Monday night, March 26th, in Senn High's gymnasium - no, I wasn't there to play basketball but hardball with Alderman "Admiral" Smith (who brought Rickover to Senn) - saw a lot of interesting grass-roots activity. "How to Improve Senn" - or at least its image - was the theme of that evening's program. Sponsored in part by the Local School Council, a thorn in the side of George W. Daley and Shock & Awe Smith, the evening's event drew over a 100 Senn Teachers, students and concerned Andersonville residents. Conspicuously absent was the Navy Junky herself (Mary Ann Smith) who of late has used the bully pulpit of her aldermanic office to stamp out democracy in the 48th Ward. In opposition to her as well as Arnie Duncan of the School Board and closet Republican Daley, and not to be defeated, the 100+ present in Senn's Gymnasium displayed a great deal of vitality and commitment to keeping Senn's integrity intact. It all boiled down to an evening of fun - an intellectual jam session involving teachers', students' and community members' ideas and voices. It was refreshing to see that no one spoke out in favor of RNA (Rickover Naval Academy, i.e., the Royal Naval Ache). In fact, the prevailing sentiment was - still is - that RNA has got to go, a cancer that has been swallowing up space (school class rooms) and important educational technology (such as computers).

It is not just the US Navy line that Smith & Co. has been towing but the Andersonville Business Community. As was pointed out to this writer by a teacher after Monday's event, improvements Smith has brought to Senn's tract of park to the west was a nice little cosmetic job. What about physical improvements to the school itself? If the previous 48th Ward elections' school referenda are any indication, business-minded Alderman Smith's intentions to privatize Senn High (read: gentrify) and split the school up strikes quite a note of discord with 48th Ward residents and teachers alike.

All whom I spoke with are saying/pleading let the Rickover Naval Academy be the start and end of Alderman Smith's hatchet job to a school that offers an outstanding international baccalaureate program and a whole slew of teachers committed to tolerance and diversity and the flowering of the human side of the 48th ward community.

- Craig Teichen