Successful Meeting for Senn’s Green Program On November 25 there was a meeting to develop community support for a Green Program at Senn High School that has been initiated by the Senn Strategic Planning Committee. This is part of efforts to save Senn High School as a general community high school.

State Senator Heather Steans hosted the kickoff, which included 37 invitees from 17 different organizations.

After a warm welcome from the Senator, Principal Richard Norman provided background about Senn, followed by a good update on Senn’s environmental projects from students Erick Molina and Sandra Diaz and science teacher Eleanor Flanagin. Then, Chicago Public Schools Environment Program Manager Suzanne Carlson shared the citywide efforts to go green, and Alderman Joe Moore talked about green work in Rogers Park and how great it is for Senn to be pursuing a Green program.

After introductions around the room, those at the gathering broke into three discussion groups to share ideas and commitments for helping Senn go green, and several new partnership opportunities emerged. In addition, 10 participants volunteered to attend the first Senn Green Advisory Committee meeting, probably to be scheduled for early in the new year.

Several people who were invited and were unable to attend sent supportive notes, stating they wanted to help out in the future.

Senn High School was well represented by Erick and Sandra as well as several staff members. And the students and science teachers did an excellent job pulling together, on short notice, a Senn Green brochure to share with attendees.

Victory for Watada, Highest Officer to Refuse Iraq Duty

U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle declared on October 21 that the government could not retry 1st Lieutenant Ehren Watada on charges of missing his unit’s deployment to Iraq in June 2006 and for denouncing President Bush and the war. His first court-martial ended in a mistrial in February 2007.

“He dismissed the heart of their case,” Watada lawyer Jim Lobsenz said. “We’re very pleased. It’s taken a long time.”

The judge kicked back to the military trial court for further consideration two other conduct unbecoming an officer charges against Watada, opening the door to further court proceedings. Both of those charges involve public interviews Watada gave to reporters. Judge Settle said the military court should consider whether there are “constitutional defects” to retrying Watada on those charges before a civil court does.

Lt. Watada contended that the war is illegal and that he would be a party to war crimes if he served in Iraq. He said, “I hope that actions such as mine will continue to help expose the truth behind the fundamental illegality and immorality of the war…The reason I spoke out, I saw that what was being done in terms of this war was so illegal and so immoral, and not being checked. It was a danger to our troops and a danger to our country. So, I think what needs to be done is some kind of accountability in Washington (D.C.) and also investigations into how this war was started in the first place.”

Lt. Watada has also reported that “almost every day, someone from the military or the outside sends me some kind of correspondence or approaches me in person to render support or their respect.” And reports are that many, many other resisters to illegal and unjust wars are also receiving great support, around the country and abroad, including here in Chicago. So don’t be afraid to stand up for peace and justice. Learn from Lt. Watada.

Articles by Senn Students

In this issue of Anchors Away we have two articles written by Senn High School students. We are very happy about this development, and encourage other students to write an article or a letter-to-the editor. All views are welcome. This next article is an example of that. It does not necessarily represent the views of the Save Senn Coalition or any of its members. But we print it because we think it has important views for you to consider.

Report: the After-School Speaker from Iraq, Mr. Raed Jarrar

On November 14, 2008 we learned about Iraq’s war from Raed Jarrar’s perspective. He is a man who was arrested in the U.S. for wearing a shirt which said “We will not be silent” in Arabic.

Mr. Jarrar’s perspective about Iraq’s war was very different to the ones we have always heard from our media. Mr. Jarrar’s speech concentrated on how it affected the Iraqi people’s lives.

One of his answers to a question from the audience really had a big impact on us because it’s related to life itself. The question was: “What do you think about Osama bin Laden?” He responded, “How can I respond about someone that I don’t know or have never met before.”

The media never fully explains why bin Laden did what he did. It is wrong to kill civilians, but those words were really interesting because it is not only in war that we judge everyone in a group by a single person that we have heard about, but in everyday life.

A Muslim killed many civilians, but that doesn’t mean that all Muslims are bad. But our media tells many stories to reinforce the idea that Muslims are bad. This idea makes it ok in some people’s heads for the U.S. to be at war with Iraq.

Iraq’s war is full of pain for the people that live there and Raed talked a little bit about it. His perspective is not consistent with what all people believe but that is what life is about. We may never think of each other as equal but we have to learn to accept each other as we are!

Senn Students Win An Award in Opt-Out Contest

What is opt out? Opt out is a letter that the schools get so the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines can’t get a student’s phone number and address. The Opt Out letter helps students so the military cannot get their information from the school and call them or go to their house and knock at their doors. No Child Left Behind lets military recruiters get personal information unless the opt-out letter gets signed by a student, or a parent or guardian.

United Senn Students wanted to let students know about this. We were mad that recruiters got our information. So we made an effort to let students opt-out if they wanted. At the same time we entered into a competition about opt-out letters. We got to compete against schools in New York City!

The project started in October. United Senn Students with Mr. Roa and Ms. Boatman planned this project and we divided ourselves into 4 groups. We went to different divisions and talked to students about the opt-out letter. At the end we did what was good for the students. United Senn Students won 2nd place, and to tell you the truth it was not only for the competition but for what we won for the school. We won tickets to the movies for what we did!

      OPT OUT-- STOP MILITARY RECRUITERS 

FROM CONTACTING YOU AT HOME–OPT OUT Send a letter like the following opt-out form (or this form) to Office of High School Programs, Chicago Public Schools, 125 S. Clark St., 9th floor, Chicago, IL 60603— I request that the name, address, and telephone number of the following student not be given to the military for recruitment purposes.
Student’s name______________________________ Student ID number____________________
Parent/guardian OR student signature__________________________

This entry was posted on May 9th, 2009 and is filed under News and Updates.