’s education,” said Dwayne Truss with the Austin Community Action Council. “And that’s wrong.” Read more »

Members of SEIU* Local 1 stood in solidarity with students and parents Saturday at the second and final community meeting regarding the phase out of Crispus Attucks Elementary School on the South Side and urged that their jobs be preserved.  

“If you close these schools down, you’re going to force us to go into another environment we’re not used to being in,” said Chris Scales, a custodian at the DuSable High School campus, who spoke on behalf of SEIU Local 1 workers in the Chicago Public Schools system. “We’re used to speaking to our students on a daily basis.”

Another SEIU Local 1 member Michele Clark, who works at Henry Clay Elementary, said schools are safe havens for children, and they shouldn’t close.

“I feel that the city is not doing what they need to do for these kids,” she said at the microphone with fellow union members by her side. “They are saying that they’re for the schools ... but I see none of that.”

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Menjiwei Latham said it’s been “horrible” looking for the right school for her special education student in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system. Her 11 year-old son, Paki, who has been diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), was placed in two special education programs before he found his place at Mahalia Jackson Elementary School.

Latham said few people understand the unique characteristics of her son’s genetic condition that causes intellectual disability and behavioral and learning challenges. But his teacher at Mahalia Jackson was able to boost Paki’s functioning abilities from a kindergarten level to a 2nd grade level in just two years, growth he didn’t experience at any other school.

“He’s seen wonderful progress here (at Mahalia Jackson),” Latham said. “He’s reading sentences, he’s completing worksheets, he never did any of that before and it’s really exciting.”

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