CITY HALL — More than a dozen Dyett High School protesters disrupted Wednesday's City Council meeting and were shown out by police as they called for a hearing to keep the school open.
The protesters, who began the demonstration just as the council was settling down to some actual business after a morning of congratulatory resolutions, chanted, "Dyett High School public hearing now" and "Will Burns do your job."
"We want a public hearing on Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School," said protester Jitu Brown, citing the name of a new program area groups and educators have proposed for the high school, which is slated to be phased out and closed in a year.
A clearly miffed Ald. Will Burns (4th) called the demonstration "political theater," insisting he too wants to keep Dyett open at 555 E. 51st St. as a "high-quality, neighborhood, open-enrollment school."
"This is one organization with their plan," Burns added, referring to the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, which has tangled with him over the school's fate, most recently in a campout near his 4th Ward office. "Other groups have not been engaged in creating a plan, and I don't think that's fair."
The Chicago Public Schools' Board of Education has ordered Dyett phased out, and its last class is scheduled to graduate next year.
