At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, members of the 43rd Ward, Parker community, and Alderman Timmy Knudsen filed into the school’s auditorium for Parker to present their School and Neighborhood Improvement Proposal. The proposal discussed the inclusion of lights on the athletic field, nine new streetlights and cameras for increased neighborhood safety, the addition of new affordable housing units across the street on Clark, and the future of the apartment complexes at 317-325 and 327-335 West Belden Avenue. The complexes were acquired by the school six and four years ago, respectively. The school fully purchased these buildings after negotiating a price with tenants following a 2022 lawsuit neighbors filed claiming Parker had covertly purchased individual units in the 327-335 West Belden property in 2020. This lawsuit has now been settled. The meeting on March 31 gave Parker the opportunity to present their proposal to members of the 43rd Ward and explain their reasoning for expansion, among other propositions.

The process of drafting the proposal in coordination with community members has lasted over seven years. At the forefront of this process is Parker principal, Dr. Daniel Frank. “It has been a vision for the school to find really pragmatic ways to make sure that we are educating students – always – in an economically diverse environment.” The end goal of the extension, Frank said, is to expand the socioeconomic diversity of Parker’s student body and to stay true to the school’s mission of preparing students to participate in a diverse democratic society after graduation. The next step in enacting the proposal and beginning construction is the school filing development paperwork through city offices according to the Alderman, Timmy Knudsen, who led the meeting on March 31.

The meeting included a presentation from Parker’s proposal team and a questions period moderated by Langdon Neal, the project zoning attorney. Parker presented the proposal as rooted in the school’s values: collaboration, civic responsibility, accessibility, and affordability. They highlighted how the proposal would, if enacted, bring education, safety, and housing to the neighborhood and the city. 

Over the course of seven years, Parker hopes to expand its class sizes, starting at the JK level, to eventually grant 125 additional Chicago students access to education at Parker. This expansion, they argued, will lead to 30 additional jobs for educators and the ability to provide financial assistance to 55-65 additional students. Parker is also asking for the highly contested addition of lights on the field to lengthen practice and game times for school sports teams. As per requests from the community, Parker is introducing a safety initiative, where the school would implement nine light features and nine cameras at different corners of its property to increase the feeling of safety in the neighborhood. In the newest edition of the proposal, Parker proposed the return of residential living space at 317-325 West Belden for 30 years, and the creation of affordable housing units from a current administrative building across the street on Clark for 30 years. “I am not aware of any other school in the 43rd Ward, let alone the city of Chicago, that is making this kind of contribution to increase affordable housing,” Frank said.

As per encouragement from the school a week prior, many Parker community members came to the meeting to show their support and solidarity. Numerous alumni, parents, and current students could be spotted wearing pins that read “I (heart) Parker” and many participated in applauding the proposal and engaging with the questions period. One student in attendance was Junior Jackson Flaum, whose father also attended the school from the late sixties to the early eighties. “The expansion and the development of Parker seems like something that’s so beneficial to our community and to students,” Flaum said. “It’s prudent. It’s looking for the future. It’s looking to create more opportunities.”

However, not all attendees of the meeting shared the same affinity for the proposal. Some members of the 43rd Ward came to the meeting carrying signs that read: “No Belden! No lights! Stop Parker!” The primary concerns of these residents fall into three categories: adding lights to the Parker field, traffic increases near Lincoln Park West, and the demolition and start of construction of 327-335 West Belden. Many felt blindsided by the proposal, feeling as though the presentation itself didn’t reflect the opinions of the community, which led to many in attendance questioning the Alderman’s loyalty to the people of the Ward. Two such people were a husband and wife, who moved to the 327-335 West Belden Avenue building in order to send their three boys to Lincoln Elementary, a well-funded public school in the 43rd Ward. They said during the meeting that they doubted if they could afford to live in Lincoln Park if not for the housing at 327-335 West Belden.

Many participants had connections to Parker through organizations or direct associations. The president of High Jump, an organization dedicated to providing equitable educational opportunities to middle schoolers of limited economic means that benefits from using Parker’s spaces for their programming, and the president of the Mid-North Association, a non-profit volunteer organization established by residents of Lincoln Park to protect and preserve the historical character of the community, have been involved with Parker and would be impacted by the passing of the proposal. Many alumni of the school also came out to express their ideas for and against the proposal. Julian Kerbis (P’70), critiqued the meeting, relating the situation to President Trump’s relationship with Moscow. “This is a Parker pep rally,” Kerbis said. “This is not a community engagement with the Alderman.” Kerbis suggested that the school pivot the field in order to have more space to build and added that the school’s proposal to provide affordable housing is “a joke.” Current students also spoke, including junior Trisen Phillips, who was involved in the High Jump program. “I really appreciate Parker for being committed to expanding their reach and making sure students like myself have access to an education like this,” Phillips said.

Contention on the proposal still lingered by the end of the night. Some Ward members in attendance seemed reluctant to accept Parker’s proposal, seeing it as a detriment to the community, while Parker continued to accentuate its benefits. The final decision will come down to Alderman Knudsen on how to handle the proposal going forward. “Parker is a part of this community,” Knudsen remarked during the meeting.