CHICAGO, IL - The parents of a 15-year-old boy who reportedly committed suicide after incessant bullying over his perceived COVID shot status have filed suit against the school over administrators allegedly not taking appropriate action to address the bullying.. Last fall, 15-year-old Nate Bronstein had enrolled in what CBS News described as "one of the most prestigious private schools in . The terse assessment of one University of Chicago sociologist sums up the prevailing attitude best: "This is a community that reads nothing." 4. The girl in that story, Alex Moreno, is now a 21-year-old woman attending college. Students also acknowledged the administration has made some attempts to improve Latins culture through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. At this moment we are trying to make a change, but until that change happens, I dont think its a good environment.. ", But Randy saw for himself in the summer of 2017, five days into the school year. When she arrived at Latin, she was one of just a handful of Black people in her grade and often was the only Black person in her classes, she said. Nancy Reagan is the school's most famous alum. Bill Conway, whose billionaire father recently donated more than $10 million to fund his unsuccessful campaign for Cook County States Attorney, is another Latin graduate. A post shared by @ survivorsoflatin on Jun 23, 2020 at 2:10pm PDT. Dunns letter also acknowledged that the culture, systems, and practices at the 132-year-old institution have promoted racism implicitly and explicitly. The letter didnt elaborate. While Latin Survivors central focus is anti-Blackness, the submissions also include stories of alleged sexual misconduct by teachers, and sexist, anti-immigrant, anti-Latinx, and anti-Muslim statements by students, parents, and educators. "I didn't believe her. Amid the summer outcry over racial injustice, young people of color at some of Chicagos most prestigious high schools started using social media to share their own experiences, challenging administrators early in the new school year to reckon with what the students and alumni say are entrenched cultures of racial inequality. Officials did not respond to the request. Students and alums reveal racist culture at top Chicago private school, Listen: Youth organizers discuss Black joy, West Side history and the future, Student Diversity and Leadership Conference, Listen: Chicago youth leaders Miracle Boyd and China Smith reflect on activism, trauma, and growth, On an Instagram page called Survivors of Latin. The school treated violations like isolated incidents and rarely punished offenders, she said. On the @bipoc.payton Instagram, students recount being called racial slurs by their peers, profiled by school security, confused for other students of color, ignored by faculty and discouraged by counselors from applying to top-ranked colleges. Another private prep school near Latin, Francis W. Parker School in the Lincoln Park community, and St. Ignatius College Prep, a private Jesuit school on the Near West Side, also have Instagram pages documenting students' experiences with racism and anti-Blackness. It is in the way that we speak.". I had just finished sixth grade and attended my first orientation for High Jump, an academic enrichment program that prepares elementary school students for the competitive application process required for selective-enrollment and private schools. After a lengthy, painful deliberation (where some people on the body's biases were clearly showing), we decided to give them both an out-of-school suspension. Their teachers are much more likely to be white, hold advanced degrees, and teach in classes with low pupil-instructor ratios compared to Chicago Public Schools teachers. She said her parents enrolled her at Latin because she was a gifted child, and they feared that the neighborhood schools would not be challenging enough. Now Russell has seen students use Lordes teachings to advocate for justice within the school. "But I would not recommend Latin to a Black student. Her father was applying for his citizenship at the time, she said, so the comment hit close to home. She says the faculty member who fielded the complaint, a woman of color, threw it out and supported her. As an eighth-grader in 2017, South Chicago resident Randy Pierre boasted the grades and test scores to get into some of Chicago's top high schools. "I thought everything that I've been taught to strive for, like financial stability and securing safe housing, going to a good college, these things would have been threatened if I spoke up, and I would have basically wasted my opportunity to go to Latin, which is supposed to give you more opportunities to step up in life than you could have ever imagined if you stayed in your neighborhood," she said. Toowoomba is the second out of three Queensland towns to make the top 10 list. (Editors Note: The Instagram post embedded in this article was originally submitted by Randy to the Survivors of Latin page). Injustice Watch is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism organization that conducts in-depth research exposing institutional failures that obstruct justice and equality. 26 Following. By my junior year, everything started to shift. On average, residents of the . This rating has improved by 3% over the last 12 months. 5.00 (2 reviews) 59 W North Blvd. As a white leader, not only do I have to show up as a partner for racial justice but it is imperative that I signal to my white colleagues, to my white students and to my white families that equity work is all of our work, Resh said. Anthony Vazquez / Chicago Sun-Times. Thats part of what makes this system of injustice function, Russell said. I was 15 at the time and he was married. during a unit on Islam. Dunn's letter also acknowledged that the culture, systems, and practices at the 132-year-old institution "have promoted racism implicitly and explicitly." Its the individual. But as a low-income student of color, she struggled a lot with imposter syndrome, she said. Carroll, who is Afro-Latino, has shared his own experiences of being racially profiled by school security and, he said, of having his belongings repeatedly searched. However, studies highlight the social and psychological challenges that students of color, especially Black students, face inside the nation's predominantly white independent schools. I haven't been separated from Latin long enough to know if it was worth it," she said. When she arrived at Latin, she was one of just a handful of Black people in her grade and often was the only Black person in her classes, she said. A post shared by @ survivorsoflatin on Jun 22, 2020 at 11:54am PDT. Those revelations come on the heels of recent outcry over racist transgressions at other highly touted Chicago schools, including the private University of Chicago Lab Schools in Hyde Park, and Walter Payton High School on the Near North Side. Earlier Saturday, Marist defeated Montini Catholic High School, 34-0, in its homecoming football game. "She didn't like how I talked about race.I was very blunt," Marilyn Pierre said. I was nonchalant about the racism that took place at Latin, and because of that, my white peers continued with the same actions. While it has its issues, as every school does, I would choose to go to Latin 10 times over. 0 references. A co-ed independent day school for students in grades JK-12. The letter didn't elaborate. critical race theory (CRT), intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour. It was sad to see how similar our experiences were even though we went to Latin 30 years apart., In response to a Tribune inquiry over the summer, Latins head of school, Randall Dunn, issued a statement acknowledging the Instagram account and sharing the administrations commitment to empathic listening and accountable action.. About 1,200 students attend from Pre-k to 12th grade, with lower, middle, and high school grades in different buildings. Tuition ranges from about $33,000 to $37,000 depending on grade. Scenes of happy students filled the screens of televisions mounted on bright orange walls. A post shared by @ survivorsoflatin on Jun 21, 2020 at 2:24pm PDT. The city also has a very cold, brutal and unrecognised history which is still felt today by our people. Chicago, IL latinschool.org Joined March 2009. His parents preferred Latin, and his sister, a 2014 Latin grad, praised its academic rigor. Leslie Russell is a Payton teacher and sponsor of its Black Student Union, of which Carroll is president. $40,000-a-year Chicago private school boasted of injecting critical race theory into PHYSICS classes as far back as 2016 - and revealed that students' reactions would be 'tracked' A $40,000-a-year- private school in Chicago had allegedly injected critical race theory into its physics classes as far back as 2016 and tracked students' attitudes to the courses to see to see if they were . In this first-person piece, Latin School of Chicago senior Randy Pierre shares his experiences with racism at the top private school and reflects on how Latin School has responded since July, when an Instagram page exposed its allegedly racist culture. I really do appreciate the productivity and the communication thats going on between the Black students and our new administration," Hughes said. inception. At this national student gathering, I was surrounded by people who were going through the same things that I was. For a long time I felt guilty, as though I had done something to have led him on, but I know now that I didnt do anything wrong and that his behavior was completely inappropriate. Warren Skalski/The Washington Post via Getty Images. Tel: (312) 582-6000. www.latinschool.org. Latin School of Chicago, founded in 1888, is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory school for students in junior kindergarten through grade twelve. Those include an anti-racist curriculum with nonelective courses on Black culture and history and reforms to the admissions process, such as an end to legacy admissions. His first choice was Whitney Young High School, a . (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune). The difference between her experience at Latin and her brother's is that, while she endured microaggressions and overt marginalization, people seem even bolder now, she said. Stallworth, who plans to attend college in Atlanta this year, remembers her white classmates, many of whom lived in the affluent North Side communities near the school, paying a disturbing amount of attention to her hair. Several members of the wealthy Pritzker family have attended Latin, including Gigi Pritzker, and the children of Illinois billionaire Gov. He invited the Latin community to continue engaging in discussions about race and to provide feedback in a survey that would help inform "a specific plan of action" to be unveiled in July. These profound demographic changes raise . Nancy Reagan is the schools most famous alum. Thirteen percent of students get financial aid from the school, which reported more than $50 million in revenue last year. Injustice Watch asked Latin officials for data on school discipline and academic achievement to explore potential racial disparities. If I recall correctly, they instead put the students on a meaningless probation. In response to a long history of allegations of racism within Latin-most notably, perhaps, a string of resurfaced racist text messages sent by two alumni-an online group known as the Survivors of Latin was born. Randy, the rising senior from South Chicago, said that he attended a leadership conference with hundreds of other Black youth last year and returned to Latin committed to speaking out against racist abuse. We are acting in solidarity with movements across our country demanding structural change in the government, the spokesperson said. Still, the students and alums characterized Latin as an oppressive environment for people of color where microaggressions and overt acts of racism were overlooked or handled with slaps on the wrist. Text Description: I am a young Chinese woman. Moreno also accused some teachers of reinforcing the idea that she wasnt supposed to be there. She warned her brother, too: "She told me I would have some of the worst experiences I've ever had in my life there," Randy said. I knew something was wrong as he is usually bursting with energy with how well his school went. [email protected]. Just north of Latin is Francis W. Parker School, where a group thats behind the @fwpanonymous Instagram page has crafted its own list of demands, calling on administrators to implement changes to curriculum, admissions and school culture. And the system inside the school, as much as the system outside the school, is producing the stories that are coming up on these Instagram pages. Critical race theorists hold that racism is . Editor's Note: South Chicago resident Randy Pierre, 18, is a senior at the Latin School of Chicago, one of the city's top private schools.In July, Injustice Watch reported on a reckoning happening around race at the school, which students and alums alleged was home to a racist and xenophobic culture. Still, the students and alums characterized Latin as an oppressive environment for people of color where microaggressions and overt acts of racism were overlooked or handled with slaps on the wrist. One girl went to the freshman dean to ask him to intervene. But Randy chose the Latin School of Chicago, an independent school on the Gold Coast serving predominantly white and affluent students. I thought it could be me on that screen. The page administrators also omit the names of anyone whose behavior or words is called out by the authors. The children of former Gov. About two-in-three Latin students are white in a city where the same proportion of residents are people of color. Moreno also accused some teachers of reinforcing the idea that she wasn't supposed to be there. Primary school students who took part in a groundbreaking pilot scheme designed to give them the tools to identify racial bias showed reduced levels of bias at the end of the program. In July, Resh sent a statement to the school community, acknowledging the stories shared on Instagram and affirming her commitment to amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous people and other people of color. The spokesperson for Latin Survivors, a recent grad who spoke to Injustice Watch on the condition of anonymity, said the group was inspired by Black students who are leading social media campaigns exposing injustice at other top college prep schools across the U.S. But as a low-income student of color, she struggled a lot with imposter syndrome, she said. If the grand jury investigating the white-on-black violence during the 1919 race riot in Chicago is to be believed, Irish American gangs played a central role in attempting to extend the bloodshed. I confronted the dean about his response and he doubled down on his comments. Latin School of Chicago is a selective private elementary, middle, and high school located in the Gold Coast neighborhood on the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Editors Note: South Chicago resident Randy Pierre, 18, is a senior at the Latin School of Chicago, one of the citys top private schools. Fewer than one-in-four Latin teachers identify as people of color, according to the school's latest annual report. Black student reflects on confronting racism at top Chicago private school: Keep the same energy, including the private University of Chicago Lab Schools, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The children of former Gov. Latin School currently takes out permits for this area and other park district facilities, as do other schools and private sports clubs like AYSO, Little League and the Chicago Sport & Social Club. The administration created student and faculty leadership teams aimed at dismantling systems of oppression in the Payton community and also brought on a director of transformative justice, to help develop procedures for when an incident occurs. I understand now that Im here to change the space, the space is not here to change me. I learned that I have more power than I knew. That becomes a lot.. Randy said he and other students "need to know that the administration is on our side and that they're going to hold students accountable, whether it be taking away their roles in student groups or even expulsion." Students of color remain vastly underrepresented today, but many of the schools have ramped up recruiting efforts targeting them while extending more financial aid to economically disadvantaged families. Within the first weeks of the new school year, the students said, there were already incidents where racial slurs were uttered during remote learning, including by someone who apparently crashed an online session. Latin School is a member of the Independent School League (ISL). But the Pilsen resident still cried as she retold the story to Injustice Watch. But she still replays memories of her early days at Latin, when she was a 13-year-old freshman who "nobody wanted to be friends with." The Latin School of Chicago is an elite prep school whose alumni include Nancy Reagan and the Governor of Illinois' children. There is no place for racism, harassment or oppression of any kind in Parkers community, and for that matter, in our global community, the statement read. He then told her, a black girl, that she should have calmly explained why their comments were offensive instead of calling them racists. The shock of everything made me so uncomfortable that I ended up leaving prom early. By 1985, so few people endorsed the segregationist response that the GSS dropped this item.". Fellow students also advised against speaking out, and told her she should expect racism, xenophobia, and misogyny, which was a hard truth to swallow for a 13-year-old. The girl in that story, Alex Moreno, is now a 21-year-old woman attending college. I took the words with a grain of salt as I finished my freshman year. The school was founded in 1888 by Mabel Slade Vickery. She remembers a teacher asking why, if English was her first language, she didnt write essays better. There was a kid of British descent next to me in class. The students operating @bipoc.payton screen submissions before posting them, identifying the author only by the class year. After students confronted him, he claimed it was fine since a Latinx student wasnt offended., Another submitter shared how after a Puerto Rican Muslim speaker addressed students at a school assembly, a white student walked up to a Mexican-American girl and said he didnt know what was worse, that the school had invited an illegal to speak, or that the speaker was a terrorist.. That isn't to say she didn't fight back at Latin. According to its website, High Jump helps prepare elementary students from households "of limited economic means" for entrance exams and academic success at prestigious public and private college prep schools. The University of Chicago's English Department is being slammed for bias and racism in deciding that it will only accept graduate school applicants interested in 'working in and with Black studies . She remembers a teacher asking why, if English was her first language, she didn't write essays better. In a room of more than 300 Black people, we talked about empowering ourselves in our spaces and letting our true lights shine, even if our institutions attempt to dim them. That fell below 10% by the early 1980s. "I received a wonderful education, but at what price? The parents of Nathan Bronstein, the 15-year-old boy who took his own life in January, say the Latin School of Chicago knew of their son's extensive bullying prior to his suicide and that school . Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News. But either way, this cant be the end of the fight. She was active in Latinx student groups that pushed for more racial inclusion at the school and participated in student focus groups centered on race and equity. Who were going through the same proportion of residents are people of,... 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