By Amy Wooten

At the last minute, the design team behind plans to create a new Chicago public high school catering to disenfranchised students, including LGBTQA youth, pulled the plug.

The proposed Social Justice High School Solidarity Campus—what some gay activists called a “watered-down” version of the original plan for a school geared towards LGBTQA students—was pulled from the Chicago Board of Education’s meeting agenda late Tuesday night, mere hours before the board was supposed to vote on it during its Nov. 19 meeting. Some reports cite internal disagreement among the school’s design team due to the recent mission and name change as the reason for scrapping the plan until next year.

Calls to the design team’s spokesperson have not yet been returned. However, according to a statement released by the design team, “The proposal has changed since the Oct. 8 public hearing, and the design team is taking an additional year to finalize the proposal.”

The design team added that the proposal start date will remain 2010, and they will engage in collecting more research, building data and “building on existing efforts in the Chicago Public Schools to create system-wide change for all students, including LGBT students and their allies.”

In a statement released by Chicago Public Schools, officials said they respect the design team’s decision and look forward to them re-submitting their plans in 2009.

Initially, the design team behind the proposed school wished to create Chicago’s first high school catering to GLBTQ students and their allies (then to be called the Social Justice High School Pride Campus).

From the beginning, the school’s design team stressed that although they wanted to create Chicago’s first gay-friendly high school, all students would be welcome. Several public hearings were held in order for the community to express its concerns. At each forum, the response was overwhelmingly in favor of a GLBTQA-friendly high school. However, concerns expressed at and outside of these hearings included fear of sheltering GLBT students from the “real world” and segregating such youth. Such arguments mirrored ones used against the creation of New York’s Harvey Milk High School, one of the county’s first and only public schools catering to GLBTQ youth, several years ago.

Equality Illinois’ Rick Garcia was one of several people to vocalize such concerns. Garcia, who told Free Press that he did not oppose the concept of a gay-friendly school, did have serious questions about whether or not the well-intentioned, dedicated group of individuals promoting such a school were looking at the bigger picture—that not all CPS schools are safe and affirming for all students, and GLBTQ youth shouldn’t have to travel across town to find one. And GLBTQ students across the nation suffer from higher dropout rates and higher rates of suicide as a direct result of such sub-par educational environments.

“My heart swells with pride with the city and design team, who are attempting to address this problem, and I completely understand the issue,” Garcia said. “But what about kids who aren’t there (at the Solidarity school)? While some say it can serve as a model, we need teacher training … and zero tolerance of anti-gay bullying for all schools.”

“I desperately wanted to support this project, but it didn’t fit well in my heart or my gut,” Garcia added. “We have to make sure all of us are treated fairly and equally no matter where we are.”

Others, while supporting the plan, also stressed the need for systematic change. Illinois Safe Schools Alliance Executive Director Shannon Sullivan, who said she was surprised the plans were held back another year, said, “Obviously, one school is not going to solve all the problems,” but will be one step towards change.

“We at Illinois Safe Schools Alliance are still working toward systematic change in all schools, and we see a Pride Campus as part of that,” Shannon added.

In October, the head of Chicago Public Schools, Arne Duncan, vocalized his support of the then-Pride Campus. The proposed Pride Campus was one of 20 new schools Duncan recommended as part of the CPS Renaissance 2010 initiative. However, in the days that followed, the mainstream press reported that religious leaders met with Duncan, expressing their opposition. Many speculated that the meeting was the reason the Chicago Board of Education set back their vote on five of the schools slated to open in 2010 (including the Pride Campus) a full month. The board already voted on 12 of the schools, to open in 2009, in late October.

“I would hate to think this has been pulled back because of pressure from anti-gay ministers,” state Rep. Greg Harris said. “But if it was pulled back to fine-tune it and make it better, I’m just fine with that.”

Shortly after Duncan’s blessing, Mayor Richard Daley—who has been a strong ally to the local GLBT community over the years—expressed his concerns that a gay-friendly high school might segregate GLBT students.

Then, just days before the Nov. 19 Chicago Board of Education meeting, the proposed school’s organizers announced that they were changing the name of the school and expanding its mission to target all disenfranchised students.

The new mission statement read: “While the school will be open to all students, its special mission will be to provide a haven where students can feel safe and valued for who they are.”

According to a statement released by the school’s design team, the mission and name change reflected concerns expressed during each of the public hearings held in September and October. The team also wanted to broaden the school’s mission to ensure all isolated students had a place at the school.

Sullivan expressed hope that the design team’s work “wasn’t all for none.” First, there is still a possibility that the team will be able to retool the plan and open such a campus in 2010. Secondly, at the very least, this drew international attention to a very real problem GLBTQ youth face every day.

“We now have the capacity to make this issue visible,” Shannon said. “This has been a lightning rod for discussion.”