Letter To The Editor: New School At Osage Park No Solution For District 15

The following Patch Letter to the Editor was submitted and jointly written by Palatine residents Krysia Mileczarek and Len Green:

A recent article in the Daily Herald advocated for the building of a new neighborhood school where Osage Park currently stands in the northeast corner of Palatine. The author, an immigrant, talked about the “division of race and poverty in Palatine (as) real and … growing.”

Here’s what we — Krysia Mielczarek and Len Green — wrote in response:

We, too, are immigrants; Len from South Africa, Krysia from Germany. Len saw how poverty there was entrenched by race until Nelson Mandela became president and communities integrated. Krysia came over as a German speaking child of German parents and was educated in a school of 80 percent English-speaking students. Our families have assimilated into our communities.

The Babcock-Ekeberg-Chapman plan you refer to had some merits, but it was fraught with pitfalls: lack of community engagement beforehand, superficial fact based analysis and assumptions, and many unanswered questions. The $130 million request was both inflated and incomplete in scope. That’s why it earned a resounding 33,000 "no" votes in the referendum.

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Palatine has grown from 39,000 to 67,000 residents in the past 20 years. Schools are very fixed structures, and there clearly is a need to plan for the future. Len was a member of the first D15 planning committee that recommended to the board in June 2015 that a long-term strategic plan be developed before anything more than critical repairs to buildings was done. The board just did no strategic planning before proposing the referendum. You have to ask why not.

Many good people have talked about reconciling neighborhood schooling with helping ESL students assimilate. How do we minimize busing, maximize learning and assimilation? Doesn’t building a neighborhood school in a poor, ESL-centric area perpetuate separation, low academic results, etc.?

Osage Park is the only open community asset of its type in its neighborhood. Other neighborhoods have parks AND schools. Do you think Osage Park neighbors are OK with losing the park? Krysia has been a 40-year resident living directly across from Osage Park. She has seen families (many them Hispanic) celebrate birthdays, graduations and baptisms most every weekend through the spring and summer in the picnic shelter at Osage Park.

Krysia learned first hand last year that many families (whose children interpreted for their parents) were unaware that the D15 referendum would eliminate the park. They referred to Osage Park as their place of gathering with family and friends, a sanctuary for their children to play soccer, do cartwheels in the grass and play on the playground. Those same people were opposed to building a school in this small neighborhood, segregating their children from the rest of the community during their most formative years. They wanted their children to assimilate into their community as soon as possible, so this would continue into junior high and high school.

Finally, the narrow roads and lack of sidewalks in the area do not make for safe walking to school or coping with bus traffic.

Babcock, Ekeberg and Chapman have had their chance. If you, like us, want a board that is forward-looking, innovative and responsive to all stakeholders in the community, which extends beyond just Palatine, you’d see your desire for sincere efforts to helping provide resources to address division and poverty being achieved. But only if you vote for Annerino, Smolka, Szczupaj, Wang and Kain.

Sincerely,

Krysia Mileczarek and Len Green

Palatine residents

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