It was supposed to be a relatively routine gathering of the local school council, an eye-glazing recitation of the year’s budget. But more than 100 area residents, parents, and students–a much larger group than usual–had come, and within a few minutes many of them were on their feet, voices filled with venom, hurling accusations at one another.
Welcome to the world of participatory democracy as it’s being practiced at the Walt Disney magnet school, 4140 N. Marine Drive. The central player in this nasty feud is Raphael Guajardo, the school’s principal, who’s either a derisive tyrant or a much misunderstood educator, depending on who’s telling the story. In June the council voted to remove Guajardo from office, but in the October 21 LSC election most of that council’s members were swept from office, primarily because of the votes of area residents who don’t have children in the school. One of the new council’s first acts was to vote to retain Guajardo.
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For years Disney was one of the system’s best-known and most highly regarded elementary schools, its students selected by a lottery designed to guarantee a healthy mix of blacks, Hispanics, whites, and Asians drawn from all over the north side. The school is located across Lake Shore Drive from Lincoln Park, and it features a lineup of diverse courses in music, dance, and television and radio production. “It’s not easy to get into Disney because, despite all the turmoil, the school does a good job,” says Aguina. “Most kids who start here stay here.”
But within a few months Guajardo was at odds with several veteran teachers, who say he’s crude and intolerant and has a propensity for making insulting and bigoted remarks. “He can be so insensitive, particularly in regard to race,” says Gail Kay, a teacher who’s a member of the LSC. Her comments were seconded by several other teachers who asked not to be identified. “Once he was passing around candy, and he said to one black teacher something like ‘a chocolate blob for another chocolate blob.’”
Nonetheless, the council voted nine to zero (with one abstention) in June to ask the school board to remove Guajardo. “We felt we had to get him out of the building as soon as possible, because he was bad for morale,” says Aguina, who at the time was the council’s chairman. “We hoped to have him out by the new school year.”
One of Hollenbeck’s campaign assertions–for which he has no proof–was that the board will sell the Disney property within five years. “This is valuable property, and the board’s desperate for the cash,” he says. “Unless we can make Disney better, I’m sure they’ll sell it.”
“I have some problems with Guajardo, but most of the criticism against him is unjustified,” says Hollenbeck. “He did move some assistant principals back to the classroom. But I believe that if teachers don’t want to teach they should get out of the system. The old council denied Guajardo due process. He should be allowed to finish his term, which expires next spring.”
