The Waukegan school board has rejected the city’s request for a list of homes where three or more students live, after Hispanic residents complained that the city would target them for home inspections.
City officials said they wanted to use the list as part of a crackdown on dangerously overcrowded homes.
“It’s a life-safety issue,” said Ray Vukovich, Waukegan’s director of governmental services. “There are cases where people are sleeping in beds in the basement with only one way out.”
Hispanic residents countered that legitimate families would be included on the list, opening the door for unwarranted inspections.
“The city is trying to use you to do its dirty work,” Jose Zurita told the school board earlier this month. “We feel the city is using you as a pawn to put more grief onto the minorities of Waukegan.”
Zurita was among more than 60 parents and other Waukegan residents — many of them Hispanic — who attended the meeting.
The dispute comes amid heightened tension between Waukegan officials and Hispanic residents. In August, 1,000 Hispanics protested outside City Hall after several Waukegan aldermen made comments opposing the new Mexican consulate identification cards, including Ald. John Rickerd (3rd) who said he had “lost eight, nine, 10 good neighbors” as Waukegan’s demographics have changed.
Nearly half of the city’s 88,000 residents are Hispanic.
Carlos Sanchez, a Mexican-born U.S. citizen who has six children and has lived in Waukegan for 15 years, questioned why the city would use school records to try to find zoning violations.
“Why does the city want to use the children in this way?” Sanchez said.
Earlier this month, the Waukegan School District 60 board rejected the request for the list by a 5-1 vote. Most board members said they felt providing the list would violate the students’ privacy.
“I believe that privacy is the most important thing, and we need to protect that,” said Patricia Foley, a board member.
Board President Robert Taylor cast the dissenting vote and said, “As a school board, we’ve been criticizing the city for their lack of dedication in addressing overcrowding. We as a board have an opportunity to give them another tool.”
The Code Enforcement Department asked the board for the list, which would not have included names. Vukovich said in an interview that the list would have been only one of many factors considered before the city would conduct an inspection.
“A two-bedroom home with six cars and six students would cause some questions,” he said. “Overcrowding has been an ongoing problem in Waukegan. Obviously, if you don’t attempt to reduce the situation, it will continue to grow.”
Representatives of civil rights groups wrote to the board opposing the city’s request.
“Many African-Americans and Hispanics believe that the students and their families’ right to privacy far outweighs the city’s need to obtain this information regarding overcrowding,” wrote Marian McElroy, president of the Lake County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
