The movement to Save Senn came about when the Chicago Public Schools announced a plan to take over a wing of our school to install a Naval Academy –a plan that will have a negative impact on many of the excellent programs that exist at Senn HS. These include:

• The Junior Academy - one of the city’s first and most successful schools within a school.
• The International Baccalaureate (IB) program - which, in 2004, awarded more diplomas than any school in the city after Lincoln Park.
• Senn’s nationally recognized Service Learning program - which has helped students perform more than 70,000 volunteer hours in this community in the past 5 years!
• A multi-lingual TESOL program that helps kids from 70 different countries learn English… helping to make Senn Chicago’s most diverse school.

Teachers, students, and members of the community want the CPS to know that Senn is a school on its way up, and should not be chopped up. We are calling on members of the Edgewater/Uptown neighborhoods to help us save this community resource.

Find out how you can get involved or contact us for more information. We also have some great readings (below) and other resources on our website so please look around (and spread the word). Thanks!

MORE READING

About Senn

A great overview of what Senn has to offer, this is School Data from the 2002-2003 school year as per the Chicago Public Schools. It covers information on students, programs, activites, awards, and the postsecondary plans of seniors. (Great facts such as 83% of seniors sought to go on to college while only 1% planned on joining the armed forces are included.) Read more…

What we have done so far

• We have organized a coalition (Save Senn) which drew about 30 people to bi-monthly organizing meetings.
• We launched a website and a listserv.
• We produced dozens of press releases, and received a lot of media attention including TV coverage on channels 2, 5, 9, Chicago Tonight, Chicago Tribune, Sun Times, The Reader, The Lerner News, and numerous independent media outlets, from the Windy City Times to Indy Media.
• We gathered over a thousand signatures on petitions.
• We knocked on doors,
• We rallied, picketed, and testified.
• We showed how much it is possible to fight the board and the military

Response Letter to Arne Duncan’s Much-Publicized Letter

Recently, Arne Duncan, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, mailed to many members of the community his endorsement of a Naval Academy to be placed within Nicholas Senn High School, beginning in fall of 2005. Mr. Duncan’s letter argues that the Naval Academy will be an additional educational option for the neighborhood and the city and that it will in no way interfere with the programs and student enrollment currently at Senn High School. Find out the truth! Read more…