Harvey youth and schools brace for de-tethering caused by stormwater project

Twelve-year-old Laila Poole-Tingle enjoys playing outside with her neighbors and sitting on the home’s porch, adorned with wind chimes. 

“I have friends on this block who go to school with me,” Laila said. “I really like it because I grew up here.” She’s a seventh grader at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School. The bus stop is conveniently located in front of her home.

Laila has an individualized education plan, a carefully designed program that outlines a student’s specific classroom needs. 

Her mom Carlita Poole-Tingle worries. Their home on 153rd St. and Myrtle Ave. is slated for demolition to make way for a water retention pond and park project by Harvey and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

“My concern as a mother of a child who does receive special services from the district [is that] I would have to make sure that she’s gonna receive those services wherever she goes,” Carlita said. She doesn’t know if they can afford to move to another district in Laila’s service area.

Laila is one of a handful of children who’s education trajectories will be dramatically warped by the project. 

The block’s social fabric is coming undone. Announced summer 2023, the project means families with school-age children like Laila fear they have little time to move and find a new school for their children.

Carlita, her husband, and children reside in one of the homes purchased by her parents in 1973—the first Black family on the block. Her sister Lanora Poole, her two children, and their 88-year-old father, Joe, reside next door. The sisters grew up on the block, attending kindergarten at Ascension-St. Susana Catholic School across the street. They enjoyed summertime water gun fights and double dutch. They’ve watched their children do the same. “[…] ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ and this was a village that helped raise me,” Poole said. “They also helped raise my children.”

School communication and relocation assistance

The District has not contacted Harvey School District 152, specifically, nor received any questions or concerns from it, either, Thomas wrote in an email to the HWH. 

After the District purchases the land parcels, however, it will notify the school district through the tax exemption process for public land as it will impact the tax revenue for the district, Thomas added.

Kim Polk is the assigned relocation specialist. She will conduct a personal interview with each displaced resident that addresses their needs, preferences, relocation payments, and other assistance they may be eligible for. In a phone call to the HWH, Polk and District head assistant attorney Brendan J. Dailey said some residents may decide to stay in the same school district while others may want to transfer to a new one. 

There are less than 10 school-age children that are impacted by the project, according to the District. “Where possible, we will try to coordinate the closing and/or move-out date if families would like to avoid changing schools mid-year,” Dailey said. 

There are 15 structured parcels the District will acquire. Several were found to be unoccupied, resulting in less residential moves than originally anticipated. As of mid-November 2023, the District reported that 12 families will be moving due to the project.

Additional relocation planning may include a survey or study that outlines estimates of displaced households and comparable accommodations available with considerations for price ranges, rental rates, and unique household circumstances. 

Ensuring emotional continuity

Poole’s nine-year-old daughter, who attends Whittier Elementary School, is “very active” in sports such as basketball, cheerleading and dance, Poole said. Poole had anticipated her daughter attending Brooks. That’s not happening anymore. It’s “bittersweet,” Poole said.

Her daughter has a more optimistic view. “When I first told her about it, she was sad, she was hurt,” Poole said, “but…she’s like, ‘God is in control. God’s got the last say.’” Poole’s 17-year-old daughter Kayla Johnson, however, spoke out against the initiative during an August 2023 City Council meeting.

Mid-year or abrupt moves are disruptive to a child’s academic and emotional well-being, some experiencing anxiety, experts say. 

“If they end up living in a new town, they will have to acclimate to a new school, teacher, and make new friends,” wrote Maya Angelou Elementary School psychologist April Terry in an email to the HWH. “Kids may lose out on educational time.”

Dr. Sally Weinstein, clinical psychologist and University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor of psychiatry, said shifting schools and homes mid-year causes a big disruption to routine—and children thrive on routine and consistency for regulation of mood and behavior. 

“Abrupt changes to these routines…can really challenge regulation,” Weinstein said. Challenges include increased anxiety, misbehaving and internalizing their distress, according to Weinstein. To promote resilience, Weinstein suggests keeping connections to previous routines, staying consistent, and providing youth with autonomy, like setting up new living spaces and weekend plans.

Alderwoman Colby Chapman (2nd), who sits on HSD 152’s Design Team and Activation Committee, an advisory board of parents, local elected officials, and community members, echoed those concerns to district leadership in October 2023.

According to Chapman, Interim Superintendent Lela Bridges said the district would be open to displaced students remaining even if they moved outside of district boundaries. Dr. Bridges’ comment provided comfort to families, but that hope has now turned into uncertainty with new district leadership.

As of January 2024, HSD 152 communications director Arletha Bolton said that the school district is unsure how they will proceed and has yet to discuss it with the City of Harvey.

“We’re not sure how many of our students are going to be affected at this point,” Bolton said. “We’d have to sit down with the City of Harvey to get an understanding of how our students will be affected by [the project] and how many.”

However, Bolton said that the district is prepared to assist any students facing homelessness or doubled up with another family through the McKinney-Vento program. This program allows eligible students to either stay enrolled at their current school or transfer to another local school if preferred.

Clark also serves on HSD 152’s planning committee, according to Chapman, but was absent during the meeting when she raised her concerns.

The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

‘A little dangerous’ 

Harvey purchased Ascension-St. Susanna Catholic School in January 2023 to construct the park and civic center. Upon completion, city laborers are responsible for both the park and pond’s upkeep.

But residents doubt the city can complete the work, citing the indefinite halt to six community hubs and police precincts citywide. 

Amid citywide exits, Harvey’s severely short-staffed—including in the mayor’s office. The public works department only has eight laborers, plummeting from 60, Mayor Chris Clark publicly revealed at Chapman’s joint ward meeting with Alderman Tracy Key (4th) last fall.

Someone overdosed on fentanyl and cocaine on Ascension property in December 2023—details city officials did not share with District officials, a District spokesperson told the HWH.

Security plans for the project have not been discussed enough, Chapman said.

According to renderings shared by the District, a limestone path will line the pond, without any railing. 

“In the winter time, you gotta think […] that’s a little dangerous,” Poole said. “Kids messing with ice thinking it’s a skating thing. It’s going to be very, very dangerous.”

The project’s critics doubt there aren’t other options for site location. That includes “the Wyman Gordon building or […] ‘the Village,’” a group of abandoned row houses located on 154th Street and Dixie Highway, Chapman said.

In 2018, HSD 152 demolished Lowell-Longfellow Elementary School one mile south due to asbestos. The site was once considered for this project, according to Thomas.

“This location was not ruled out for future projects, but locating a basin at this site would not address the flooding in the area bound by 152nd Street on the north, Center Street on the east, 154th Street on the south and Wood Street on the west,” Thomas wrote.

The convenient bus route Laila and her friends enjoy will likely be rerouted. That comes as HSD 152 struggled with other busing issues since the COVID-19 pandemic, namely a bus driver shortage.

The HWH called the Alltown Bus Company, which serves HSD 152, using the number on its website regarding its Harvey services. A representative said the call represented the first time they had heard of the stormwater project and accompanying displacement. 

ABC President Greg Polan could not be reached for comment. 

Staying close

Being close to one another is important to the Poole-Tingle family. Patriarch Joe, who retired from a chemical factory, is “strong now,” Carlita said, but “[…] his health could decline.” With the cost of housing, the sisters don’t know how they can stay together when they move. 

Carlita brought those concerns to Polk.

Polk and Dailey emphasized that they have been vocal about available housing in Harvey if impacted residents want to remain close by.

“Residents can move to wherever they choose, but we have been reminding residents that there are comparable homes available in Harvey if they wish to stay in the area,” Polk said.