Lab parents and faculty have expressed frustration with and diminished confidence in Lab’s administration, due to their leadership and communication on several issues, including a recent incident of racism that occurred at U-High and concerns about the impact of immigration enforcement in Hyde Park. Faculty requests for more information and an official protocol surrounding immigration enforcement activity led to an updated professional development day schedule on Oct. 31.
An email to a large group of Lab parents from the DEI committee, a subcommittee within the larger Parents’ Association, described a “Conversation and Community” event that took place on Oct. 23 as having been contentious and, at times, hostile. The event was led by Lab’s Interim Director of Schools, Susan Groesbeck.
“This should have been the start of a productive conversation about the impact of ICE on our school community, but was instead shut down by the visibly frustrated Interim Director,” the email read, using an abbreviation for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In an Oct. 24 email to parents, Dr. Groesbeck acknowledged a misunderstanding between her and the parent group. She had claimed to have sent an email related to the presence of immigration enforcement in Hyde Park, but the email had come from Lab principals, not Dr. Groesbeck directly.
Dr. Groesbeck is confident in Lab’s security and resources like lockout procedures, security guards at each entrance, trained community services officers, and blue light “emergency” posts around campus.
“I think we are all worried and some are very scared — yet we have plans in place should something happen near us,” Dr. Groesbeck wrote in an email to the Midway on Oct. 29. “As we all realize in urban living, we have to be hyper-aware of our surroundings.”
Crystal Knox, a member of the parent DEI committee, feels that the university’s response to these current issues is starting to make her lose faith in the administration’s capacity for leadership and conversation.
“The administration’s lack of communication about ICE activity in the area has made us question the competency of the new leadership, particularly around organizing, decision-making, and communication,” Ms. Knox said in an interview. “Equally concerning are the vague assurances about existing safety plans, which focus narrowly on building access but fail to address the broader concerns about what could happen near school grounds.”
When a University of Chicago student was briefly detained by U.S. immigration authorities on 55th Street, English teacher Sari Hernández alerted Lab faculty members with an email.
“Our school leaders found out through the email that I sent, which I think is ridiculous,” Ms. Hernández said in an interview. “I was like, clearly there’s not a protocol.”
At the Oct. 31 professional development day, Lab faculty and staff received more information about the administration’s protocol for dealing with these issues.
In an email to Midway after the meeting, English teacher Rachel Nielsen explained that the professional development day schedule included a review of the safety and security features at Lab and a repetition of the guidelines already released by the university, but to her understanding, no new protocol was established.
Michael McGehee, Lab’s director of safety and security, has drop-in times on Nov. 3, 4, and 5 for students to ask about safety concerns around campus.
Ms. Hernández believes that moving forward, Lab needs to make student- and community-centered decisions.
“You cannot be neutral on a moving train, you can’t be neutral and be an ally,” Ms. Hernández said. “You cannot honor diversity as it says in our mission statement and claim to be neutral.”
