Phillips, located at at 244 E. Pershing Road, has been placed in the care of the Academy of Urban School Leadership, an institution trained to revamp some of Chicago’s most under-performing schools in some of the city’s most economically disadvantaged communities.

The turnaround process includes four main components: firing and replacing the current principal, eliminating the entire staff from teachers to janitors, reconstructing the curriculum and renewing the culture.

A Wendell Phillips Oversight Committee has convened to oversee the process; members include Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), Chicago Public Schools staff, Chicago Board of Education members, a professional educator from the University of Chicago and community leaders.

The committee, which will meet twice a month, held its first meeting on Tuesday, April 20 at the Bronzeville Community Clubhouse, a small community center located across the street from Phillips High School.

Bronzeville Club house Founder and President John Cook, who also sits on the oversight committee, said much of the first meeting was spent talking to new principal, Terrence Little, currently principal of Morton School of Excellence.

“I like the hands-on approach that the principal is stressing,” said Cook, “I think it’s going to work out providing everything goes to plan.”

The committee’s main priorities will be to ensure that students are able to pick up where they left off and have a chance to be educated from this point forward, Cook said.

But he does fear that because of the recent trauma the students and the school has experienced, the academic progress made by students may slip. The oversight committee agreed, saying that many teachers have been distracted, worrying about their own futures and students, too.

Dr. Sokoni Karanja, president and chief executive officer of the Center for New Horizons, an organization that works to empower communities, thinks there’s more to the closing of Phillips and other Chicago high schools in that area that meets the eye, or is being reported.

Karanja also serves on the oversight committee, which is currently looking for parent and student representatives from Phillips.

“The goal is to essentially minimize disruption to the students during the turnaround process,” said Elchert.

The committee will meet twice a month and is slated to stick around even after the turnaround is complete.

“Everybody’s pretty much excited,” said Elchert when he described the energy of the committee.

“They definitely have the kids interest at heart,” said Cook, adding “I’m excited about the possibilities.”

“My mom tried to give me keys to her house. I was afraid because if you touch keys, that’s an escape charge,” said Anthony, who served 12 years in federal prison.

“If you’ve been taken away for a period of 10 years or better, and you’ve been home for a period of 10 days, you still find yourself doing things you’ve (become) accustomed to doing, like not touching keys,” said Anthony, founder and director of the Reaching for Success Foundation.

Anthony founded Reaching for Success in 2005 while still in prison, earning an award for outstanding community activism. With the foundation, Anthony hopes to empower and educate youth in Chicago.

Anthony currently resides in Bellwood, a western suburb of Chicago. Although he’s originally from Chicago’s West Side, Anthony does a lot of outreach work on the South Side of Chicago, working as part of The Black Star Project, an organization started in 1996 whose mission is to empower Black and Latino communities through education and outreach.

According to a report by the PEW Research Center, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., Illinois saw a slight decrease in prisoner numbers between December 31, 2008 and Janauary1, 2010. This marks the first decrease in prisoner counts nationwide in 40 years, and indicates a greater need for services that would ease ex-prisoners’ transitions back home.

Organizations like the Community Renewal Society have been urging the Illinois Department of Corrections and the legislature to implement transition units in prisons for ex- and current offenders.

“These would be units that are specializing in people transitioning home so they’ll be more focused on preparation, including how to reintegrate into your family, what to expect and how you need to understand that there’s a changing dynamic that’s happened since you’ve been incarcerated,” said Alex Weisendanger, lead organizer for the Civic Action Network of the Community Renewal Society.

The Community Renewal Society assists individuals in rebuilding their abused communities. Their current initiative, Children of the Incarcerated, is a combined effort with community leaders, children and parents of incarcerated persons. The goal of the initiative is to connect inmates with their families by arranging visitations between children and incarcerated parents and offering counseling services and funding for travel.

Resources for ex- and current offenders continue to increase as families and community organizers pay closer attention to the issues. Revin L. Fellows, director of the Mission Men Fathers Support Group for Family Focus Lawndale on Chicago’s West Side, has a men’s group that meets every Tuesday.

“My men’s group consists of young men, older men, single men, married men, divorced men, ex-offenders and next offenders,” said Fellows. Family Focus Lawndale provides services for the entire family, including parent-to-parent support groups and mentoring.

Child support is one issue that many ex-offenders encounter, Fellows said.

“They go to jail; they have a child support problem,” said Fellows. Many offenders fail to contact Child Support Enforcement to halt their payments while in prison, he said; then when they are released, their bill has tripled.

Fellows said many ex-offenders also face other barriers — for example, a spouse who lives in public housing. The Chicago Housing Authority has tough stipulations against ex-offenders dwelling with their clients.

“People stereotype him,” said Fellows. “They don’t want an ex-offenders living next to them.”