He said STEM careers are in high demand, and the United States is experiencing a shortfall in student math and science performance.Ĭurrently, Wilkins is conducting a feasibility study to identify a location, potential partnerships with community organizations and ways the school could open without raising taxes or causing other schools to close. The school would also build parent networks to improve after school program access, Wilkins said, while making life in the ward more attractive. “This is about pride.”Ī study from the city’s Human Relations Commission found that after the Foster School closed, 5th Ward residents felt less positively about their neighborhood, Wilkins said. “This is feeling good about where you live,” Wilkins said. Wilkins said a school in the 5th Ward would address inequities in the city and increase family engagement, student self esteem and community integrity. As of 2010, 41.5 percent of residents in the ward are Black, 35.3 percent are White, 14.4 percent are Hispanic or Latinx and 8.8 percent are Asian - demographics he hopes the school’s population would reflect. Part of Wilkins’ vision is that the school reflects its community. He said he hopes to see high family involvement with the school. Henry Wilkins started STEM School Evanston, a group advocating for the construction of a public school in the 5th Ward where children excel in STEM principles and work with the community. Six Evanston Township High School students from Emerge, a leadership and community development program, moderated the event - the second in a two part series about the legacy of school segregation in Evanston. Currently, the ward’s nearly 700 students are assigned to five District 65 schools. The ward has gone without a neighborhood school since the Foster School officially closed in 1979 when Evanston/Skokie School District 65 sold the building due to its desegregation plan. Community leaders discussed the movement to open a community school in Evanston’s 5th Ward during a virtual panel hosted by Evanston Public Library Thursday.
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