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Meeting Set By Ald. Will Burns To Discuss Future of Dyett Academic Center

By Sam Cholke | July 18, 2014 8:17am | Updated on July 21, 2014 8:42am
 Ald. Will Burns (4th) has called a July 28 meeting on the future of Dyett Academic Center.
Ald. Will Burns (4th) has called a July 28 meeting on the future of Dyett Academic Center.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — Ald. Will Burns (4th) has called a July 28 meeting on the future of Dyett Academic Center.

Community groups have repeatedly asked Burns to hold a meeting with neighbors to talk about the future of the school before it starts its last school year in September.

Burns will hold a meeting at 6 p.m. July 28, at King College Prep, 4445 S. Drexel Blvd.

The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, the Chicago Teachers Union and community groups have pressured Burns to call a meeting on the school since early June.

The groups accused Burns of avoiding meeting with the public directly because he was working behind the scenes to turn the school into a charter.

Students at the Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center's high school in Kenwood were reportedly told at the end of the school year that they would be moving into the Dyett building at 555 E. 51st St.

The rumor worried many community groups because the contract school has performed worse on college readiness and graduation rates than the existing Dyett High School, which lacks many of the amenities of the contract school like teachers for math, health and art classes and access to art and gym facilities.

Burns has denied the rumor and said he wants the school to remain an open-enrollment high school.

The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization has offered its own proposal for keeping the school going as an open-enrollment school focused on green technology.

The group has aggressively pressured Burns to sign onto the plan, which CPS and the mayor’s office have said are a prerequisite for any further discussions.

Burns has said he will not move on the plan until getting feedback from the community and would prefer a plan that has broad involvement and buy-in from residents.

Burns said he’s been trying to plan a public meeting since May, juggling finding a facilitator and location, and scheduling with enough lead time to bring community members.

He said he hopes a “broad representation of groups and organizations” will attend the meeting, “and to have people come up with the ideas on what the school should be moving forward” to share with CPS.

“Bronzeville is a diverse community,” he said. “All voices need to be heard.”
 

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