Roosevelt High School students walk out to protest cuts

Fed up with budget cuts that recently forced the layoffs of several teachers and staff, about 200 students walked out of their classes at Roosevelt High School on Monday.

“We’re walking out because many of our teachers are being laid off due to budget cuts. Over $1 million is being taken away from Roosevelt alone,” said 16-year-old junior Rosa Paretes, a student organizer.

Marching outside, watched by Chicago Police called to the school at 3436 W. Wilson, the students chanted “S.O.S. Save our schools!” “If you care, then be fair!” “The less you invest, the more we protest!”

“The less teachers, the more students in the classroom, the less individual attention between teachers and students. We don’t deserve this,” said junior Shirley Hernandez, 16, another organizer.

The Roosevelt students were joined by some students from Schurz High School, 3601 N. Milwaukee, and Foreman High School, at 3235 N. Leclaire. Students at those schools also had planned walkouts, but they said those walkouts were thwarted by a heavy Chicago police and CPS security presence.

Roosevelt students left their school at 10 a.m., when Paretes, Hernandez and others left their classrooms shouting: “Walkout!” Students filed behind them, down hallways and stairs, out the front door, where security and police awaited. They let the students march, herding them out of the streets and onto sidewalks.

In an email sent to teachers and staff on Sunday, Roosevelt Principal Pilar Vazquez-Vialva had warned of the walkout, asking teachers to discourage the students, also notifying parents by robocall Sunday evening.

“While activism and political consciousness are a great thing to foster in our students, I must be clear to students and staff alike that a walkout can lead to dangerous and negative outcomes,” Vazquez-Vialva wrote. “We are legally liable for all of our students for the entire school day. For this reason, leaving the school during the school day is very serious and not okay.”

Vazquez-Vialva indicated that students had previously invited her to join their walkout, and instead, she arranged for them to meet with some CPS officials.

“The assistant principal met with me about three times to try to make me tell everyone to stop, but we didn’t,” Paretes said. “What’s happening to our school and our education is unfair. We’ll keep going as long as it takes to get what we deserve.”

In a statement on Monday, CPS officials said a walkout was not the solution.

“We share the students’ concerns about declining state funding and rising pension mandates that are forcing difficult cuts. But rather than leave school, which hurts themselves and their fellow students, we encourage them to direct their activism to Springfield, where CPS is fighting for pension equity and for the state to prioritize education funding so that we are no longer last in the nation,” CPS said.

About 95 teachers and 57 support personnel were laid off last month because of budget adjustments at schools where enrollment fell below projections, CPS said. On the 20th day of every school year, CPS adjusts budgets to ensure each school’s funding reflects its actual students. In previous years, it held schools harmless when enrollment dropped below projection. It pulled funding this year.

Roosevelt’s enrollment is down 183 students from last year, costing four teachers and two support staff. Schurz is down 278; the school lost a teacher and two support staff. Foreman is down 215 and lost five teachers and four support staff, according to CPS.

Civics teacher Tim Meegan, who has taught at Roosevelt for 12 years, came out on his lunch break to support the students. He said he and other faculty shared with students the principal’s communication, and it didn’t stop them.

“But this is what democracy is really all about. This is their school. It’s a neighborhood school. It belongs to the parents and their children. We need to give our students more credit. They know exactly what they’re out here for, and they’ve conducted themselves in a manner I’m proud of,” Meegan said.

Students and teachers have complained about district tactics when students speak out. Specifically, when students sign up to speak during public participation at monthly Board of Education meetings, their principal is notified. District spokeswoman Emily Bittner maintained CPS does so to ensure the student’s whereabouts are accounted for and their absence excused by a parent or guardian. It would be “irresponsible,” she said, for CPS not to notify the student’s school in case the absence is not excused.

Ivan Rios, a 16-year-old Schurz junior who joined the walkout at Roosevelt, said Schurz students decided against their own walkout because “there was a lot of security guards, and also cops outside of Schurz. But some of us decided we needed to take action, and walked out anyway.”

While a planned walkout at Foreman was similarly squashed, some students were determined, said student president Rayshawne Burns, an 18-year-old senior.

“Imagine you live your entire life with no support system, and then you get a mentor, and this mentor follows you for the next three years of your life, and it’s finally a stable support system, something you’ve never had before,” Burns said. “Then imagine having that person just ripped away from you. That’s what happened to me with my teacher mentor. They’re not thinking about students.”