Saturday, July 16, parents and community members gathered at La Casita to end the sit-In after 25 days, having brought CPS back to the negotiating table. With the sit-in over, parents announced a schedule of summer programming to take place at La Casita Parent Youth Center, kicking it off with a theatrical performance that followed the press conference.

The second sit-in at La Casita was launched June 22nd 2011 after police and CPS contractors blockaded La Casita and parents received a copy of a renewed permit to demolish the field house; additionally, construction crews were contracted by CPS to enter the school to convert special education classrooms into an in-school library. These actions by CPS broke the good faith negotiations they were in with the Whittier Parent Committee that began last Fall.

Whittier Parents have been vocally opposed to CPS’s proposed in-school library due to elimination of space used to teach special education students and a lack of accessibility for students with physical disabilities.

The Whittier Parent Committee has proposed to renovate the Whittier School field house to build a library and community center, La Casita Parent Youth Center. Key features of this renovation plan include:

• Provides more educational space for Whittier School, rather than displacing students

• Fully ADA accessible

• State of the art library and the only green-designed building in the Pilsen Neighborhood

• Open beyond school hours, providing safe passage during high-risk hours for students

• A working example of CPS-parent-community partnership

The Whittier Parent Committee is optimistic in working with the new administration to fulfill its commitments to renovate the field house and approve a lease with WPC, and that CPS will recognize the many merits of the WPC renovation proposal.