On the heels of a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal, parents of Marine Leadership Academy students say the school is in a state of chaos with widespread fights, bullying, drug and alcohol use and mental health struggles.
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LOGAN SQUARE â On the heels of a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal, parents of Marine Leadership Academy students say the school is in a state of chaos with widespread fights, bullying, drug and alcohol use and mental health struggles.
The school, which enrolls 670 students, is affiliated with the Marine Corps JROTC program. It sits on the border of Logan Square and Hermosa at 1920 N. Hamlin Ave.
The school made headlines in 2021 when a years-long sexual abuse scandal came to light. Several employees were ousted as a result of a misconduct investigation, and a new principal took over.
But parents and board members said new school leaders still arenât doing enough to keep students or employees safe.
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Last month, one student had a mental health crisis that ended with police pulling her off nearby train tracks, authorities said. That incident came after at least two other students died of suicide in recent years, including seventh grader Emily Barrera.
Administrators have largely allowed the issues to continue unchecked, and have been unresponsive to complaints, parents and board members said.
The district, however, said incidents of student misconduct are actually down at the school this year.
An online petition calling for the removal of Marine Leadership Academyâs principal, Kristin Novy, and other school leaders, has drawn more than 300 signatures.
âThereâs things that are happening in the school â and theyâre being hidden,â board member Fernando Barrios said at a recent Board of Governors meeting. âThe police need to be called, different people need to be informed. Weâve brought [concerns] to the administration, and it goes out the other ear.â
Parents who spoke to Block Club gave their comments in Spanish through a translator.
Novy declined to be interviewed for this story. CPS officials did not answer questions about specific incidents at the school, but said in a statement Marine Leadership Academy has âmade intentional, systemic changes at the schoolâ following the abuse investigation.
Ballooning Issues â Even After District Steps In
CPS began investigating sexual abuse allegations at the school in 2019.
Some teachers and employees were accused of sexually abusing and having inappropriate contact with students, while others were charged with âgroomingâ students and having personal relationships with them after graduation. Investigators also found that those in charge attempted to cover up the misconduct.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez called the ordeal a âstunningâ and âcolossal failureâ when he announced that more than a dozen school employees had been fired or would be dismissed.
District leaders and attorneys also came under fire when it was revealed the district had promoted the schoolâs former principal, Erin Galfer, even though she knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it, according to the districtâs watchdog. Galfer was eventually fired.
The districtâs inspector general later found three teachers sexually abused, sexually harassed or groomed students. Thirteen other employees â a mix of teachers, administrators and staffers â didnât take proper steps outlined in CPS policy to keep students safe, the report stated.
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Half of the accused school employees â eight out of 16 â have resigned or been fired by CPS since the start of the investigation, according to the inspector generalâs latest report, which came out earlier this year and covers the 2021-22 school year.
It is unclear if the other eight employees still work at the school.
CPS spokesman Evan Moore said all accused employees whose allegations were substantiated by the inspector general were either fired or disciplined, but didnât provide a number.
The district now requires school staff to do intensive training around student safety, CPS officials said. The school is also hosting small-group therapy sessions for students struggling with mental health and bullying issues, and is doing more family engagement, the district said.
But even with the new initiatives, safety concerns are at an all-time high, parents and board members said.
School employees regularly break up fights between students and call the police when altercations get out of hand; students are also drinking and doing drugs at school and bullying each other â and administrators â without any concern for consequences, parents and board members said at Board of Governors meetings and in interviews with Block Club.
Last month, a student scrawled several names in one of the school bathrooms, threatening to harm everyone on the list. That included other students and administrators, including the principal and assistant principals. The incident was reported to the police and the districtâs Office of Safety and Security, according to an email sent to parents.
On the morning of Feb. 28, a 12-year-old student went onto train tracks near the school. Police pulled her off the âouter edgeâ of the tracks, then sent her to St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital for a mental health evaluation, according to police and parents.
CPS wouldnât provide specifics about the incident. In an email to parents, the principal said a member of the school community was âin crisisâ and needed âadditional care.â No injuries were reported.
Recent Board of Governors meetings, which function like Local School Council meetings and are open to the public, have been tense, with parents and board members urging administrators to tackle the schoolâs ongoing problems.
Communication is strained, as most parents are Spanish-speakers and Novy, the schoolâs principal, doesnât speak Spanish.
At a meeting in March, a group of concerned parents left early after it became clear they wouldnât be allowed to speak because they didnât sign up for public comment in time.
Luz Adriana Sarama was unsettled the parents were blocked from airing their grievances.
Sarama was a fixture at Marine Leadership Academy for 12 years, ordering uniforms for students and helping plan school events, until she was fired in the fall. The reason for Saramaâs firing is unclear, but Sarama believes it was retribution for speaking out about sexual misconduct at the school.
CPS declined to answer questions about Saramaâs employment history, saying the district does not comment on personnel issues.
Sarama has stayed involved with the school and attends every Board of Governors meeting because she feels students âare being robbed of their educationâ under the new administration, she said.
âSince we [got] the new administration, thatâs when everything went crazy,â Sarama said.
âThereâs nobody to rule the school, thereâs nobody there. If a parent comes in with a complaint, itâs, âOh no, we cannot help you, you can call the police.â The administration cannot deal with the school. They donât have the knowledge, nor do they want to learn.â
Moore, the CPS spokesman, said the new administration has âworked diligently to support students, staff, and families following the OIG investigation.â
âIâm Fighting Every Single Dayâ
Unchecked bullying has become one of the central issues at Marine Leadership Academy, parents said.
Maria A., who Block Club is not naming to protect the identity of her children, said her eighth grade daughter was recently diagnosed with depression after being bullied by her peers. The 13-year-old was disparaged in graffiti and on social media, according to photos shared with Block Club.
Maria A. said her daughter is so depressed she doesnât want to go to school some days.
The mother of two children at the school said the administration didnât do anything to help rectify the situation, so she filed a police report. Her daughter is one of many Marine students whose mental health struggles leaders have ignored, she said.
Marine serves mostly low-income Latino students. Mental health is often stigmatized in the Latino community.
âIâm not going to allow another student to kill themselves, especially my daughter,â the parent said. âAnd thatâs why Iâm fighting every single day.â
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Maria A. also struggled to get support when her son, a 12th grader, was mistreated by one of the schoolâs military instructors, she said.
She said the instructor forced to son to lug a 25-pound medicine ball up and down three flights of stairs for one hour as a form of punishment, which left him excessively tired and injured.
Administrators failed to act, she said. The ordeal left her feeling âimpotentâ and âfull of frustration,â which prompted her to join the Board of Governors, she said.
Parent Maria Vega said her daughter, a senior at Marine, had a similarly bad experience with the same military instructor.
Vega said the instructor teased her daughter being overweight, called her names like âcrackheadâ and âlazyâ and eventually booted her from the battalion â and sheâs still suffering from the effects a few years later.
The 18-year-old suffers from depression and has trouble sleeping because sheâs constantly worried that the instructor is going to return to the school and torment her, Vega said.
Vega said she sought support from administrators, but they were slow to respond and dismissive.
âItâs very frustrating for me, just to get them to listen, or to see my daughtersâ records,â Vega said. âItâs very frustrating because my daughter didnât do anything wrong to have all of this going on in her life.â
CPS declined to comment on specific incidents involving students, citing student safety and privacy.
The instructor involved in the incidents with Maria A. and Vegaâs children was fired in the fall after investigators substantiated complaints of child abuse against him, according to a letter from the district.
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On employee misconduct, CPS officials said, âWe remain committed to the safety and well-being of our students and take seriously all allegations of employee misconduct. CPS investigates and addresses all complaints in accordance with District policies and procedures to foster safe and secure learning environments in all schools.â
At a board meeting last month, Novy said sheâs working on increasing the schoolâs enrollment, which has fallen by more than 45 students since the start of the school year.
âAll of the military schools are struggling right now. Thereâs negative press from the New York Times and the Washington Post about ROTC programs,â Novy said. âWeâre trying to reframe that and focus on the leadership aspect, the good qualifies, that itâs not that negative piece that Iâve heard some families talk about.â
But parents and board members said the school has been mired in controversy and thereâs been little effort to meaningfully change the culture.
âI have people who say my kid wants to go there. I say, âNo, you donât want your kid here ⊠because this school is not a good school.â I would not recommend MLA to any parent. Not at all,â Sarama said.
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