Schneider Elementary School
In September of 2009, Schneider Elementary began sharing its building with Alcott and Schneider began to phase out. The majority of Schneider's students were residents of the Lathrop Homes. The Lathrop Homes are a walking distance away from Schnieder, which made it easier for those students to go to and from school safely. However, due to The Plan for Transformation, many residents from Lathrop were displaced. With families being displaced, Schneider began to have low attendance. Low attendance meant that the school could no longer run and Alcott began to take over the building. They shared the building for two years before Schneider became completely phased out. Students that attended Schneider had to go to Jahn Elementary, which is not as close or convenient for families that live in Lathrop. One parent, Mary Thomas, said it's "about twenty- five minutes" to walk to the school from Lathrop. Also, in the winter, those walks become a lot more challenging. The problem is not the cold winter walks, however, the problem is market rate housing taking over their community. This, along with the new houses and gated communities in the neighborhood, is limiting the amount of youth attending public schools in the area. As of 2012, Alcott took over all of the Schneider building and we have students traveling from all around Chicago.
According to Jasper, who graduated from Schneider Elementary in 2006, Schneider school was terrible due to the gangs and violence that occurred on a daily bases. On the other hand, Jason, who graduated from Schneider in 2004, says that the school was terrific and was full of supporting and caring teachers. These two accounts show that Schneider had a good environment at some point, but slowly descended as the years went on. I believe that it degraded over time because of the clustered gangs that surrounded the school and the displacement of residents in Lathrop Homes. During the interview it seemed like Jasper would rather have the school closed down while Jason would try everything he can to reopen it. All in all, from Jason's perspective, he believes that the school was great while Jasper believes it was a bad experience. These interviews show the school was once a great school, but deteriorated and later closed down due to the displacement of residents and violence. As Schneider was getting phased out, Alcott High School for the Humanities opened in September of 2009 starting with only freshman. Now, 5 years later our first graduated class has already graduated and we take up the whole building filled with about 260 high school students. The name was also changed to Alcott College Prep. The students value Alcott college prep because it provides them with not only an education, but a second home. Being such a small school, Alcott has lots of benefits, such as smaller classes allowing for more one on one time with teachers. Also, Alcott’s able to have a lot of events and field trips, which give the students something to look forward too. Even though we have a lot of opportunities allowing for students to get involved, some still feel like they have no voice. When I surveyed the seniors and asked them what’s something they dislike about Alcott college prep, 90% said they feel like they have no voice, and they often get uncomfortable being at school. Mr. Estrada (the principal) said the major issue at Alcott was not having student voice. But Estrada and the administration have been trying to work on giving students more of a voice by creating a social justice club, civics class, student body government, and by holding many events throughout the year that give students a chance to speak up. Also, another problem according to the students is that the students don’t feel welcome to the community, but I believe that that’s because the student’s don’t know the community so well. Since we are a lottery non-selective school, kids come from all over chicago, so they aren’t as very familiar with this community as they are with their own. As for Schneider, it is no longer here, but Alcott College Prep is carrying on their legacy. This is still where Schneider started and ended. This building will forever be remembered not only because of Schneider Elementary and all Lathrop Home kids that went there, but because they were force to move due to the redevelopment of the Homes. |
AuthorsJasmine, Helena, Audrey, Jordan
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