Take Action

Take Action

You can amplify our voices by reaching out to Senn Administration and CPS leaders and telling them why you believe why the Senn Arts program should be kept as it has been for nearly 15 years.

Senn Arts makes Senn Stronger
A successful Senn Arts program makes Senn stronger. Senn Arts teachers, who are all certified educators, are specially chosen for their combination of teaching and professional experience, and bring that knowledge to all the classes they teach. Senn Arts has partnerships that benefit the whole school. Senn Arts performances and exhibitions are a resource for the entire community.

Senn Arts brings students and resources into Senn
Senn Arts was designed to act as a magnet, bringing students into Senn who might otherwise choose selective enrollment, private, or suburban schools. These students are both from the neighborhood and from all corners of Chicago. Students choosing Senn brings more resources and teaching positions to the school.

Senn Arts promotes equity & inclusiveness in the school system
Senn Arts makes arts careers and pathways accessible in a public school setting, offering opportunities that would otherwise only be available to those with the resources to pay for extracurriculars.

Senn Arts families are Senn High School Families
Senn Arts families are Senn High School families. Senn Arts students are Senn students who play sports, are part of clubs, and take all the core subjects. Senn Arts parents are on the LSC and other school committees. Any attempt to make it seem like Senn Arts is a completely self-contained program separate from the rest of the school is false and is being used to try to divide the community.

Senn Arts families are making reasonable requests
Senn Arts families are not asking for something special or new. We chose Senn based on the program that was described to us in official school materials. We are asking for the school to offer us the program we signed up for, which it has been offering without incident since 2012.

Proposed changes weaken the educational experience of Senn Arts students
Senn Arts has historically prepared students for highly competitive scholarships and admission to prestigious local and national institutions such as SAIC, RISD, Pratt, Loyola, DePaul, and others. The proposed changes all result in Senn Arts students receiving fewer advanced courses, including AP and IB courses in their disciplines. In fact, in general, the proposed changes, such as instituting an IB Career Preparation program (CP), seem to move the program towards being more of a career prep program than an advanced and enriched academic program, which is not what Senn Arts families chose.

Lack of stakeholder engagement
The administration has known about the issue with waivers for a long time — and yet still has never invited parents or students into any kind of conversation to ask us open-ended questions about our ideas and priorities or collaborate with us to find solutions.

Poorly communication and stakeholder engagement
The recent survey sent by Principal Dacres is unacceptable. It forces us to choose between options that she has set out, with no opportunity to express other ideas. The information that has been provided about the options does not provide enough context for us to make educated choices.

You can amplify our voices by reaching out to Senn Administration and CPS leaders and telling them why you believe why the Senn Arts program should be kept as it has been for nearly 15 years.

Senn Arts makes Senn Stronger

Senn Arts brings students and resources into Senn

Senn Arts promotes equity & inclusiveness in the school system

Senn Arts makes arts careers and pathways accessible in a public school setting, offering opportunities that would otherwise only be available to those with the resources to pay for extracurriculars.

Senn Arts families are Senn High School Families

Senn Arts families are making reasonable requests

Senn Arts families are not asking for something special or new. We chose Senn based on the program that was described to us in official school materials. We are asking for the school to offer us the program we signed up for, which it has been offering without incident since 2012.

Proposed changes weaken the educational experience of Senn Arts students

Lack of stakeholder engagement

The administration has known about the issue with waivers for a long time — and yet still has never invited parents or students into any kind of conversation to ask us open-ended questions about our ideas and priorities or collaborate with us to find solutions.

Poorly communication and stakeholder engagement

The recent survey sent by Principal Dacres is unacceptable. It forces us to choose between options that she has set out, with no opportunity to express other ideas. The information that has been provided about the options does not provide enough context for us to make educated choices.