Dyett Parents' Hunger Strike Enters Day 9
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A group of South Side parents and activists have begun their ninth day of a hunger strike, as they demand the Chicago Board of Education accept their plan to turn Dyett High School into a global leadership and green technology academy.
Eleven parents and community leaders began their fast on Aug. 17, and have been living off nothing but liquids since.
"We have good days, bad days. One of the hunger strikers was hospitalized," former Dyett mother Jeanette Taylor-Ramann said.
The hunger strike is a culmination of a seven-year battle to save Dyett, which graduated its final senior class in June. Dyett will be closed for the 2015-16 school year, while the Board of Education weighs three plans to put a new school in the building in Washington Park.
Taylor-Ramann said it has been a tough week, but the strikers are fighting for a better plan for the future of the school.
"Black low-income and working families are being ignored by the mayor and the alderman," she said. "It doesn't go against anything we've been saying in the media, because it's obvious. This is day nine, and people are putting their lives at stake in order to save a neighborhood high school."
Strikers are fighting for their plan to create the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology Academic Plan.
The Chicago Public Schools said officials are reviewing all proposals to determine the best future for Dyett.