Parents Oppose Open Attendance at Skinner Elementary

Story by Nicki Pappaianou

Sept. 30, 2008 – Angry parents expressed opposition to a plan that would allow open attendance to neighborhood kids at a classical school in the West Loop.

Mark T. Skinner is a classical elementary school that grants selective acceptance to students based upon a rigorous test and application process.  However, plans proposed by Chicago Public Schools officials to allow neighborhood children of the West Loop community to attend Skinner untested had parents in an uproar at Wednesday’s monthly school board meeting.

“My son scored 96 percent on his test and was first denied, and now CPS wants to just let any student enroll, that is outrageous,” said Skinner parent Kimberly Brown.

The open attendance policy has some parents questioning whether real estate developers are using Skinner’s excellent reputation to lure buyers into the West Loop area.

“Developers in the West Loop know having a reputable school like Skinner in the area will have an influence on perspective buyers,” said Aishia Crump.

Parents also fear the infusion of neighborhood kids will put the school’s diversity at risk.

According to a public school review website, the major demographics of students at Skinner are 57 percent black, 19 percent Asian, 13 percent white and 10 percent Hispanic.

However, parents worry wealthy white families moving to the West Loop will want their children to go to a reputable institution, and they fear the open attendance will turn Skinner into an all white school.

“This is about privilege. This does not happen in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods.  It happens in affluent, mostly-white neighborhoods,” said Brown.

Yet, Chicago Public Schools Spokesman Malon Edwards said some residents living in the West Loop feel their children should be allowed to attend Skinner untested because 15 percent of Skinner’s new school building, which is located on 1260 W. Adams, was built with neighborhood tax-increment finance district funds.

“I do not understand why my children cannot attend a school that I am paying taxes for,” said Kevin Finnegan, a West Loop resident who lives two blocks away from Skinner’s new building.

Skinner parents say West Loop residents are not limited in their choices, with magnet schools such as Andrew Jackson Elementary, Galileo Elementary and Thomas Jefferson Elementary in the vicinity.

“We are not against a neighborhood school; we just don’t think there is a need for one right now,” said Skinner local school council president Angela Griffin. “It just doesn’t make sense to disrupt a school that is functioning so well.”