Harvey resident Lizzie Welch-Aguiniga says she gave up on schools being support systems for children by the time she was 13.
The oldest of 11 children raised by a mother struggling with drug addiction, Welch-Aguiniga says she reported the regular mental, physical and sexual abuse she and her siblings faced to anyone who would listen.
“I would go to school, and I told the teachers, I told the principal — I told everybody in the school that I could possibly tell,” Welch-Aguiniga said. “Nobody did anything.”
Welch-Aguiniga said once her situation was finally reported to the state Department of Children and Family Services, she was moved from Chicago’s South Side to a foster home in Harvey, where she also suffered abuse at the hands of her caregiver.
“Every day she was locking us in the basement with no water,” Welch-Aguiniga recalled. “I went to the school and told the principal, but it turns out that the principal was good friends with her, and he called her and told her everything … And it just made things worse.”
Now 29, Welch-Aguiniga is seeking a 2-year seat on the West Harvey Dixmoor District 147 Board, which she says hasn’t done enough to support her children and the many others who attend the district’s three schools.
She’s running as part of an all-women slate that hopes to bring fresh perspectives to the board that governs the Lincoln Early Learning Center, Martin Luther King Elementary and Rosa Parks Middle School.
Welch-Aguiniga will face Kenneth Henderson, who was appointed to the board in November, and Quandra Craig in seeking a 2-year term on the board.
However, the rest of her slate, Asucena Gutierrez, Sharron McGee and longtime board member Bonnie Rateree, are running for 4-year terms.They face incumbents Michael Smith, Pamela Cudjo and Mable Chapman, all of whom did not respond to requests for comment, and Evelyn D. Young and Ericka Butler.
‘Set in their ways’
As raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began under President Donald Trump, community members expressed concerns about how the school board handled a teacher’s targeted comment about potential deportations.
Community members reported last month that one teacher at Rosa Parks Middle School, during class, held up a newspaper with a story about deportations and said to students, “I can’t wait for this to happen.” Since then, they say she has laughed in the face of students expressing fear over ICE raids.
Welch-Aguiniga said the board did not take any disciplinary action against the teacher, demonstrating a lack of support for the district’s large population of Hispanic students. During a meeting Feb. 3, the board approved districtwide immigration guidelines, with interim Superintendent Creg Williams reassuring parents federal immigration officials will not be allowed to enter any schools without a warrant.
“We understand the anxiety from some parents and some community members — even from some family and friends of mine,” Williams said. “Some days they don’t want to send children to school, but we need to let our community know that their children are safe here. We are not allowing people to come into our buildings and just interview or pull students out.”
He said the district is working to tighten security and said that will continue to ensure all visitors go through a process that includes automatic background checks.
The population of District 147 is 36% Hispanic or Latino, with 14% of people speaking English “less than well,” according to 2018 to 2022 data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The community’s median household income hovers around $37,000, the dashboard says.
Welch-Aguiniga says the district has consistently failed to include Hispanic students and parents the same way they do others. At the Feb. 3 meeting, she addressed the board on behalf of another parent who was not fluent in English.
“This is a very diverse district — there should be translators for her,” Welch-Aguiniga said.
As board member, she hopes to improve communication to all parents and create more opportunities for them to get involved with their children’s education. She also plans to advocate for students with disabilities, as her own son has autism.
“We want the parents and the kids to look at the board and see themselves,” Welch-Aguiniga said. “I think the problem with this board is they’ve been there for years … and, you know, they might be set in their ways. It’s time for somebody younger with a more open mind to come in and start taking the ideas from the parents.”
“Because we give them ideas,” Welch-Aguiniga added. “We tell them stuff — it’s just not getting done.”
Current board members
The newest member on the District 147 Board, Henderson, should be ineligible to hold office due to having two felony convictions, according to state statute. Welch-Aguiniga and others at board meetings have raised concerns about Henderson’s appointment and asked for his removal.
Henderson was found guilty of felony possession of a controlled substance in 2009 and felony aggravated use of a weapon in 2015. After being elected to the Harvey Park Board in 2019, he was barred from holding office due to the convictions.
He was later elected to the District 147 Board, where he served from 2019 to 2023 without objection. Neither Henderson nor other board members responded to the Daily Southtown’s requests for comment.
Rateree, the district’s longest serving board member, said the board is aware of Henderson’s criminal record but chose to seat him to maintain a strong voting block. She is unaware if any complaints about him serving made it to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office or elsewhere.
Rateree chose to break away from the other members seeking reelection and join the slate of women because she “wants to see board members who love our children.”
She said in a statement that as the board searches for a new superintendent, she is confident that Welch-Aguiniga, McGee and Gutierrez will “unselfishly fight for these babies.”
“It may seem simplistic, but unless our leaders and professionals care about Black and brown children, they will only be concerned about their careers,” Rateree said. “I am supporting these young women because they care enough to stand up for our children’s future just when I was about to give up.”
The next West Harvey Dixmoor Board meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday at 191 W. 155th Place in Harvey, according to the district website.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
