Hunger Strike To Save Dyett High School Is On Its 9th Day

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 26, 2015 6:06PM

Activists staging a sit-in at City Hall last year to save Dyett High School (Photo via Twitter)

A group of community activists is now in the 9th day of a hunger strike to make school officials listen to their demands to turn Washington Park's closing Dyett High School into a global leadership and green technology school.

A group of eleven parents and community leaders began their strike more than a week ago to demand the Board of Education accept their proposal, one of three on the table for the school, which will be closed from 2015 to 2016 while the Board considers its options.

Dyett, located on 51st Street, was initially targeted for a three-year phaseout, and would have closed this year. After many demonstrations, several of which resulted in arrests at City Hall, CPS agreed to accept proposals from groups to keep the school open. For about six years, the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School has been pushing to turn renovate the building into a LEED certified facility and develop a curriculum based on science and leadership skills, as well as train students to engage in politics. Two other proposals, on that’s sports centered and one that’s arts based, are on the table as well, according to the Tribune.

Activists and community members affiliated with the coalition say that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and officials have ignored them for years.

The group, which has vowed to only consume liquids for nourishment, says that delays and cancellations of meetings by officials drove them to their hunger strike. Parent Jeanette Taylor-Ramann told the Huffington Post last week:

“We've had over six town hall meetings, and the community has spoken that they want this school to be open-enrollment, a global leadership and a green technology school, but we're being ignored by our Alderman Will Burns and our Mayor Rahm Emanuel. CPS canceled a meeting that was supposed to happen Aug. 10, and they were supposed to make a decision on Aug. 22. They pushed it back an entire month and that's just not good enough for parents in the community."

On Monday, the group appealed to Little Black Pearl, the arts organization looking to turn Dyett into an arts-based academy, and interim Dyett principal Charles Campbell, who wants to make it sports oriented, to drop their bids. Dr. Rico Gutstein, a UIC professor and co-facilitator of the Dyett design team, says the coalition’s proposal has the most community support. “The Board needs to vote now in favor of the proposal that has demonstrated extensive community support through town halls, petitions, post cards and phone calls,” Rico said in a press release.

According to the Sun-Times, a spokesperson for the Board said the district will hold a public hearing on Sept. 15, before it votes at its September meeting. Brown remained skeptical of its intentions, saying:

“We do not trust that the board’s announcement of a Sept. 15 hearing is honest, and that they will support a proposal that has overwhelming community support. So we will remain on this hunger strike until our voices are heard — just as the voices are heard in Lincoln Park, just as the voices are heard in Hyde Park.”

If no action is taken, there is still a chance CPS could move to close the school completely.