Rainbow PUSH wants to tour District U-46

Local members of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition on Monday expressed concerns about the number of Elgin Area School District U-46 mobile classrooms being used in schools with high minority populations.

"We feel that the use of these mobile classrooms segregate our children from the general student body," Lenora Scruggs, vice president of Rainbow PUSH's Northwest Suburban Chapter, told the board. Additionally, Scruggs said, the mobiles put students in greater danger if there were an emergency at the schools.

Coalition members requested that they be allowed to tour several schools, including Coleman, Creekside, Highland, Otter Creek and Sheridan elementary schools; Larsen and Kenyon Woods middle schools and Larkin and South Elgin high schools.

Coleman, Highland, Otter Creek and Sheridan elementary schools all feature mobile classrooms. According to 2007 state report cards, six of the nine aforementioned schools have minority student populations above 50 percent.

Members of U-46's African-American Parents group have expressed concerns to the coalition about mobile classrooms and educational equality in the district for the past year, Chapter President the Rev. Walter Blalark said.

"We want to know how socioeconomic backgrounds are affecting education," Blalark said.

Coalition member Brenda Stevens of Elgin said her daughter Zemia was placed in a mobile classroom three years ago, as a fourth-grader at Channing Elementary.

"It was generally disruptive," Stevens said. "When a child leaves to go to the bathroom, no one's watching."

Members of the coalition met with Chief Financial Officer John Prince on Monday, Blalark said.

Prince said "it shouldn't be an issue" allowing Rainbow PUSH Coalition members to tour the schools. "We're just looking at the logistics of when," he said.

After touring the requested schools, the coalition hopes to do a comparative study of campus environments, Blalark said.

Crowding in schools with minority populations is a pillar of the racial discrimination lawsuit pending against the district.

So far, 61 mobile units have been placed at 22 U-46 schools for the upcoming school year, district spokesman Tony Sanders said July 24.

Chicago-based architecture, construction, engineering and environmental firm Wight and Co. has been selected to complete a capital planning and facilities study, with the aim of eliminating the district's use of mobile classrooms.

Initially slated to be completed by December, the study will now be completed in the spring.

U-46 decides which schools get mobiles, Sanders said, based on enrollment projections.

Twenty-two of the 53 U-46 schools feature mobile classrooms this school year. Of those 22, 19 of them feature minority populations of 50 percent or more.

Tour: U-46 official says group will be able to visit schools