On October 7 Alderman Mary Ann Smith and officials from the Board of Education went to Senn High School to tell students, teachers, and parents about their plan to turn a third of the school into a naval academy. They were greeted with hoots and howls. “It was not a productive, open-minded session,” says board spokesman Peter Cunningham.
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But Arai is in the 46th Ward, and the alderman, Helen Shiller, didn’t want a military school in her ward. Why isn’t clear; Shiller hasn’t returned my calls. But Pickens says she was so opposed that he and other central-office officials shifted their attention to Senn, which is in Smith’s ward, the 48th.
“Of course I was receptive to the idea,” says Smith. “I certainly wasn’t going to turn my back on a great opportunity for my ward.” She says she has a “strong appreciation” for the navy. Her husband, Ronald Smith, was a naval aviator, and a former aide, David Sauve, is now a navy lieutenant. Some of her greatest political heroes–Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter–were navy men. “The navy is what you make of it,” she says. “Look what it’s done for David. He’s learned how to fly a plane. But more importantly, look how quickly he was promoted to a position of leadership.”
Some rooms are too small for full-size classes, others have been closed for repairs. “Not all teachers have their own classrooms right now,” says Fanny Clonch, a French teacher. “We have to move around. I don’t know where they would put us if they forced us to leave a wing of the school.”
Teachers and students were angry by the time Pickens and Smith turned up on October 7. Pickens wanted to show a film promoting the academy, but people in the audience booed and jeered and turned their backs.
