Bessie Rhodes Closure March Photos
Some photos and a link to the current meeting video
This afternoon, my lunchroom reporter and I went to the Bessie Rhodes protest. It was very well attended. It’s hard to estimate crowd size but probably at least a couple hundred families were in attendance.
Here’s the reporter from WGN in front of the 7-11.
The march crossed McCormick.
The march concluded with speeches and some tacos and pizza, courtesy of the Bessie Rhodes PTA.
The meeting is happening right now at this link or below on YouTube. As of right now (6:54pm) the speakers in public comments are tearing the D65 School Board a new one.
I'd like to point out that this important board meeting was held on the first night of Passover, when Jewish families would not be able to attend. I understand this was a regularly scheduled board meeting but they should have moved this discussion to another date.
Here's my guess on the decision to close Bessie Rhodes rather than move the school into another building as was previously suggested by Omar Salem: Since a large fraction of Bessie Rhodes students are from the 5th ward, if Bessie Rhodes stays open and those students stay at Bessie Rhodes, there won't be enough students for the 5th ward school. Of course, the board can't say that part out loud. Is that what's going on?