Grady Jordan was on hand when Collins High School opened its doors in 1976. Now he’s watching the school board shut it down.
Like many west-siders, Jordan is skeptical of the board’s explanation. True, Collins’s enrollment has been falling–with a capacity of 1,500, it dropped from 1,052 in 1997 to 869 last year. But enrollment is falling at high schools all over the west side, as the area loses population due to diminishing housing stock and rising rents. If a local high school had to be closed because of falling enrollment, the board could just as easily have closed Manley, located only a few blocks away and housed in an older building, Jordan points out.
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School board spokesman Peter Cunningham says there’s nothing sinister or underhanded about the plans for Collins. We’re trying to “improve educational opportunities for North Lawndale,” he says.
