Dangerous Conditions at Gale Elementary – Chicago Light Brigades Demands CPS Take Action

Letters to Editors

CHICAGO, IL – Last year the mayor and CPS claimed that closing fifty schools would free up funds to improve education at other schools. At Rogers Park’s Gale Math and Science Academy, the children have been waiting for years for such a moment.

Some 30 languages are spoken at Gale, which serves almost 500 young people and is named for former Chicago Fire Department chief Stephen F. Gale. 18% are special education students, several coming from nearby assisted living facilities where they manage severe physical challenges. 97% of the school’s students come from low or very low income families. Whatever else is happening in these children’s lives, Gale and its staff are there for them.

We realize that crime is a major concern in our community, but we believe community safety begins with safe schools and quality education. Members of the Chicago Light Brigade have done what we can to support the students at Gale, through mutual aid and community involvement, community efforts alone cannot undo the damage that CPS has inflicted upon Gale, and many other elementary schools. We have attended LSC meetings, painted walls, held a book drive, and collected musical instruments for the students at Gale, but we cannot address the hazardous conditions that exist at this school. Only CPS can do that.

Gale now faces a $310,000 funding cut.

We know that CPS and others may try to use the release of this information as an excuse to shut down yet another public school, but we believe that tolerating such an action would be tantamount to allowing CPS to euthanize a patient due to injuries that they themselves inflicted. Their goal appears to be to drive away enough parents and students to justify closing the school completely. This targeted neglect must not be tolerated.

Gale’s management team has been pushing for repairs, in some cases for years. But CPS has continually ignored them. The list of issues includes:

· Fire Alarm system not working properly

· Leaking roofs in both buildings, and the greenhouse

· Peeling lead paint contamination and airborne lead dust

· Non-working security cameras, both inside and outside the school

· Defective burglar alarms

· Defective intercom system

· Damaged water pumps

· Non-locking doors in girls bathroom stalls

It is time to undo the damage caused by CPS leadership by canceling enrollment-driven funding cuts, and to bring the school up to current CPS standards. A school system that spends 9 million dollars on new furniture for its offices, as CPS did recently, can invest a few hundred thousand dollars in repairs to keep our community’s children safe.

When fire safety has ignored, in years past, the consequences for our children have been tragic. This ongoing neglect brings to mind tragedies such as the Our Lady of Angels fire in 1958, which killed 92 students and three nuns, as well as the 2006 residential fire that killed six children in north Rogers Park. As Light Brigade member Babur Balos said, upon seeing documentation of the neglect at Gale, “Our children deserve a safe space to learn and grow. What do they think can grow in a building with toxic paint falling off its walls, and fire alarms that don’t work?”

We demand that CPS stop wasting millions on office furniture, and other frivolous expenditures, and invest in our youth. It’s time for a change in priorities. As Light Brigade member Kelly Hayes stated, “CPS needs to worry about lead testing before it worries about standardized testing. Our children deserve a safe and healthy learning environment.”

For more information on conditions at Gale, Chicago Light Brigade’s mutual aid efforts, and sharable photos of conditions at Gale, please visit: ChicagoLightBrigade.org