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“They don’t really care about us!”... Chicago charter schools and corporate Chicago exclude neighborhood students from charter picnic in a public park

Donzell Chester, Antonio Jackson, and Jeremiah Ray - September 13, 2009

"They don't really care bout us..."

Windy City Fieldhouse workers served the charter school students who showed up at Garfield Park for the charter school picnic. Above, there were so few charter school invitees coming to the event that four Windy City Fieldhouse workers were available to register one or two eligible students who did show up (there are actually two students being registered in the above photo, but one is obscured behind the large number of registrars). The registration workers were ordered not to register public school students who attended regular public schools, and the implicatation was that public school students would be arrested for trespassing if they tried to attend the event, eat the food, and use the various attractions. The workers apologized for having to exclude regular public school students from a public park on a sunny day following the first week of school in Chicago. Substance photo by Donzell Chester.Michael Jackson may as well have been singing about Chicago public education. While neighborhood school programs are suffering funding cuts, charter school adults and private corporate employees (who far outnumbered children) were having an exclusive picnic in a public park with funding from a variety of donors. The public location was Garfield Park on Chicago's West Side on the sunny afternoon of September 12, 2009. The event was the "4th Annual Charter Public Schools Family Picnic." But the public schools and public school students were excluded from the event. There might as well have been a big KEEP OUT sign in the park that day.

During our visit to the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) 4th Annual "Charter Public Schools Family Picnic," we were denied access to the events of the picnic simply for the crime of attending our public neighborhood school. When we left at 12:40 p.m. after being excluded, there were approximately 120 non-employees at the event, and roughly 80-90 event coordinators, security and charter school table presenters. We counted. The "non-employees" in this report are those who came to the park for the "Family Picnic" and were not working for the corporation that did the work. Of the 120 non-employees, only a few dozen appeared to be school age children. These dozens of students were spread across a variety of activities and stations— including a food tent, bean bag toss, big slides and others. They even had free food. They gave prizes to the sparse crowd of students. As public school students, we weren’t even allowed to register even though we had received an invitation.

Q: When is an invitation not an invitation? A: When you're a public school student.

Chicago public school students (above) were excluded from the annual "Public Charter School Picnic" on September 12, 2009 at Chicago's public Garfield Park. The students were told that they would be trespassing if they tried to go to the charter school event without being charter school students. They had received an invitation for the event and travelled 80 minutes on public transportation to get to it. Left to right (above): Antonio Jackson, Jeremiah Ray, and Donzell Chester wondered why the "Welcome" is not for them. Substance photo by Antonio Jackson.On Saturday morning, September 12, 2009, we woke up between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning and met to take CTA train 80 minutes from the far south side to Garfield Park. We had been invited to the "Charter Public Schools Family Picnic" and were looking forward to it. We arrived early and spent time chatting with the staff at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The person at the desk was kind enough to buy us sandwiches. That turned out to be the only food we received at the park. The "Family Picnic" was outside in the park itself.

When we first entered the park, we attempted to look at the activity tables. We were told by one of the grey-shirted security guards, “Make sure you register over there at that tent.” We went to the tent where the red-shirted Windy City Fieldhouse employees asked us, “What charter school are you at?” and “Do you go to a charter school?”

We told them truthfully, “No.” We attended regular public school.

As soon as they learned that, we were told, “Well, you have to be with a charter school to register, sorry.” Jeremiah said he started laughing because he was like, “Are you for real?”

Robert Beaubien, who identified himself as the manager for Windy City Fieldhouse, approached us, and said, “I know you’re not from a charter school. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Our teacher, Xian Barrett asked, “Even if we were invited by email?” Beaubien said that he had strict instructions that no non-charter school students be allowed at the event under any circumstances, “You are welcome to stay in the park, but not in this grove," Beaubien added. "It’s only for charter school students.” Substance photo by Antonio Jackson.We walked away and stood a few feet away from the registration table and took some pictures of the event. The workers, all young, called Robert Beaubien, who identified himself as the Executive Vice President of Windy City Fieldhouse. He approached us, and said, “I know you’re not from a charter school. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Our teacher, Xian Barrett asked, “Even if we were invited by email?” Beaubien said that he had strict instructions that no non-charter school students be allowed at the event under any circumstances, “You are welcome to stay in the park, but not in this grove," Beaubien added. "It’s only for charter school students.”

Keep off charter school grass — and KEEP OUT!

We asked Beaubien for a card, and he told us to wait — off the grass. While we were waiting, Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Really Care About Us” came on. As much as we like the song, we appreciated the irony: Donzell asked, “Why would they play a song like that when they get the most funding and better treatment?”

A large part of the east side of Chicago's (public) Garfield Park (above) was off limits to regular public school students on September 12, 2009. The reason: The Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) was hosting a private picnic for "public charter school" students and families. Substance photo by Xian Barrett. Beaubien returned and gave us his card, and said, “Please don’t blame me, my company was just hired to set up the event. I was told not to have anyone around who’s not part of a charter school. So sorry, but don’t blame, me I’m just doing my job. “ We thanked him for being polite, and continued to tape and take pictures of the event.

We walked across the street and Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up” began playing over the loudspeakers.

“I thought this event was for children," Donzell said, "‘I Wanna Sex You Up'—what kind of song is that for children?”

Antonio said it reminded him of the Jeremih controversy — where CPS CEO Ron Huberman contracted Jeremih — famous for the song, “Birthday Sex” — to welcome students back to school.

“It’s like they are trying to inject sexuality into the school year.” We had a story, even if we didn't get to eat charter school food or play on charter school bouncers in a public park that had suddenly become a private park.

Corporate sponsors of the exclusive charter school event on September 12, 2009, were thanked by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. A list of the sponsors of this segregated event. The sponsors include the Steans Foundation, which pushes charter school proliferation through the disparaging of neighborhood schools, teachers and students. The wealthy Steans family is very active in the privatization of Chicago's public schools through charters. One of the Steans sisters, Heather Steans, is now an Illinois State Senator who pushes charter schools in the Illinois General Assembly. Another sister, Robin Steans, is head of "Advance Illinois", which hosted Arne Duncan's attack on public schools on June 19, 2009 in Chicago (see "Back Issues" at June 2009 for several stories on the "Advance Illinois" event). Substance photo by Jeremiah Ray.The signs said that the event was funded and organized by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, one of the many corporate funded groups working to promote charter schools, often by attacking and disparaging neighborhood schools and segregating school children.

With the crowd as small as it was, there was no waiting for food or fun. “It was completely unfair," Donzell said, "but the kids there didn’t seem to care because even though it was mostly adults, the charter kids got to play on the rides and activities. If it was up to me, we would invite all students to our picnics — of course we don’t get funding for that.”

The ironies of the day were not lost on the public school students who were rebuffed.

Substance staff members, including the editor and Web designer, often used the services of Windy City Fieldhouse in the past. They were surprised and saddened by the rebuff. Substance editor George Schmidt did winter baseball practice at Windy City Fieldhouse during the years his son Dan (a pitcher for Whitney Young High School) was on the varsity baseball team. "Most of the staff there were public school students and public school alumni," Schmidt said. "They had to feel caught in the middle when working an event that excluded real public school families."

"The people registering the charter school families probably couldn't get in either," Antonio Jackson said after observing the working people at Garfield Park on September 12, 2009.

The public school students who were refused entry into the "Family Picnic" had their own luncheon on the way back home to the south side following their experiences at Garfield Park. 

Final edited version of this article posted at www.substancenews.net September 14, 2009, 1:00 a.m. CDT. If you choose to reproduce this article in whole or in part, or any of the graphical material included with it, please give full credit to SubstanceNews as follows: Copyright © 2009 Substance, Inc., www.substancenews.net. Please provide Substance with a copy of any reproductions of this material and we will let you know our terms — or you can take out a subscription to Substance (see red button to the right) and make a donation. We are asking all of our readers to either subscribe to the print edition of Substance (a bargain at $16 per year) or make a donation. Both options are available on the right side of our Home Page. For further information, feel free to call us at our office at 773-725-7502.

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