WEST RIDGE — A new principal at Decatur Classical School is breathing fresh life into the small selective-enrollment academy.
Yolanda Luna-Mroz began her leadership at the West Ridge school at the end of July after serving as co-principal at Lakeview's Hamilton Elementary School.
A product of Chicago Public Schools, Luna-Mroz said her experiences as a student growing up in Chicago affected her greatly and inspired her to become part of CPS.
A first-generation American to Mexican and El Salvadoran parents, Luna-Mroz said education became the "great equalizer" between her and others her age. It was in CPS that she put her newly learned English to use and met her first black teacher — a meeting that would serve as inspiration for her future.
"I remember it was the first time I had an African-American teacher and [as a child] that really stood out to me as, 'Man, I could really be like her,'" Luna-Mroz said. "As an older child, seeing someone who was not Caucasian really spoke to me. I just remember feeling like there was a sense of equality that I didn't sense anywhere else."
"That just shaped the way I view education and my understanding of what fairness is, and 20 years later it's still relevant. [Education] is still really the kind of civil rights movement of our time."
Decatur's Local School Council visited Luna-Mroz at Hamilton, 1650 W. Cornelia Ave., while evaluating her as a principal candidate and was impressed by what they saw.
Tim McCaffrey, a parent and head of the LSC at Decatur, 7030 N. Sacramento Ave., said the new school year has "renew[ed] the joy they have in just coming to school."
"I really think there is a child-centric attitude at Decatur that the kids feel," McCaffrey said.
Luna-Mroz replaces former principal Susan Kukielka, who announced she would not seek to renew her contract shortly before the LSC was scheduled to vote on it.
Now, the new principal hopes to usher in an era of her own.
(Story continues below)
Chelsea Branch (left), dance teacher and administrative coordinator, with Principal Yolanda Luna-Mroz [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Making use of space
Luna-Mroz already has begun tackling the school's biggest issue: it's ongoing overcrowding.
The tiny school has been trying to get a larger campus for years. Though it serves kindergartners though sixth-graders, it originally was built as a "starter school," meant to house kindergartners through second-graders.
Now, it's bursting with 284 students, Luna-Mroz said.
Most of the grades have only one class — save for second, fourth and fifth grades — and classroom sizes average about 30 students.
Decatur said it wants to add seventh- and eighth-grade classes to its roster, in particular because of the difficulty in transitioning some of CPS' brightest students from the school's small campus into potentially huge academic centers, but space limitations have impeded the school's overall growth.
LSC chief McCaffrey said CPS officials are aware of the problem, have toured Decatur, and are in communication with the school's LSC with some ideas, but a lack of funding has been the biggest hurdle.
Last year 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore proposed merging two Rogers Park elementary schools, effectively making way for Decatur to take over the unused building, which would have allowed it to add grades and expand. However, the plan never came to fruition.
The school also had eyed the former Stewart and Trumbull elementary schools on the North Side, both vacant. Both of those properties were sold to private developers and are slated to become condos.
"It's absolutely frustrating," McCaffrey said. "I'm not saying people made the wrong choices, considering the district as a whole. But it is unquestionably frustrating as a parent of kids in this school to see solutions come and go with such frequency.
"You look at the building here, and as wonderful a job as has been done cleaning it up and making it nice and pretty and warm, it's still kind of shoebox."
(Story continues below)
Comparing the use of space at the school. In the upper left corner of the bottom photo is a teacher playing with a student in the converted storage room. [Provided; DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
Though ideas are still being discussed, Luna-Mroz said she and her staff have been working hard to make the best of what is available.
Among the biggest improvements is clearing out the school's library, which previously housed the workspaces of at least four teachers in addition to hundreds of books and mounds of clutter.
Today, the space is run by a volunteer parent librarian and is used for the school's new dance program and other groups.
Students also are eating lunch in a makeshift cafeteria for the first time, an upgrade from receiving hot lunch in the school's hallway before returning to their desks to eat.
Students with special needs are no longer instructed in the hallway but in a former storage room that's been cleared out and converted into Room 113. Also, the music room is no longer shared with the science lab, and students share group tables instead of individual desks. Luna-Mroz's own office doubles as a teacher lounge and conference room.
Installing several standing water filters in the hallway and applying some fresh coats of paint have helped to make Decatur feel more at home.
Still, some problems persist.
Though the school is saving money by no longer paying neighboring Bernard Horwich Jewish Community Center $10,000 a year to rent its gym because the school's gym is too small, it's also not sure where students will have recess or physical education once the weather becomes inclement.
There's also no place for the school to hold an assembly or performance where all the students can fit at once, meaning classes must get split up, and each meeting must be repeated, taking up time during the school day.
While the school keeps searching for solutions, Luna-Mroz said she is plowing ahead with new ideas and initiatives.
This year, she's focusing on strengthening students' social/emotional needs, technology and fitness.
Classrooms now come equipped with iPads and Chromebooks for each student, and Chelsea Branch, who doubles as the school's new dance teacher and administrative coordinator, is helping kids express themselves creatively and take risks through dance.
The pair said they want to make sure students feel confident, empowered at school, and learn to advocate for themselves — just like Luna-Mroz learned to do as a girl.
"For here especially, I want our students and community to know diversity is not just an asset, but a strength," the principal said. "[We're] really teaching students to have a voice and to own their differences and uniqueness, and give them the confidence and boldness and courage to be whoever they want to be."
Students wave to Principal Yolanda Luna-Mroz. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
