Blizzard Snow Forces Students On The Street
CHICAGO (CBS 2) - As a parent, would you feel comfortable knowing your kids were walking to school in the street, just inches from passing cars?
That is what some students at South Shore High School have been forced to do and CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports parents say that problem is just the tip of the iceberg.
"I was heartbroke," said parent April Whitaker. She believes South Shore High students deserve more than what they are getting.
Since January 31st, a select few in the student body have to walk back to the old buildings on campus, after spending an hour of class time in a long-awaited, brand new building.
Post blizzard, the trek is not easy. Sidewalks aren't shoveled so they end up alongside traffic.
"When I found out, I was livid," said LSC Chairwoman and parent Stephanie West. "It serves no point except stupidity. It's on the borderline of mental restriction."
For her, it's also a case of "insult-to-injury."
West and many others thought students would be spending all their time in the new building but then they heard just the next semester. Then the powers-to-be decided relocation would be too disruptive – thus the "new-building-to-old -building" plan.
Junior Lanell Mallory says it's hardly the least disruptive option, "There's a lot of drama within the school because they only let some students go for one class hour, and no one else gets to go."
Some of her classmates, she adds, are left with a building where shelves were emptied in anticipation of a move. And some of those walkers return to a building they claim has maintenance issues.
"It makes me angry—very angry," said Junior Joseph Crumb.
Whitaker said, "They're not thinking about the children at all."
A CPS official said they'd take care of the un-shoveled sidewalk right away. He also said the old campus buildings are not falling apart, and he said CPS never authorized any packing for a move.
As for some students spending first hour in the new building, CPS said it's trying to make sure the facility gets use until a freshman class begins there next school year.
