Roberto Clemente Community Academy

{{short description|High School in Chicago, Illinois}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox school | name = Roberto Clemente Community Academy | image = Roberto Clemente Community Academy, Chicago (2006).JPG | image_size = 260px | caption = | address = 1147 N. Western Avenue | city = Chicago | state = Illinois | zipcode = 60622 | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|41.9026|-87.6861|type:edu_region:US-IL|display=inline,title}} | district = Chicago Public Schools | principal = Devon Morales<ref name="cpsedu">{{cite web |title=Clemente HS |url=https://www.cps.edu/Schools/Pages/school.aspx?unit=1840 |publisher=Chicago Public Schools |access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref> | staff = | faculty = | teaching_staff = | ceeb = 141325<ref>{{cite web| title = High School Code Search| publisher = College Board| url = http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_code/codeSearchHighschool.jsp| access-date = 2 January 2010| archive-date = August 30, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090830044201/http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_code/codeSearchHighschool.jsp| url-status = dead}}</ref> | avg_class_size = | gender = Coed | schooltype = Public Secondary | grades = 9–12 | campus_size = | campus_type = Urban | athletic_conference = Chicago Public League<ref name="IHSA info">{{Cite web| title = Chicago (Clemente)| publisher = Illinois High School Association (IHSA)| date = 31 December 2009| url = http://www.ihsa.org/school/schools/2709.htm| access-date = 2 January 2010}}</ref> | slogan = | song = | fight_song = | motto = | accreditation = North Central Association of Colleges and Schools<ref>{{cite web| title = Institution Summary for RCCA| work = AdvancED profile| publisher = North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement| url = http://www.advanc-ed.org/oasis2/u/par/accreditation/summary?institutionId=26632| access-date = 2 January 2010}}</ref> | mascot = | mascot image = | team_name = Wildcats<ref name="IHSA info"/> | colors = {{color box|blue}} Blue<br>{{color box|#FFDF00}} Gold<ref name="IHSA info"/> | yearbook = | publication = | newspaper = | opened = | established = 1974 | former_names = Northwest Division High School (1892–1906)<br />Tuley High School (1906–1974) | founded = | status = | closed = | nobel_laureates = | enrollment = 697 (2018–19)<ref name="cpsedu"/> | free_label = | free_text = | free_label1 = | free_text1 = | free_label2 = | free_text2 = | free_label3 = | free_text3 = | free_label4 = | free_text4 = | free_label5 = | free_text5 = | picture = | website = {{URL|rccachicago.org}} }}

'''Roberto Clemente Community Academy''' (commonly known as '''Clemente''', ''' Roberto Clemente High School''') is a public four-year high school located in the West Town community area of Chicago, Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools, the school is named for Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Enrique Clemente (1934–1972).{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

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".<ref name=PerezGinaMp157>Pérez, ''The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, and Puerto Rican Families''. University of California Press, October 4, 2004. {{ISBN|0520936418}}, 9780520936416. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eOo5sP7fU6cC&pg=PA157 157].</ref> Jennifer Domino Rudolph, author of ''Embodying Latino Masculinities: Producing Masculatinidad'' wrote that the school "is strongly associated with Puerto Rican cultural nationalism".<ref name=Rudolphp46>Rudolph, Jennifer Domino. ''Embodying Latino Masculinities: Producing Masculatinidad''. Palgrave Macmillan, August 6, 2012. {{ISBN|1137022884}}/ISBN 9781137022882. pg. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zdjIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 46].</ref> 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."<ref>Ramos-Zayas, Ana Y. ''National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in Puerto Rican Chicago''. University of Chicago Press, July 15, 2003. {{ISBN|0226703592}}, 9780226703596. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p8vvwBWgSqwC&pg=PA233 233].</ref> Rudolph stated that media depictions of violence from Puerto Rican nationalism movements caused the school to become controversial,<ref name="Rudolphp46"/> and that the school was associated with much of the "backlash against manifestations of Puerto Rican identity."<ref>Rudolph, Jennifer Domino (University of Illinois at Chicago). "Roncamos Porque Podemos": Racialization, Redemption, and Mascu-latinidad" (PhD thesis). ProQuest, 2008. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=L6fBLkgP2hwC&pg=PA124 124].</ref> 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 and school violence, dropouts, and low test scores.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

==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.<ref name=Aboutus>{{cite web | title = About Us | publisher = Roberto Clemente Community Academy | url = https://www.rccachicago.org/about/about-us/ | access-date = 23 July 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/> At the time approximately 53% of the students were of Puerto Rican ancestry. The principal, Herbert Fink left his position.<ref>{{cite news|last=Soll|first=Rick|title=Many forces at work at Clemente|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|place=Chicago, Illinois|date=1974-11-14|page=Section 1, Page 6}} - [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94218151/ Clipping] from Newspapers.com.</ref> By November 1974 there was another demonstration protesting against the removals of teachers.<ref>{{cite news|title=Units plan to avert trouble at Clemente|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|place=Chicago, Illinois|date=1974-11-14|page=Section 1, Page 6}} - [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94218485/ Clipping] from Newspapers.com.</ref>

===1990s=== Circa 1988, Clemente High established a new curriculum that was centered around students and involved participation from parents and multiculturalism.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/> Parents and area community activists shaped the school's curriculum in a manner of the traditional American education system.<ref name=RamosZayasp233234>Ramos-Zayas, Ana Y. ''National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in Puerto Rican Chicago''. University of Chicago Press, July 15, 2003. {{ISBN|0226703592}}, 9780226703596. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p8vvwBWgSqwC&pg=PA233 233]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=p8vvwBWgSqwC&pg=PA234 234].</ref> 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.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

In the 1990s, Chicago-area media began to criticize the Clemente parents and activists. This unfolded as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was passed in 1996.<ref name=RamosZayasp233234/> 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.<ref>Ramos-Zayas, Ana Y. ''National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in Puerto Rican Chicago''. University of Chicago Press, July 15, 2003. {{ISBN|0226703592}}, 9780226703596. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p8vvwBWgSqwC&pg=PA234 234].</ref> Other schools in Chicago enacted reforms similar to those at Clemente, which had reduced dropout rates by over 10%.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

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 of the United States, and to provide money for a pro-Puerto Rican independence fundraiser.<ref name=Edweek1997>"[http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1997/02/12/20chic.h16.html Death Threat Prompts School Probe in Chicago]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151222163434/http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1997/02/12/20chic.h16.html Archive]). ''Education Week''. February 12, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015.</ref> 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.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/> 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."<ref name=Edweek1997/>

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."<ref name=Edweek1997/> 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 (FBI), and Edgar Lopez, the chairperson of a committee named by the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives to look into the school, accused it of being "controlled by radicals" and asked for it to be broken into smaller schools.<ref name=Edweek1997/>

In February 1997, Irene DaMota, the principal of Whittier Elementary School, was selected as the new Clemente principal.<ref name=Edweek1997/>

====''Chicago Sun-Times'' story==== A February 4, 1997, article in the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', "School funds used to push terrorist' release," had accused the school of promoting the release of terrorists.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/> 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 was banned from some classrooms.<ref>"[https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1997/02/05/report-chicago-school-touted-puerto-rican-cause/ Report: Chicago School Touted Puerto Rican Cause]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151222101926/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-02-05/news/9702041141_1_school-board-report-chicago-public-schools-rican Archive]). ''Orlando Sentinel''. February 5, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015.</ref>

The director of the Chicago Latino Institute, Migdalia Rivera, criticized the story and distributed a rebuttal.<ref>Miner, Michael. "[http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/sun-times-school-bully-in-my-tribe/Content?oid=892701 Sun-Times, School Bully/ In My Tribe]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151220105216/http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/sun-times-school-bully-in-my-tribe/Content?oid=892701 Archive]). ''Chicago Reader''. February 13, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015.</ref> In response, the newspaper defended its reporting.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20160220220539/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4371610.html Clemente reporting presented the facts]." ''Chicago Sun-Times''. February 7, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015.</ref>

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'' stated that Ligas was "relatively unknown" at the time of the story's release.<ref name=Joravsky>Joravsky, Ben. "[http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/lessons-in-propaganda/Content?oid=892759 Lessons in Propaganda]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151222120053/http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/lessons-in-propaganda/Content?oid=892759 Archive]). ''Chicago Reader''. February 20, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015.</ref> Marrero, at the time, was an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He had been trying to sabotage the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center,<ref>Lopez 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, June 29, 2007. {{ISBN|0822389746}}/ISBN 9780822389743. Start: pg. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LOkYzy4t2VEC&pg=PA161 161]. CITED: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LOkYzy4t2VEC&pg=PA178 178].</ref> which had a working relationship with Clemente. Marrero would later give testimony in which he accused parties {{Who|date=April 2022}} of perpetrating fraud.<ref name=LopezROp179>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, June 29, 2007. {{ISBN|0822389746}}/ISBN 9780822389743. Start: pg. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LOkYzy4t2VEC&pg=PA161 161]. CITED: pg. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LOkYzy4t2VEC&pg=PA179 179].</ref>

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."<ref name=Joravsky/>

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.<ref>Fitzgerald, Mark. "[http://www.editorandpublisher.com/PrintArticle/Picketing-The-Chicago-Sun-Times-p-11 Picketing The Chicago Sun-Times p.11]" [(). ''Editor & Publisher''. March 15, 1997. Volume 130, Number 11. Retrieved on December 20, 2015. [https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-19265950/picketing-the-chicago-sun-times Available from] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222141319/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-19265950/picketing-the-chicago-sun-times |date=2015-12-22 }}.</ref>

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.<ref>Rossi, Rosalind. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160220220544/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4375070.html Clemente High // School chief wants better money rules]." ''Chicago Sun-Times''. February 18, 1997. Retrieved on December 20, 2015.</ref> Vallas criticized the programs of Clemente and the Puerto Rican center.<ref name=LopezROp179/> Even though there is no concrete evidence stating that the school had associations with the ''Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña'' (FALN), at one time the FBI accused it of doing so.<ref name=Rudolphp46/> The FBI had asked for an investigation, and so did the US attorney based in Chicago. Several hearings were held in the Illinois Legislature.<ref name=LopezROp179/>

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."<ref name=LopezROp179/>

===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.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

The school was scheduled to begin using the International Baccalaureate program by the 2013-2014 school year.<ref>Moore, Evan F. "[https://extranews.net/clemente-implements-ib-program.html Clemente implements IB program] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305035955/https://extranews.net/clemente-implements-ib-program.html |date=2016-03-05 }}" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160305035955/https://extranews.net/clemente-implements-ib-program.html Archive]). ''Extra''. July 26, 2012. Retrieved on December 22, 2015.</ref>

==Student body== As of 2019, the school had 697 students,<ref name="cpsedu"/> with significant numbers of Puerto Rican Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans, and other groups of Hispanic and Latino Americans and Eastern European Americans.<ref name=Aboutus/> In 1997, it had had 2,400 students.<ref name=Edweek1997/>

==Academics and programs== Clemente offers six Advanced Placement classes and is also an International Baccalaureate candidate school.<ref>[http://www.rccachicago.org/academics/international-baccalaureate-programme RCCA IB School]. Retrieved on July 26, 2013.</ref> Clemente also has vocational education programs that focus on culinary arts and radio/television broadcasting. The latter program is taught by a journalist from Chicago's WGN-AM radio station.<ref name=brochure>[http://rccachicago.org/resources/documents/clemente-downloads/brochures/7-roberto-clemente-community-academy-brochure/file Roberto Clemente Community Academy brochure]. Retrieved on July 26, 2013.</ref> In addition, students may participate in JROTC.<ref>[http://www.rccachicago.org/academics/jrotc RCCA JROTC]. Retrieved on July 26, 2013.</ref> In 2012, 92.6% of Clemente freshmen were classified as on-track to graduate.<ref name=brochure/>

As of 2004, the school curriculum stresses multiculturalism and aims to develop ethnic pride.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

It hosts community events, such as speaking engagements and cultural programs, available to everyone in the surrounding area.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

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.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

==Campus== [[File:Brick mural of Roberto Clemente (Clemente High School, Chicago).jpg |thumb|Mural of Roberto Clemente at the school]] The school includes various murals along Division Street which portray symbols of Puerto Rican culture and Puerto Rican nationalism.<ref name=PerezGinaMp157/>

==Student performance== Circa 2005, the school had one of the highest dropout rates in the United States.<ref name=Rudolphp46/> By 2019, the graduation rate was 84%.<ref name="cpsedu"/>

==Athletics== Clemente competes in the Chicago Public League (CPL) and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (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).<ref>[http://www.ihsa.org/data/school/records/sum2709.htm IHSA: Clemente (Chicago)]</ref> From 1973 to 2005, the team won ten Chicago baseball championships and Wilfredo Cruz, author of ''Puerto Rican Chicago'', described the team as "formidable."<ref>Cruz, Wilfredo. ''Puerto Rican Chicago'' (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, February 2, 2005. {{ISBN|1439631549}}, 9781439631546. Google Books [https://books.google.com/books?id=p_3W4MYZTgYC&pg=PT71 PT71].</ref>

==Notable alumni== * William Karush, attended Tuley High School, best known for contributions to Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions * Saul Bellow, attended Tuley High School; recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.<ref>{{cite web | last = Fasman | first = Jon | title = Where Words Took Shape: Saul Bellow's Chicago | work = New York Times | date = November 2, 2008 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/travel/02Footsteps.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 }}</ref> * Joey Marciano, baseball player<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://richmond.com/sports/college/after-2019-retirement-flying-squirrels-pitcher-joey-marciano-enjoying-return-to-baseball/article_054cdcb0-fb93-5370-8eaf-b07b125b3957.html|title=After 2019 retirement, Flying Squirrels pitcher Joey Marciano enjoying return to baseball|first=Wayne|last=Epps Jr|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=May 5, 2021|accessdate=March 10, 2023}}</ref> * Isaac Rosenfeld, 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 and Texas Rangers * Ramon Ocasio III, Cook County judge and president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois. * Mickey Rottner, attended Tuley High School; played basketball for Loyola and professionally.

==See also== {{Portal bar|Chicago|Illinois|Schools|Puerto Rico}} *Chicago Public Schools *List of schools in Chicago Public Schools *Puerto Ricans in Chicago

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==Further reading== * "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160220220542/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4372045.html Clemente story smeared effort of educators]" (opinion). ''Chicago Sun Times''. February 9, 1997. * Studer, John. "[http://www.themilitant.com/1997/619/619_15.html Puerto Ricans Fight For Rights In Chicago ]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050321/http://www.themilitant.com/1997/619/619_15.html Archive]). ''The Militant''. March 3, 1997. Volume 61, Number 9. * "[http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/hrgroups/hr/900HR0067LV.html 90_HR0067 LRB9005400CBcbA House Representatives]" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20151220131751/http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/hrgroups/hr/900HR0067LV.html Archive]). State of Illinois 90th General Assembly Legislation. * Ríos, Alejandra Cerna. "Clemente High, 8 Years After the Investigation." ''Extra''. April 27, 2005 ** Spanish version: {{in lang|es}} Ríos, Alejandra Cerna. Translator: Víctor Flores. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160220221340/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1331503011.html SECUNDARIA CLEMENTE, 8 AÑOS DESPUÉS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN]." ''Extra''. April 27, 2005.

==External links== {{Commons category|Roberto Clemente Community Academy}} *{{official website|https://www.rccachicago.org/}} {{Chicago Public Schools schools|state=collapsed}} {{West Town, Chicago}} {{Chicago Public Schools}} {{Chicago Public League}} {{authority control}}

Category:1974 establishments in Illinois Category:Educational institutions established in 1974 Category:International Baccalaureate schools in Illinois Category:Public high schools in Chicago Category:Puerto Rican culture in Chicago Category:West Side, Chicago