Whittier Field House Might Not be Safe to Occupy

The sit-in at Whittier school’s field house in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is into its second week. A group of parents and their supporters refuse to leave the building. They say they want to keep Chicago Public Schools from tearing it down. The protesters say a building inspection they commissioned refutes the district’s conclusion that the building is unsound.But the parents’ own inspector says the building might not be legally safe to occupy.

Kenneth Floody is a “just the facts” kind of guy. He inspected the Whittier field house at the request of the parents earlier this month. For one thing: The roof needs to be replaced in order for the building to be “suitable for continued occupancy.”

Floody says his report was just a preliminary, visual inspection and not a technical, in-depth analysis that would determine how legally safe the field house is.

FLOODY: I did not tell the parents the building is safe to occupy. My report clearly says once these repairs are done, then structurally the building would be safe to occupy.

GAETE: Yeah, but it’s safe for us. It’s safe for us.

That’s neighborhood activist Gema Gaete, who has been camping out at the field house with some 30 others. Among other things, they say they want the field house to be converted to a library. She says the field house is part of an ongoing struggle between parents and CPS.

GAETE: It’s the bigger pictures. It’s how CPS decides what schools get funded for construction and what schools get funded for renovation. And the battle with the high school on 31st and Kostner, we had to go on a hunger strike to get an education.

Michelle Palencia says she’s in this fight for the long haul, too. She has a six year-old son at Whittier. She says she’ll remain camped out at the field house for as long as it takes–even if that means during the winter.

PALENCIA: It’s warm enough in there. It’s nice. It’s cozy. We’re fixing it up even better. The more time that passes, the stronger the building is getting, and so are we.

But inspector Kenneth Floody says that part about the building, it might not be true. He says it’s possible that parts of the roof could collapse during a heavy snowfall.

FLOODY: If this sit-in lasts and goes on for another month and we start getting into late fall where there’s a potential for snow loading on the roof, then yes. That might give me cause for concern.

CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond says the district is in no rush to demolish the field house. She says CPS will wait for another inspection of the building–paid for by the district–but she says she doesn’t know if that additional analysis can be done while the parents occupy the building.

Related: Whittier Fieldhouse ReportRelated: More from Perry & AssociatesRelated: Whittier ResponseRelated: Ingenii Report

Originally reported by Chicago Public Radio. Read the original article here.