LaCasita — the fieldhouse that might become a library on the grounds of Whittier Elementary School in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood — was again defended from possible demolition on the morning of Friday, June 24, 2011. The night before, eight parents had blocked a Board of Education dump truck from entering the school grounds, and sent out an emergency call for supporters. Some stayed overnight in the LaCasita (which is Spanish for “little house”), and were joined by other parents, neighbors and supporters from around the city starting at about 5:30 Friday morning.
Construction workers sent by the Board of Education to possibly tear down a classroom inside the school and the fieldhouse outside had told the LaCasita parents on Thursday night that they would not cross picket lines. Yet before 9 a.m. Friday morning, but one man carrying rolled up blueprints pushed past a group of picketers at the main entrance of the school and entered the building. This was viewed as part of the attack on the separate LaCasita building, because the Board of Ed had announced plans to tear apart the school’s Special Education classroom to turn it into a library. This would violate an agreement the parents thought they had with the Board to leave the classrooms alone in the overcrowded school, and renovate the old LaCasita building to serve as a new library. (Currently, the school has no library for its 450+ students, except for a make-shift library created in LaCasita by volunteers.)
Shortly after the man with blueprints entered, a man in a construction worker’s hardhat attempted to enter the same entrance, but was blocked by picketers, and turned away. Picketers at all the entrances continued to hold signs and shout chants in both English and Spanish. Some 45 minutes later, the man with the blueprints came out the same door, still carrying rolled up blueprints.
Meanwhile, the crowd of chanting supporters had grown to about 80 people, while the police presence had grown to approximately 20 officers, including police cruisers blocking both ends of the street. At around 9:30, a small group of police officers attempted to enter LaCasita, which is serving as the headquarters of the parent organizers. Picketers stood in their way, and some of the other picketers ran from their posts at the school entrances to observe the confrontation [see photo], and the police soon backed away.
The parent who spoke with them said the police officers were polite, and asked her “What do you want?”
“We want [Jean Paul] Brizzard [the new head of the Board of Education] to come here,” she replied.
“Why don’t you go downtown?” the officer asked.
“No, we’ve been there too many times.”
By this time, a WGN-TV camera crew had come and gone, and WBEZ-FM (Chicago Public Radio) had broadcast a story on the protest at Whittier on its morning newscast. Later that morning, camera crews and reporters arrived from Channel 5, Channel 7, and Univision. A contingent of people wearing suits, apparently from the Board of Education but not including Brizzard, arrived and spoke with the police officers. Most of the police left the scene, and the cruisers that had been blocking the street drove away.
Some picketers left for jobs or other reasons, but others arrived, including many wearing shirts, caps or buttons identifying them as members of such organizations as the Coalition of Rank and File Educators (CORE), the Chicago Teachers Union, Service Employees International Union, Graduate Students Union, one member of the Industrial Workers of the World (aka Wobblies), and one member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
By noon, the site was fairly quiet as organizers spoke with reporters inside LaCasita, protesters put down their signs and chatted and snacked, and their children (and some of the adults) played on the playground equipment next to LaCasita.
Organizers say they plan to stay at the site around the clock, and ask for a continuing stream of volunteers to help maintain the picket lines. They say they don’t trust the Board of Ed, and want to make sure it doesn’t attempt a sneaky midnight demolition.
by David R. Stone
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Some parents in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood have resumed a sit-in at the Whittier Elementary School field house. Their protest concerns the fate of that building and the location of a library for the school.
A plan by Mayor Richard Daley’s administration to tear down the field house led to a month-long sit-in last fall by the parents and their supporters. The occupation ended after the district promised to spare the building and provide a library.
But the sides never agreed on the library’s location.
On Thursday, the district sent a dump truck and construction workers to Whittier. Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Becky Carroll says the crew’s job was to clear space for the library within the main building.
“That room is not ADA accessible,” says Lisa Angonese, who has two kids in Whittier. “It’s one room. And they are going to demolish the field house and replace it with [artificial] turf.”
About two dozen Whittier parents and neighborhood activists were successful in turning away the crew. They want the library in the field house.
In a letter to the parents last week, new CPS chief Jean-Claude Brizard said he supported the agreement to leave the field house standing. But the letter said putting the library in the main building remained “the best option.”
HOST: Some parents in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood have resumed a sit-in at a school field house. From our West Side bureau, WBEZ’s Chip Mitchell reports.
MITCHELL: Mayor Richard Daley’s administration was planning to tear down the field house of Whittier Elementary. Parents got wind and occupied it for more than a month last fall. The sit-in ended after the school district promised to spare the field house and provide a library for the school. A letter last week from new district chief Jean-Claude Brizard says he backs the deal. But the sides have never agreed on the library’s location. The district sent construction workers yesterday [Thurs] and says their job was to clear space for the library within the main building.
ANGONESE: That room is not ADA accessible.
HOST: Lisa Angonese is a Whittier parent.
ANGONESE: It’s one room And they are going to demolish the field house and replace it with turf green.
MITCHELL: About two-dozen Whittier parents and supporters turned away the crew. They want the library in the field house. Chip Mitchell, WBEZ.
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