Sandburg High School plans to suspend more than 50 students who walked out of classes this week in a protest over what they called unsafe conditions at the school, one of three in District 230 undergoing massive expansion and renovation.
Between 50 and 100 students who walked out of the school at lunchtime Tuesday and protested in the chilly, rain-soaked parking lot were greeted by Orland Park and Palos Park police who warned them they faced arrest if they didn’t return to the building.
Students told police that their teachers had encouraged the walkout, Palos Park Police Chief Joe Miller said Wednesday. The head of the Consolidated High School District 230 teachers union said he did not know of any teachers encouraging the walkout.
“I feel badly if that did in fact happen, but I can’t vouch for every single teacher or what they did,” said Joe Dykas, union president.
Many teachers sympathize with students who are angry about potential health hazards at the school, he said.
“We’re a frustrated staff and a frustrated student body,” Dykas said.
No students were arrested, but District 230 spokesman Jim Sibley said students were forewarned they would face suspension if they walked out. Deans at Sandburg had not settled on exactly how many would be suspended or the length of the suspensions Wednesday afternoon, but Sibley said it would be between “50 and 100.”
Police also were investigating a fire alarm that was pulled at the school later in the day Tuesday.
Student reactions to the walkout were mixed. The majority of Sandburg’s 3,000 students had nothing to do with the protest, and Emily Ryou, 17, of Orland Park, said she doubted the sincerity of the walkout.
“A lot of the kids involved in Tuesday’s protest were already outside smoking a cigarette–they didn’t really know what was going on,” she said. “That protest was stupid. It would make more sense if they went to board meetings and became a bit more involved after they educated themselves on the subject.”
But Megan Morris, 18, of Orland Park, said Wednesday that she is informed. Carrying a report compiled by environmental consultants, she said she has been suffering from intense headaches and bloody noses because of mold in the school.
“My headaches are so bad I just sit down and cry. I never had a bloody nose before in my life until two months ago,” Morris said.
District officials have found mold behind cabinets in one science lab at Sandburg, Sibley said, and the lab is closed until the room is renovated.
Morris said she could not participate in Tuesday’s walkout because she had a bloody nose.
To date, three students have been taken out of Sandburg and are being home-schooled because of medical complaints related to construction, school officials said. One Sandburg teacher, who has complained of respiratory problems and nausea related to the project, began sick leave late last week, Dykas said.
Besides Sandburg, the district includes Stagg High School in Palos Hills and Andrew High School in Tinley Park.
District officials are evaluating the environmental quality of the schools, but they believe construction dust may be aggravating some students’ asthma or other pre-existing medical conditions, Sibley said.
The student protest was the latest episode in a yearslong rift between school administrators and the district’s parents, students and teachers.
After persuading voters to approve a $118 million bond issue to finance renovation and expansion of the three high schools, District 230 administrators have faced one public relations nightmare after another over construction problems.
The estimated cost of building projects is now more than $140 million, and the district still is reeling from a state investigation of unorthodox methods employed to remove asbestos floor tiles from all three schools last summer.
The Illinois attorney general’s office is considering whether the district or its consultants willfully flouted state safety measures for asbestos removal.
The school community reacted to the asbestos issue with outrage, accusing Supt. Tim Brown of approving corner-cutting measures to shave $700,000 from the construction budget at the expense of student and teacher safety.
Members of the teachers union recently voted “no confidence” in Brown and called for his ouster. But district officials said Brown would not be leaving before his planned retirement at the end of the school year.
