For a while now, “Pay to Park” and “Tow Zone” signs were the only permanent, city-sponsored signs on Clark street outside of Parker. On Monday October 2, a City of Chicago employee tightened the screws to a new sign under the others, facing the black gates that guard the western entrance to the school. Glistening in the sun, the black text caught the eye of senior Talia Garg. “I just saw it for the first time Monday,” Garg said. “It intrigued me that a sign about gang violence would be outside Parker.”
Parker is late in receiving a“Safe School Zone” sign in front of their building, according to the office of 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith. Smith said, “The signs were put up at CPS schools in 2013.” The sign reads, “SAFE SCHOOL ZONE. WITHIN 1000 FEET OF A SCHOOL PENALTIES ARE INCREASED FOR: WEAPONS VIOLATIONS, DRUG VIOLATIONS, GANG RECRUITMENT. REPORT CRIME – DIAL 911. city of Chicago.”

Smith’s office called the sign an “ordinance, a general warning that all schools should have at this point.”

Neither the Head of the Upper School, Justin Brandon, or Upper School Dean of Students, Christian Bielizna, knew anything about the sign. In fact, as of this reporting, neither had noticed it. “I haven’t noticed that sign, or heard anything about it,” eighth-grader Cooper Bruce said. “It probably should be more noticeable.”

The Chicago Police Department explain the sign is part of an act called The Illinois Safe School Zone Act, “The Illinois Safe School Zone Act is designed to help ensure that criminal activities don’t occur in or around our schools, in part by increasing the penalties for such activities.” The Chicago Police Department said.

Yet Lincoln Park was ranked 61st out of 77 in high crime rate this past month, with only seven crimes involving weapons, 16 drug violations and zero reports of gang violence in all of Lincoln Park. Within the 1,000 foot zone, there was one report with a weapon and no reports of gang violence or drugs in the last month.

According to The Chicago Tribune, in the past month, 263 crimes have been reported in Lincoln Park, which puts the neighborhood among the lowest rates in the city. “From my personal experience,” junior Olivia Posner said, “we don’t see very much gang activity here or anything of that nature in the area.”

The sign is an ordinance for every school in the city regardless of the amount of violence in the area. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, “It is essential that we make sure we do everything to bring safety to all our communities and neighborhoods throughout the city. It’s just kind of odd,” senior Simone Turner said, “we live in Lincoln Park, there are no gangs around here. I also don’t know what connotation that has. It feels like Lincoln park doesn’t want “outsiders” coming in. That’s the idea I got and it rendered as odd to me.  I don’t think the sign is necessary.”

Upper School History teacher Jeanne Barr described her view of the connotation of gang violence, she said, “Nobody wants these things in their schools. They are dangerous things in our society. However, the way that gangs function in our city is to create a criminal dragnet effect that targets minorities.” Barr went on to explain that almost every street corner in the city is within 1000 feet of a school or park, which is where the signs are placed.

However, not everyone believes these signs have underlying discriminatory connotations. Dr. Mark Smaller, a Chicago psychoanalyst, told the New York Times in 2014 that in other areas of Chicago, these signs have been productive at purely reducing crime, showing that once the signs are put up, crime rates around the schools decrease.