Chicago Moms Spend Weeks Camped Out for Children's Library

Moms on Chicago's south side come tough, and they're proving it with a good old-fashioned sit-in.

As Carol Scott reports on the Education blog, the group of predominantly Latina moms, many of them single working parents, at Whittier Dual Language Elementary School have a simple demand: a library for their children. Taking a page out of 60s activism, they've occupied the proposed library building for the past month and, hell no, they won't go until their demand is met. "La Casita" is the only available community center and after-school hang-out for their kids, but Chicago Public Schools (CPS) wants to tear it down to allow for a soccer field — to be used by a nearby private school. Yep: the students losing their community center don't even get the a new playing field for themselves.

CPS claims the building is falling apart and needs to be knocked down; the moms counter that inspectors hired by the community found it structurally sound, with just a roof in need of patching, and that they've gathered sufficient volunteers to fix up the space. Instead of spending a few hundred thousand dollars on destruction, they urge, put it toward sprucing up the library. And as the sit-in has gained attention, book donations have flooded in, making the desired library an even more viable prospect.

To stop the demolition, the moms, with a couple of dads mixed in, spend day and night guarding La Casita, and they intend to continue until their children get the library they deserve. And they want to be included in decisions about their school in the future, instead of being expected to go along blithely with top-down decisions. In response, CPS has been playing dirty, shutting off heat and hot water in 40 degree weather, while pregnant women and children were sleeping there. This is an intensely disrespectful and uncaring way to treat the families of your own school, not to mention the safety risk. (The City Council made them turn the utilities back on and postpone the demolition, with one member calling the Board of Ed decision "cruel and short-sighted.")

CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman, who pushed for La Casita to be pulled down, has refused to meet with the parents, even though their camp out has now stretched on for weeks. And they sure have a few questions for him. Such as, why can't their children have a library, despite getting the free labor and books? And why do 159 other Chicago schools also lack that basic educational tool?

Maybe CPS is so stubborn in this case due to concern that, if they bow to these tough moms' demands, other Chicago parents will start pushing for libraries to serve their own children. But is that so bad? This grassroots activism has brought together a community and drummed up the resources needed to put a library together. It could inspire parents at schools across the city. All CPS has to do is say "yes." Tell CPS and the City Council to accept the parents' demands and do better to work with communities on education reform in the future.

Photo credit: Solidarity with Whittier Parents' struggle