Curie Metropolitan High School senior Karina Martinez said that “If our instruments break, we have to ask for donations to fix them.” (Curie Metropolitan High School photo)

Karina Martinez never gets too settled in classrooms at Curie Metropolitan High School.

It is not disciplinary or health issues that may prevent her from staying in one classroom for too long. It is the aging school building on Chicago’s Southwest Side that has her waiting for the shoe — or ceiling tile — to drop.

She said classrooms regularly have to relocate for extended periods of time due to water leaking into classrooms, mold, falling ceiling tiles and other factors.
“I was in a class last year that moved three different times to two different buildings because of water running down the walls,” said Martinez, who will be a senior at the school in the fall.

She said the Chicago Public Schools system needs to make substantial capital improvements at the school now for the sake of students.

“It is not healthy there,” Martinez said at a recent public hearing on CPS’ capital budget held at Kennedy High School.

Martinez participated in a CPS student walkout in June that led to a rally in front of the Thompson Center. At the rally, she said that schools such as Curie are underfunded.

“If our instruments break, we have to ask for donations to fix them,” she said. “Why should I have to wait for a stranger to fund me instead of CPS or Illinois funding my school and education? Our gym has a leaking roof. There’s water on the floor where we run around.”

Takia Lee, who graduated from Curie this year, said there are haves and have-nots when it comes to CPS schools.

“There is not equality in the education system,” Lee said.

She said Curie staff has to worry about their sub-par classrooms instead of how to improve the education of their students.

“How could the school system allow classes to be held in classrooms with leaky roofs?” Lee asked. “There are classrooms that are full of mold.”

She questioned how CPS could move forward with additions and improvements at some schools while Curie is in such disrepair.

“CPS should not be doing additions and programs. It is not showing sensitivity (to schools like Curie),” Lee contended.

Jose Alfonso de Hoyos Acosta, chief administrative officer for facilities and operations in CPS, said the Southwest Side school is definitely on the school system’s radar

“Curie High School is in my thoughts as we continue rolling out our next phase of improvements,” Acosta said.

He said every building’s situations are evaluated on their own merits and that overcrowding or any other issue does not trump needed improvements.

Acosta reminded residents that the capital budget is just Phase I of a multi-year approach to making improvements to CPS properties.

“We’re listening. We will continue to consider residents’ input,” Acosta said. “We want to know what the public feels about our plans.”

— Concerns raised over conditions at Chicago’s Curie High School —