Meeting on the closed Shedd School

MEETING NOTICE!

All Communities Are invited

Please join us for our Meeting on
Monday, December 15, 2014
Discussion: The Sale of Shedd School

Invited Guest: The Every Block & Educational Village Keepers community organizations, concerned citizens; union affiliates & Alderman Anthony Beale

Shedd school was closed in 2013. The school is in a one block park with ball field and play lot. CPS took bids to Sale the school. The top two bids were Rescue Missionary school, which had community support and a housing developer who's name is still unknown. On Wednesday December 3, 2014, we heard from Principal Marilyn Keeter of Rescue Missionary School to inform the community that CPS has given Shedd school to the housing developer. CPS has not given us the name of this organization. We thought that whoever made a bid for the property must have the consent of the community. CPS says soliciting community input is not required or incorporated into this process and it's up to Alderman Beale as to what will be done. If he truly cares about encouraging a greener ward he will not let this developer come into our community and take our green space to build houses.

We plan to meet with him
When: Monday December 15, 2014
4:00pm
Please arrive by: 3:30
Where: 9th Ward Office
34 East 112th Street Chicago, IL 60628

Shedd School a satellite location for Chicago State...

Shedd School in Spring 2012

Back in September I wrote about my ideas about what to do with the closed Shedd School building. As of the current school year Shedd branch was closed and all students will be attending class at Bennett School.

A persistent report from the Roseland Heights Community Association (RHCA) was that Shedd School could ultimately become an annex for the nearby Chicago State University. So at least plans are being made to utilize this building, but I do need to ask some questions so I may have to get back to the RHCA about them.

For example will Chicago State own the building or will it remain a CPS owned property?

A question that no one could possibly answer is whether or not in the near future could Shedd School be used for the neighborhood children if enrollment changes for the better. That is if Bennett School exceeds their expected enrollment (and as stated in that earlier post Bennett School had been experiencing enrollment declines) could it re-open for students.

All the same stay tuned for any updates on this development.

What to do with the closed Shedd School building???

Shedd School taken in April 2012

While not part of the official closed schools list Shedd School, branch of Bennett Elementary School, had been closed down as of this year. While disappointing it probably shouldn't have been a huge surprise.

Having attended many meetings of the Bennett-Shedd Local School Councils it was noted that there have been an enrollment decline attributed to families either moving from the area or wanting to take advantage of other educational options such as charter schools. Whatever affected Bennett also affected Shedd School as well.

Whatever prompted this decision, Shedd School is now an empty building just like many around the city that have been closed in the past year mainly due to underutilization. Many communities affected are probably considering what they can do with these decommissioned school buildings. Can we afford to let them sit empty without a general use?

Over at RAGE's FB page there was an article about how a Kansas City neighborhood has come to grips with this issue. They turned the school into a community center.

If I recall correctly, this was something that was proposed by former 6th ward Ald. Freddrenna Lyle when unsuccessfully she ran for re-election back in 2011. Although in this case closing down schools hadn't yet found itself on the city let alone the 6th ward's radar. She proposed that when school is not in session that the buildings themselves be turned over to the community for their use.

So we have plenty of closed school buildings throughout the city perhaps it's time to figure out a use for them or at the very least re-imagine a use for the land they sit on. Hopefully if enrollment doesn't turn around for Bennett in the next few years I could see Shedd School becoming at least the new meeting place for the Roseland Heights Community Association.

Also, if you want to see one argument in favor of school closings here's one presented by Artistmac in one of his YouTube vids. This is added while recognizing that there are many who are still upset with the school closings this year.

Finally, the pic below shows this sign posted to Shedd School's backdoor - where once upon a time students would line up before class convenes - announces that for the 2013-14 year all students will attend the sister school at Bennett Elementary. I have a couple of other pics with this one but they'll be shown in another post.