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LOCAL News :: Children & Education

500 Stand Up for Senn High School

500 students, parents, teachers, and community members packed into the auditorium of Senn High School on Tuesday night for what was billed as a “Community Forum” about Chicago Public Schools’s plan to turn part of Senn into a naval academy. Opposition to the plan was so vocal, however, that the military representatives were unable to present their program.
It was a presentation turned into a protest with the trappings of a pep rally. Over 500 students, parents, teachers, and community members packed into the auditorium of Senn High School on Tuesday night for what was billed as a “Community Forum” about Chicago Public Schools’s plan to turn part of Senn into a naval academy run by the Junior ROTC. But the CPS and JROTC presenters weren’t able to give their presentation over the chants of “WE SAY NO!”, nor were they able to show their video to the audience’s turned backs. School and community organizers transformed the event into a real town hall meeting with an open mic, but the CPS and ROTC officials did not stick around to hear what the community had to say.

The evening began at 6 pm, when Save Senn Coalition members gathered outside the high school , located at 5900 N. Glenwood Ave., to greet people as they came and distribute informational pamphlets about Senn High School and the fight to keep it free of a naval academy. Other members, many of them students, circulated with a petition in support of the Save Senn Coalition goals. Area peace activists handed out flyers of “Questions the Military Doesn’t Want You to Ask,” and Andersonville Neighbors for Peace were there to, as their flyer read, “stand with everyone who opposes turning Senn High School into a military training school.” Matt Johnson and Matt O’Donnell sat on a bench with a “Books Not Bombs” sign. Both students at Loyola University, they’d heard about the forum via e-mails sent out through campus listservs. “I’m opposed to the military, period,” said Johnson. “I’ve been trying to get some counter-recruitment organized on campus, and then I heard about this.” O’Donnell explained that he came to learn more about the issues facing the school, “especially the military going into low-income schools and making promises that won’t be fulfilled.”

Inside, there were tables with official Senn publications. According to one flyer, Senn students come from 70 different countries, with 43.4% of students born outside the US. 64.6% of Senn students speak a language other than English at home, for a total of 57 languages school-wide. Senn’s newsletter noted that at a recent meeting for parents of bilingual students, translation was provided in Spanish, Urdu French, Vietnamese, and Gujarati. Attendants were also asked to sign in, though it was unclear for what purpose and under whose auspices.

A little before the announced starting time of 6:30, the official program started. People were still streaming into the auditorium. Students, many of them dressed in Senn colors, lined the aisles with posters in English, Spanish, and (I’m pretty sure) Arabic declaring “SAVE SENN! NO NAVY! AND SENN IS OUR HOME—PLEASE DON’T DIVIDE IT!” According to the agenda I received when I entered the auditorium, I’d just missed welcoming remarks from Senn Principal Judith Hernandez and Alderman Mary Ann Smith. Smith has been one of the naval academy’s chief advocates. “I think they basically offer an option. A different kind of discipline, a different kind of camaraderie, a look at a slightly different kind of world,” Smith said in a story posted early Tuesday evening at CBS2Chicago.com.

After Smith’s remarks, David Pickens, Deputy CEO of Chicago Public Schools told the crowd that the presentation that evening would “dispell misinformation” and “let people know about all the great things the naval academy has to offer.” His comments were met with boos from the audience, although they were nothing compared to what was to come. Principal Hernandez asked students to give the presenters a fair hearing, and Pickens repeated several times that the academy would not have any impact on the school. Instead, it would be a small academy, like the one at Bronzeville on the South Side. At CPS, he said, “We like the high attendance rates, low drop-out rates, and purpose—‘to build citizenship, teamwork, and discipline’” that such military academies offered.

According to the agenda, the introductions were to be follwed by an “Overview of the Proposed Educational Program” for the military academy, given by Colonel Rick Mills. Mills, who was accompanied by four or five other military representatives in civilian suits, had barely started speaking when the audience began to boo and chant “WE SAY NO!”

The chants kept up, and continued, as Mills repeatedly tried to get the audience’s attention. Many of them were now standing, some standing on their seats, and when Mills attempted to show the video, they turned their backs to him and to the screen.

The plan to start the naval academy at Senn was announced over the summer when school was not in session, but most Senn students, parents, and faculty didn’t hear about it until mid-September, when CPS surveyors showed up at the school. According to the Senn-Times, the academy is “backed by a a $2.1 million grant, and the ties shared by Chicago Public Schools and the Naval Service Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois.” The naval academy, currently slated to open in fall 2005, will occupy the 29 classrooms that currently make up Senn’s freshman wing. It will be separated by a wall from the rest of the high school and function independently. CPS, according to its Renaissance 2010 plan, is trying to solve what it sees as the problems of under-utilization of buildings, lack of high school options, over-crowding and low performance in the Chicago schools by closing failing schools and reopening them as private charter and contract academies. Opponents, however, note that the schools CPS plans to close are largely in minority neighborhoods. As the most diverse school in Chicago, Senn would be a likely target. But Senn is hardly a failing school. In 2003, 83% of graduating seniors were planning to attend two or four year colleges. Senn has won a National Service Learning Leadership Award from the President of the United States, and it boasts, among other things, a multi-lingual/TESOL program, an Achievement Academy for 8th graders who have not yet met the requirements for high school, and a $1.2 million grant for “demonstrated leadership” from the Fry Foundation.

The pandemonium in the school auditorium continued. At last history teacher Jesse Sharkey got hold of the microphone. “It seems like people don’t want to watch the video,” he said. “I’m proposing that we have a discussion and some time for questions. “We do not believe this is a harmless plan, and we would like to have some community input, and perhaps some of us who have been following this closely could answer some questions.” Audience members began to line up and speak at an open mic, and someone volunteered to translate comments into Spanish.

“They’re taking the best third of Senn School away from Senn students,” said one woman. “Fairness requires that we give students what they need. The naval academy takes away a lot of what students need.” One speaker, who identified himself as a teacher at Senn, noted that opposition “goes much deeper than the militarization of the school. Our special education courses are already over the limits. We have a full 7th period lunc. Does that sound like a school that’s being underutilized?” Another speaker said that Senn is a model for other schools in the city. “Given that Senn operates so well, we have to question the motives of those who come here to change it. I think it’s time that CPS stop aiding the military.”

Alderman Smith, Deputy CEO Pickens, and Colonel Mills and his colleagues, however, seemed uninterested in such a format, and as audience members continued lining up for the open mic, they filed out a side entrance.

The open mic went on for about another hour, at which point Sharkey thanked supporters for coming out but asked that the gathering now disband so that the security guards could go home and the custodians could finish their work. He welcomed everyone to join the efforts of the Save Senn Coalition, noting that updates would be posted at www.savesenn.org.
 
 

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