As the new school year got underway Monday, a group of students walked out the doors of Chicago’s Lindblom Math and Science Academy to protest the dismissal of longtime assistant principal Karen Fitzpatrick Carpenter.
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Parents and alumni gathered in front of the steps of the selective enrollment high school, donning Lindblom merch in maroon and yellow. Some opened folding chairs to sit and watch the walkout. They clapped and cheered as students left the building, many chanting and holding signs that read “Bring back Momma Eagle,” “Reinstate Ms. Fitz,” and “We will not be silenced.”
Ten miles away, Fitzpatrick Carpenter was having an unusual first day of school as well. She said she was helping out at Corliss High School after being informed by Lindblom’s new principal, Abdul Muhammad, in late July that she was being let go. She attributes this decision to Muhammad wanting to bring in his own staff.
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“While I’m obviously saddened by these developments, my heart, my passion is always with the students and the staff, the family at Lindblom,” said Fitzpatrick Carpenter, who graduated from the West Englewood school in 1985, started working there in 1997 and became assistant principal in 2015.
Muhammad and members of Lindblom’s Appointed Local School Council did not return Tribune requests for comment. Student council members collected signatures Monday for a petition to demand the reinstatement of Fitzpatrick Carpenter. Lindblom senior Kennedy Ross, council vice president, helped organize the protest.
“We kind of felt disrespected as a student body because, you know, we want our voices to be heard,” she said. “And we are just as important in the decision made in the school as any other adult, almost being 18 or being legal, we should be able to voice our concerns, because that’s what they’re teaching us to do. They’re teaching us to advocate for ourselves and to stand on what we believe in. So we have to do it at all times, especially in a time like this.”
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Chicago Public Schools said in a statement it “entrusts our principals to create a positive environment for students and staff. Principals work with district leaders as they develop their staffing decisions, but it’s ultimately up to each principal to develop their team and determine how to best use their resources.”
Julie Simms Holder, president of the Lindblom Alumni Association, said the news of Fitzpatrick Carpenter’s abrupt departure shocked the school’s tight-knit community.
“She’s been a part of Lindblom for so long she embodies the culture of the school. She teaches the kids how to move about in the Lindblom community,” Simms Holder said. “… We’re a huge, huge community in the Chicagoland area. And we’re very passionate about the school, but that passion exists inside the school as well. And she’s able to keep that alive.”
Fitzpatrick Carpenter said she is searching for a new job within CPS.
“I hope definitely to stay with CPS. I value the work that’s been done, and I’ve been a part of that work. So I definitely want to stay here. I’m a product of it,” she said.
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