Roberto Clemente Community Academy (commonly known as Clemente, Roberto Clemente High School) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

4–year

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in the West Town community area of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Operated by the

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, third ...

, the school is named for Puerto Rican

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player Roberto Enrique Clemente (1934–1972). Gina M. Pérez, the author of ''The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, and Puerto Rican Families'', wrote that in Chicago the school is known as "''the'' Puerto Rican high school".Pérez, ''The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, and Puerto Rican Families''.

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...

, October 4, 2004. , 9780520936416. p
157
Jennifer Domino Rudolph, author of ''Embodying Latino Masculinities: Producing Masculatinidad'' wrote that the school "is strongly associated with Puerto Rican cultural nationalism".Rudolph, Jennifer Domino. ''Embodying Latino Masculinities: Producing Masculatinidad''.

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

, August 6, 2012. /ISBN 9781137022882. pg
46
Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas, author of ''National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in Puerto Rican Chicago'', wrote that the school was portrayed in the media as "the property of Puerto Rican nationalists" and "as part of Puerto Rico." Rudolph stated that media depictions of violence from Puerto Rican nationalism movements caused the school to become controversial, and that the school was associated with much of the "backlash against manifestations of Puerto Rican identity." According to Pérez, as of 2004, most West Town area residents have a sense of pride in the school, while also lamenting issues common in Chicago public schools that appear at Clemente, such as

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

and school violence, dropouts, and low test scores.

History

The school was established in 1892 as Northwest Division High School. It was renamed Tuley High School in 1906. In 1974, the school moved to a new facility across the street named Roberto Clemente High School. Overcrowding was the reason why the old Tuley building closed. The students had demanded that the school be renamed after Clemente, as well as asking for the removal of the existing curriculum and principal when they had the school closed in 1973. At the time approximately 53% of the students were of Puerto Rican ancestry. The principal, Herbert Fink left his position. By November 1974 there was another demonstration protesting against removals of teachers.

1990s

Circa 1988, Clemente High established a new curriculum that was centered around students and involved participation from parents and multiculturalism. Parents and area community activists shaped the school's curriculum in a manner of the traditional American education system.Ramos-Zayas, Ana Y. ''National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in Puerto Rican Chicago''.

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

, July 15, 2003. , 9780226703596. p
233234
In addition, the school hired parents as mentors, hall monitors, office workers, and tutors. The school added a legal clinic to assist parents, students, and immigrants. In the 1990s, Chicago-area media began to criticize the Clemente parents and activists. This unfolded as the

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill implemented major changes to ...

was passed in 1996. Persons in the media accused some area parents of stealing money because the school paid them $20 for volunteer work even though they were also on welfare; this is despite the welfare reform act's stated goal to encourage those on welfare to work. Other schools in Chicago enacted reforms similar to those at Clemente, which had reduced dropout rates by over 10%. Circa 1995, Chicago area local and Illinois state officials accused the school of using an Illinois aid program to send students to Puerto Rico to attend a radical political campus, fund flights for performers and speakers favoring Puerto Rico being politically independent from the United States, and to provide money for a pro-Puerto Rican independence fundraiser.Death Threat Prompts School Probe in Chicago

. ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is an independent news organization that has covered K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland in Greater Washingto ...

''. February 12, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015. In 1996, CPS launched an investigation into mismanagement of money. In 1995 and 1996, respectively, it had placed Clemente on financial, and then academic probation. In November 1996, a CPS evaluation of Clemente stated, "the political climate and divisiveness thwart academic progress at a level so significant that the education of the students is being ignored." On January 31, 1997, Jerry Anderson, an administrator at Homewood-Flossmoor High School and potential candidate for principal at Clemente, decided to decline the position at Clemente after receiving a letter asking her to call "your boss" for the FALN and telephone calls asking her to meet leaders of the area Puerto Rican community; she stated that, "I didn't think politics should have any part in education." She also stated that on February 1, 1997, she received a death threat on her answering machine. As a result, CPS head Paul G. Vallas notified the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI), and

Edgar Lopez Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, ...

, the chairperson of a committee named by the speaker of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

to look into the school, accused it of being "controlled by radicals" and asked for it to be broken into smaller schools. In February 1997, Irene DaMota, the principal of Whittier Elementary School, was selected as the new Clemente principal.

''Chicago Sun-Times'' story

A February 4, 1997, article in the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', "School funds used to push terrorist' release," had accused the school of promoting the release of terrorists. It quoted a CPS report stating that school funds were used to promote the release of the terrorist and for Puerto Rican independence movements, and that the

American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...

was banned from some classrooms. The director of the Chicago Latino Institute, Migdalia Rivera, criticized the story and distributed a rebuttal. In response, the newspaper defended its reporting. An area political strategist and businessperson, Larry Ligas, a person not of Puerto Rican origin, claimed credit for spearheading the story. He said he got information, much of it from former Puerto Rican independence movement propagandist, Rafael Marrero, and gave it to ''Sun-Times'' journalist Michelle Campbell. Campbell verified what Ligas sent her and added some information of her own. Ligas posted a press release praising the ''Sun-Times'' story prior to its release. Ben Joravsky of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' stated that Ligas was "relatively unknown" at the time of the story's release.Joravsky, Ben.
Lessons in Propaganda

Archive
. ''

''. February 20, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015. Marrero, at the time, was an informant for the

(FBI). He had been trying to sabotage the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center, which had a working relationship with Clemente. Marrero would later give testimony in which he accused parties of perpetrating fraud.López Rivera, Oscar. "A Century of Colonialism: One Hundred Years of Puerto Rican Resistance." In: James, Joy (editor). ''Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy''.

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...

, June 29, 2007. /ISBN 9780822389743. Start: pg
161
CITED: pg
179
In regards to the story itself, Joravsky stated that at the time the story was released, people in northwest Chicago were speculating about who was responsible for spearheading the story and not so much about its veracity; in regards to that, Joravsky stated that the latter was "a point of view that varies with one's ideology." On February 12, 1997, a group of Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics and Latinos protested at the ''Sun-Times'' offices, accusing the newspaper of anti-Latino bias and racism. On February 18, CPS head Vallas stated that Illinois lawmakers needed to be more stringent with rules regarding spending of funds intended for poor children. Vallas criticized the programs of Clemente and the Puerto Rican center. Even though there is no concrete evidence stating that the school had associations with the ''

Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (English: ''Armed Forces of National Liberation'', FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated Puerto Rican independence movement, independence f ...

'' (FALN), at one time the FBI accused it of doing so. The FBI had asked for an investigation, and so did the US attorney based in Chicago. Several hearings were held in the Illinois Legislature. Ultimately, no evidence of any fraud surfaced. Oscar López Rivera wrote that Marrero "wreaked havoc on the hard community work the Center had carried out at Clemente High School for years."

2000s and beyond

Clemente was one of 16 schools nationwide selected by the College Board for inclusion in the EXCELerator ''School Improvement Model'' program beginning the 2007-2008 school year. The project was funded by the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it w ...

. The school was scheduled to begin using the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB ...

program by the 2013-2014 school year.

Student body

As of 2019, the school had 697 students, with significant numbers of Puerto Rican Americans,

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, and

Mexican Americans Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexic ...

, and other groups of Hispanic and Latino Americans and Eastern European Americans. In 1997, it had had 2,400 students.

Academics and programs

Clemente offers six Advanced Placement classes and is also an

candidate school. Clemente also has

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an in ...

programs that focus on culinary arts and radio/television broadcasting. The latter program is taught by a journalist from Chicago's

WGN-AM WGN (720 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, with radio studio, studios on the 18th floor of 303 East Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WGN has a talk radio, news/talk format, ...

radio station.Roberto Clemente Community Academy brochure
Retrieved on July 26, 2013. In addition, students may participate in

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools acr ...

. In 2012, 92.6% of Clemente freshmen were classified as on-track to graduate. As of 2004, the school curriculum stresses multiculturalism and aims to develop ethnic pride. It hosts community events, such as speaking engagements and cultural programs, available to everyone in the surrounding area. As of 2004, Clemente had a relationship with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center's Pedro Albizu Campos Alternative High School; it had once used Campos as an alternate site. Clemente also has partnerships with Vida/SIDA and the ASPIRA Association.

Campus

Brick mural of Roberto Clemente (Clemente High School, Chicago)

The school includes various murals along Division Street which portray symbols of Puerto Rican culture and Puerto Rican nationalism.

Student performance

Circa 2005, the school had one of the highest dropout rates in the United States. By 2019, the graduation rate was 84%.

Athletics

Clemente competes in the

Chicago Public League The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admini ...

(CPL) and is a member of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

(IHSA). The boys' baseball team were public league champions 9 times (1973–74, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1994–95, 1996–97 and 2001–02). From 1973 to 2005, the team won ten Chicago baseball championships and Wilfredo Cruz, author of ''Puerto Rican Chicago'', described the team as "formidable."

Notable alumni

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...

, attended Tuley High School; recipient of the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 ...

. *

Isaac Rosenfeld Isaac Rosenfeld (March 10, 1918 - July 14, 1956 This article also has details about Rosenfeld's upbringing, parents, siblings, wife and children.) was an American writer who became a prominent member of New York intellectual circles. Rosenfeld ...

, Jewish-American writer who became a prominent member of New York intellectual circles. Saul Bellow modeled the character King Dahfu in ''Henderson the Rain King'' on Rosenfeld who he befriended and worked with on the school newspaper at Tuley. * Victor Diaz, professional baseball player with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

and Texas Rangers * Ramon Ocasio III, Cook County judge and president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois. *

Mickey Rottner Marvin "Mickey" Rottner (March 23, 1919 – September 21, 2011) was an American professional basketball player. He played three seasons of professional basketball in the years leading up to the formation of the National Basketball Association. Ro ...

, attended Tuley High School; played basketball for Loyola and professionally.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clemente Community Academy, Roberto 1974 establishments in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1974 International Baccalaureate schools in Illinois Public high schools in Chicago Puerto Rican culture in Chicago West Side, Chicago Roberto Clemente