Whittier

Photos by Zach Kremian

Left: Evelyn Santos on-post at the Whittier Field House on day 27 of the 24 hour sit-in and occupation. Above: A kaleidoscope of
colored T-shirts made by community activists on display outside the Whittier Field House, “Whittier Defends Your Politics,” they
read.

Whittier’s La Casita: More Than a Library

How a Disadvantaged Community Fights for Their Children’s Future
Photos & Story by Zach Kremian

“ Huberman, Huberman, can’t you see? All

we want is a library!” chanted 25 community
activists and mothers outside of CPS headquarters
on Oct. 18. The protestors had taken part in a month-long
“ “We will analyze for ourselves
the historic patterns of
disinvestment and selective
investment in Chicago schools and
“
neighborhoods,”
sit-in to prevent CPS from demolishing a 100 year-old field —Rico Gutstein, Teachers for Social Justice
house turned grassroots library located in the parking lot of
Whittier Elementary in Chicago’s low-income Pilsen neigh-
headquarters.
borhood.
“[CPS’s] lack of providing sufficient resources to low-
Rico Gutstein, teacher and activist for Teachers for Social
income communities of color like Whittier, then dismantling,
Justice, spoke to the press and called upon CPS to release the
privatizing and taking over their schools when they fail to
literacy scores and demographic data about the more than
meet the standards is like tying someone’s legs together for
160 public schools in Chicago that do not have their own
a race, and then penalizing them when they lose,” Gutstein
libraries.
said.
“We will analyze for ourselves the historic patterns of
disinvestment and selective investment in Chicago schools
and neighborhoods,” Gutstein said to a cheering crowd of
Whittier supporters who had assembled outside of CPS TheChicagoGrid.com October/November 2010 •9
 La Ca s i ta “I’m going to be with these moms
as long as they’re going to be there, and

The Little House they’re not leaving,” said Farmer, a Cau-

casian attorney from the North Side
Photos: The Whittier Field House, and the makeshift library
who has joined the sit-in at La Casita
created thorugh donations from across the nation. on an almost nightly basis.
The occupation movement on the
ground is made of mostly immigrant
mothers of the elementary students at
Whittier. With local and national sup-
port, they embarked upon themselves
the process of turning the long-held
community center into a library—a re-
source Whittier has never had. In four
weeks, La Casita accumulated more
than 1,200 books.
La Casita—or the little house—is
not just a DIY library created in a
schoool never fortunate to have one.
It has served as a central point for the
parents of the community to learn,
interact, and work together to improve
their lives, and subsequently their
2
children’s. In addition to a library, La
Casita serves as a center for a myriad
Like of the other more than 160
of community-led workshops and pro-
schools without libraries, Whittier
grams for parents and students, Santos
Elementary has faced the realities of
said.
inadequate funding since the school was
The mothers at La Casita have
created.
learned to sew, to speak better English,
“The parents have been fighting for
have created yoga classes, and now read
seven years,” said Evelyn Santos, 23, a
donated books with their children,
mother, student and organizer in the Murals and signs adorn the more than 100-year old walls of the field house

“
Santos said. This movement to save the
Pilsen community. building. Then CPS planned to
community center from demolishment
“There was only one set of bath-
rooms; the children were eating in a
basement that was full of asbestos and
lead; sewage was coming up from the
and into a library is bringing the com-
munity closer together, and is apart of
larger message not traditionaly learned
in Chicago’s public schools, Santos said.
CPS’
La
$356,000
plans
Casita

money—without
to

of
raze
using
public
The movement is
teaching the chil-
dren to speak up for
themselves...
“ demolish
an
to be shared
schools,
the building for
Astroturf soccer field
with
Santos
nearby
said. Even
ground; they had no warming kitchen, the inclusion of a —Evelyn Santos
after organizers gathered
“The movement is teaching the

Whittier
and were eating cold sandwiches for more than 900 signatures
children to speak up
lunch,” said Santos. in a petition to stop the

“
At height of tension, police
taped off a perimeter around the
field house, and started making
plans to remove the mothers.
After Whittier students and com-
munity members joined in the
occupation, CPS and the police
chose to refrain from the eviction.
Then on Oct. 4, CPS turned off the
gas-heat to the field house, claim-
The creation of the library is another for themselves,” said
demolishing of the field
moment in a history of struggle for the Santos, “and giving
There was only one set of house, CPS had still not
Pilsen community to provide a com- the parents a victory
bathrooms; the children were taken it off the table.
parable education for their kids said to be proud of.”
eating in a basement that was “This was something
Santos. Now amidst a local and national The sit-in for the
full of asbestos and lead; sew- that the parents had to do
spotlight, the sit in at the field house community center
age was coming up from the
ground; they had no warming
kitchen, and were eating cold
sandwiches for lunch.
“ has drawn solidarity in that struggle for
education equality from parents, stu-
dents and activists outside of the Pilsen
community.
and the creation of
this library are just
recent developments
in a series of struggles
as

CPS
last resort,” Santos said.
Competing
schools and
with other
dealing
bureaucracy
with
has
been a problem, parents
-Evelyn Santos
Local School Council member by the community
ing the building was structurally say. They have pointed
Mathew Farmer said his two daugh- of Pilsen to stand up
unsafe and a liability. Following local to the Renaissance 2010
ters have attended four different public and provide funda-
and national outcry, the Chicago City policy—which seeks to
schools on the North Side, all of which mental educational
Council responded, and ordered CPS to privatize failing schools—
lease the building to the mothers for had libraries. He spoke at the press needs for their chil-
immediately restore the heat. as a destructive force
$1 a year once they incorporate as a conference about CPS’s lower standards dren, Santos said.
After 43 days of the 24/7 sit-in, La Parents, students and activists volunteer for the 24/7 sit in. against those schools that
nonprofit. The mothers and activists for low-income neighborhoods, and After receiving
Casita and CPS have reached a compro- are already facing lack of
will continue to work with the School the correlating lack of resources for the $1.4 million in TIF
mise. Following CPS CEO Ron Huber- new library and community center— resources and support.
Board to make sure La Casita is safe, schools that need them most. appropriations, Whittier elemen-
man’s affirmation, CPS will motivated the parents to organize and
and Whittier is equipped with a library. tary was able to make renovations to
improve the basic structure of its main occupy the building beginning Sept. 15. TheChicagoGrid.com October/November 2010 • 11
10 • TheChicagoGrid.com October/November 2010
 Mothers, students and allies gather outside of CPS demanding the field house be saved, anda library created.
“
“
But it isn’t just bureaucracy and the inequality in communities similar to We have everything else in
lack of money in the community. TIF Pilsen, and only said an agreement
place, all we need is the resources.
monies and other public funds are given between CPS and the parents had
—Evelyn Santos

Whit-
to private interests in development already been reached.
plans rather than going to public
schools, Santos said.
“Instead of helping the children
we give money to Target,” Santos said,

tier
recalling how $5.3 million in TIF funds
were paid to Target to build a store
in Mckinley Park, less than two miles
from Whittier Elementary.
“We love Target, but we already have
one in Archer Heights,” Santos said.
“Public money for public schools.”
The environment being created
from the bottom-up at Whittier is
fundamental to building a quality
education, Santos said. Dual-language
teachers, steadfast involvement by the
community and parents, and more
resources are the main factors that
make a great school, she said.
Like many schools in low-income
communities, Whittier spends more
money on keeping up with health and
safety concerns for an old building than
on improving the quality and make
up of the education. Kids get asbestos
instead of books.
“We have everything else in place, all
we need is the resources,” Santos said.
CPS declined to provide any
detailed comments about education Chants of protest can be heard from inside CPS as Mothers demand to speak to CPS
CEO Ron Huberman TheChicagoGrid.com October/November 2010 • 13
12 • TheChicagoGrid.com October/November 2010