LA CASITA: As Whittier standoff continues, some facts need to be restated
(CHICAGO, June 29, 2011). LA CASITA! Many elements are still missing as Whittier parents renew their call for help to save a library that isn’t built yet. “La Casita” is a real place. News media keep coming to the little fieldhouse on the grounds of Whittier Elementary School, because there’s a real story there. But to understand the story, look at what isn’t there — at least not yet.
There is no complete library. On the other hand, there are two sets of plans for a library, plus a small library that was created from donations during and after the 43-day occupation last September and October.
• A Whittier parent group has an award-winning plan to turn the fieldhouse into an environmentally friendly multi-use space that can be a library, community center and site for a summer day camp. They also have a new name for the space: “La Casita,” which is Spanish for “the little house.”
• The Board of Education has plans to create a library by converting a Special Education classroom on an upper floor inside the main school building.
There is no demolition going on. Last year, the Board of Education planned to tear down the fieldhouse, but parents and their supporters held an around-the-clock sit-in at La Casita for 43 days. Eventually, the Board agreed that money set aside for the demolition could be used for renovation instead. (Even without converting it to a library, the old fieldhouse requires renovation to be brought up to the standards of the Chicago Building Code.)
There are no crews tearing out the Special Ed classroom inside the school building, either. On Wednesday, June 29, 2011, the parents completed Day 8 of a new sit-in at La Casita. They began the sit-in when they learned that the Board planned to start construction work on the library inside the school. They vow to stay, and vow to set up picket lines every day to block every entrance to the school, because union construction workers sent by the Board of Education have said they won’t cross picket lines.
There is no elevator or lift to allow anyone in a wheelchair to reach the site of any library inside the three-story building.
There is no empty classroom at Whittier when school is in session. With more than 400 students, the building is fully utilized.
There is no agreement on where the library should go. The parents met with Jean-Claude Brizard, the Board of Education’s chief executive officer, and told him they would only accept a library inside the school if:
(1) it complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which mandates wheelchair accessibility, and
(2) the Special Education program is not displaced from the school to make room for the library.
There is no agreement on how to accommodate wheelchairs. Brizard claims compliance with the ADA by citing loopholes in the law, such as a “grandfather” clause that exempts older buildings from the need for an elevator, and the proximity of other wheelchair-accessible schools within a mile or so.
There is no other school besides Whittier in the Hispanic neighborhood that has a dual-language program, so the parents reject the “option” of achieving ADA compliance by sending students to other schools. Spanish-speaking families say Whittier has been effective at helping their children learn English.
There is no guarantee that La Casita will survive. Despite a previous agreement that the Board of Education would lease the space for $1 to a non-profit group established by the parents, Brizard’s reaction to the new sit-in was to send a letter threatening the parents that they would lose funding to renovate La Casita if they did not agree to have the library within the school building.
There is no certain outcome. The newly hired Brizard and the newly appointed members of the Board of Education seem determined to continue the autocratic management style established under the previous administration. Members of the parent group say they are determined to get the Board to respect their wishes, and to save La Casita.
There is no definite deadline when the conflict will be resolved, but any day could be the last. There is a danger that the parents’ wishes might be supplanted by “facts on the ground” (or on the second floor) on any day when there aren’t enough people to maintain picket lines. Many teachers and other union workers have traveled to the Pilsen neighborhood to help save the dream of a library in La Casita. One of them, a retired steel worker named David Vance, said: “I suspect one morning soon the trucks and workers will be sent into Whittier.” Vance, who is the community representative to a Local School Council in another neighborhood and has seen the Board impose unpopular changes, added, “This is not going to be an easy fight.”
There is no doubt that supporters will be welcomed. Gema Gaete (a bilingual neighborhood resident who often serves as spokesperson for the parent group) invites volunteers to come to La Casita at Whittier Elementary School, 1900 W. 23rd Street (just east of Damen Ave). She says picket lines should be in place before construction workers arrive, possibly as early as 6 a.m.
There might be no obvious conflict to see if the construction workers and the police stay away, but history is being made.
