Dyett, closed for lack of students, reopens with new arts focus

With mere days to go until classes begin at the new Dyett High School, Principal Beulah Mcloyd points out desks that are neatly arranged, lockers freshly painted with bright colors, and teachers conferring.

But at Walter H. Dyett School for the Arts, “ready” also means that mirrors cover the luminous dance studio’s walls, sewing machines are set up in the textile design space, and tall displays in a dedicated gallery wait to be covered with student artwork by 150 freshman who will start school on Tuesday.

Chicago Public Schools once phased out the historic Bronzeville high school for lack of kids, shutting it down a year at a time until just 13 seniors remained in a giant open building overlooking Washington Park. Officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel resisted community efforts to keep it open, and then launched a demographic campaign against reopening it, arguing that the surrounding area lacked enough students to justify the cost.

But after a 34-day hunger strike last August by more than a dozen parents and activists, the district finally relented and announced it would reopen with an arts focus and more than $14 million in renovations.

CPS hoped for 125 freshmen. About 25 more than that have since enrolled in the school, which is aiming for 800. Mcloyd said 85 percent of them come from nearby elementary schools.

That’s as many neighborhood high schools in the city contend with an ugly spiral of losing students and cutting programs.

CPS’ top educator, Janice Jackson, said the district, often accused of being tone deaf, listened to families.

“It’s not just an arts program, it’s not just about sports, it’s not just about academics. We have everything a high school should have,” she said.

“Though I wasn’t part of the initial battle . . . I’m just glad I was at the table to take back some of those messages around how we could re-engage, get the right leadership in and make this work,” Jackson said. “That a compromise was possible. It didn’t seem that way a year ago, but here we are today.”

Mcloyd paused at highlights on her tour: A spacious window-lined library sandwiched between two courtyards. A dark classroom where students will learn set design for stage and screen. The innovations lab that will also be open to parents and neighbors.

A black-box theater will be done before Tuesday. Only the swimming pool won’t be ready until later this year.

The school boasts three full-time arts teachers specializing in dance, visual arts and digital media. Others have arts ties too: The AP history teacher has performed as a figure skater.

To accommodate creatives, there’s a dress code but no uniforms, said Mcloyd, wearing long handcrafted leather earrings.

“I told Dr. Jackson, ‘Eight or nine months, it’s like giving birth to a baby,’ ” she said. “Students are excited, too, they’ve been in the building. This is an amazing opportunity for our children.”

Some outside partners have remained, the Chicago Botanic Gardens, for example, which teaches students to grow edibles year-round on a plot adjoining school property. Some are new, like the tech incubator 1871.

Even the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization trained teachers about Bronzeville’s storied past, organizer Jitu Brown said. They had led efforts to save Dyett, a coalition that proposed green technology and global leadership curriculum, and the hunger strike.

Jeanette Taylor had a daughter going into eighth grade when she joined the hunger strike. But the mother doesn’t quite trust Dyett’s leaders yet. Maybe in a few years, after the inaugural Local School Council is elected to govern the school, she said.

But she and the others loved what they saw inside.

“When I went in there, I just started crying,” said Irene Robinson, a CPS grandmother who was hospitalized during the strike. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Brown just couldn’t believe what the success required, saying, “It’s a shame that we had to go to those lengths, and really I think that’s the harsh lesson of Chicago.”