Paaven Thaker, a 17-year old junior at Whitney Young Magnet High School, is just the sort of high achiever school administrators like to brag about. Thaker is on Young’s debate team, participates in theater productions, and gets straight As. She’s also copresident of the Environmental Alliance, a student club.
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Thaker says that as they talked with Kenner it became obvious that a comprehensive recycling effort would need the backing of the central office. “Ms. Kenner said she doesn’t have the money to run a recycling program–to have staff bring the recycling bins to a recycling center,” Thaker says. “She said we, the students, could do it ourselves. But that’s not practical. This is exactly the sort of centralized operation you need a central office to oversee.”
The students researched the matter and discovered that other cities, including New York, have mandatory school recycling programs. “If they can do it in New York we can do it here,” says Thaker. “New York’s an even bigger city than Chicago, and they’re handling all the practical ends of it. The thing is, you have to have a commitment. If Mayor Daley wants to be the environmental mayor, then he should get it started.”
In October the students sent a letter to schools CEO Arne Duncan, pleading with him to set up a mandatory system-wide recycling program like the one in New York City. A month passed and there was no reply. They sent follow-up e-mails. On November 24 Lynne Michelle Moore, the school system’s director of facility maintenance, e-mailed back: “Arne Duncan forwarded your emails to me regarding your request for a recycling program at Whitney Young High School. I would like to invite you to a meeting so we can discuss your concerns in depth.”
“Some of the employees who came out looked interested, but others just looked at us like we were cute and entertaining,” says Thaker. “It was condescending. I know you’re supposed to expect things like that when you’re protesting. But this was the Board of Education. You’d think that someone there would be mildly interested in this issue.”
She and her allies intend to make these points at the December 17 meeting with Moore. “We’re not giving up,” she says. “I’m determined to have a recycling program in before I graduate.”
