WEST SIDE STUDENTS, (l-r in first row) Rayven Anderson, Simone Biffle, Ronia Bond, Kaleb Hayes, and Laya’Lapri Ratney; (l-r in second row) Heaven Quinn, Ariel Johnson, and Jamey Jones.
Community support is the one thing that West Side Leadership Academy students want for their school
“I think our community needs to be more involved. We need a voice and we’re learning to have that at West Side,” said senior Rayven Anderson, the first student to respond to the board member’s question – “If there’s one wish for your school, as a student at West Side, what is that one thing?”
The Gary Community School Corporation board learning session was nearing the end when Vanessa Allen-McCloud posed her question. It came after nearly an hour of Q&A led by West Side Leadership Academy Principal Carl Scott and the district’s Chief of Schools Esther Goodes with West Side students.
Students answered questions about student life, changes they’ve seen at the school, benefits of attending West Side, and the district’s proposal to add grades 7-8 to West Side, making it a junior-senior high school.
The night learning session on November 29, 2023 gave the district’s new 5-member school board snapshots of the academic and extra-curricular programs offered at West Side.
“But we need our community to step up, talk and speak for us. At the end of the day, we are still just students. We need that community voice so that people know that Gary is more than just the violence. We need our community to speak on behalf of West Side,” Anderson said.
“If people see how good West Side really is, people wouldn’t want to go to Calumet and all those other schools. They would want to come here, to West Side,” said senior Kaleb Hayes.
Senior Ronia Bond’s family members, on her mom and dad’s side, graduated from West Side. “I hear my aunt on the radio in the morning talking about West Side, saying they’re not doing this and not doing that. I don’t understand it. It’s their school! Why are they putting it down? Uplift us.”
“I’m tired of people talking about my high school,” said sophomore Jamey Jones. “West Side is not like that; it is a loving community, an amazing school. The people of Gary should go out, speak and help us. We can’t do it alone.”
Another sophomore, Heaven Quinn said, “I feel the image of West Side is not our image. Our image is broken and the community should help rebuild it.”
Board member and West Side grad Akilia McCain told the students, “We believe in you, because we are you and we’re willing to support you. And that’s why we’re on this board.”
Board member Danita Johnson said, “Rest assured that we are here to help you transform some of the opinions and perceptions that people have of not just West Side but the entire Gary school district. I’m here because I’m confident that it’s going to be a new day.”
The board also met Julius Jones, a junior and student in the district’s EMT/Paramedic training program that just started at the Career Center this year. The program is a partnership with the Gary Fire Department.
Board members were appointed in July to an advisory role while the district is in the final year of the state takeover. Their first duty is to select a school superintendent to be in place by July 1, 2024. Then, the district returns to local control under the authority of its board and superintendent.
