Dozens of angry parents and students vented their frustration this afternoon over increasingly violent schools in the Altgeld Gardens community and presented the Chicago Board of Education with plans for a new neighborhood school.
Speakers at the board's monthly meeting said their children aren't safe at some schools in the area, including Fenger High School, where a student was beaten to death in September.
Student Deontea Jones, who is in the process of transferring out of Fenger High School, said he worries about violence every day.
"Every passing period, I'm paranoid because I don't know if I'm going to get jumped or not," Jones said. "We need a neighborhood school so we can have safe passages and not worry about this. We need to make something happen."
Advocates of a new school asked the board to require Carver Military Academy, a competitive enrollment school, to share its campus with a new neighborhood school. They presented a petition with more than 1,300 signatures in support of the plan.
"The community does not want a charter school. We want a public school," said Cheryl Johnson, executive director for People for Community Recovery.
The school would be named the Hazel Johnson School of Environmental Justice and serve neighborhood students. The name would be in honor of the environmental justice activist and People for Community Recovery founder who drew focus to the Altgeld Gardens public housing development, which had high rates of environmental diseases among its residents.
Board of Education Vice President Clara Munana said that board members and supporters of the plan would meet in the next 30 days to further discuss the issue.
The Chicago Teachers Union president implored the school board to give the community back its school.
"Carver was built for the Altgeld Gardens community. Give the school back," Marilyn Stewart says. "You need to listen to the community and the real community, because I don't know who you're consulting with."
The advocates for the new school grew frustrated throughout the meeting Wednesday afternoon, because they felt the school board had ignored the need for good neighborhood schools for too long.
Michael Brunson has taught in the Altgeld Gardens community for decades and supported a new neighborhood school.
"We don't want kids to go 20 blocks in a hostile environment to get an education," Brunson said.
More than 150 students have asked to transfer out of Fenger since the beating death of student Derrion Albert, which received national attention, says Robert Runcie, CPS chief administration officer. Most have been moved to other high schools in the surrounding area, such as Julian High School, Runcie says.
Staff and security have increased safety patrols in the school and targeted hot spots, such as the lunchroom, where most fights break out, Runcie says.
"I've personally spent a number of days at Fenger. I can tell you without question the cllimate has improved from a couple of months ago," Runcie says.
School district officials are also working with principals to help make the transition from Fenger to a student's new school easier, Runcie says.
The transfer process for former Fenger students isn't the issue, says Rico Gutstein, who is a University of Illinois-Chicago professor and member of Teachers for Social Justice. Several members of the group spoke in favor of the community's plans for a new school.
"I don't think you heard (the concerns). The issue is for a qualified neighborhood school," Gutstein said. "Do you want the blood of another child on your hands. It's on you, board and Mr. Huberman. It's on you."
Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, accused the school board of being the reason for the decline of neighborhood schools on the southside. She chastised the Renaissance 2010 program, which is set up to place charter schools throughout the city.
"Today is accountability day one. Renaissance 2010 is failing, and you are failing with it," Woestehoff said. "I've got report cards for you. Unfortunately, you're all getting Fs. You failed."
She proposed that the members give back the collective $522,000 they have received through their time on board and use it to open the new school in Altgeld Gardens.