Joyce Kenner leads one of Chicago’s top high schools but after George Floyd’s killing, she faces calls to resign: ‘If I don’t understand black people and oppression, nobody does.’, © Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune/TNS, © Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune/TNS. We have a black CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Connect with friends faster than ever with the new Facebook app. I’m not resigning. She recalls her father writing “black-owned business” across the window of his record store so protesters would spare it from damage. Jonathan Jackson has known Kenner for more than three decades, and he’s thankful she ended up his daughter’s principal. “Each and every day, trying to keep our students as safe as possible — that really has been the biggest challenge for me,” she said. Gallery: Beyonce, Harry Styles, Gayle King and other stars who are speaking out against racism (USA TODAY). 211 South Laflin Street • Chicago, IL 60607 Phone: (773) 534-7500 • Fax: (773) 534-7261 Contact Webmaster In 2020 it was listed number 77 … “I’m not sure when the last triplets were born in Dayton, so it was really big news,” said Janice Allen, another one of the triplets. Her silence and her enabling of the systematic oppression that her black and low-income students face should be condemned.” So far it’s gained more than 800 signatures. Whitney Young Forever Take your virtual tour of Whitney Young and see what it is like to be a Dolphin: Arts as Advocacy project DANCE THE VOTE performed by H. Dance IV & Guys & Dolls Dance Company Ours dancers are learning about how the arts can help us understand current events and work together to move through them. Thank you! A high school cheerleader, Kenner never really stopped cheering, now supporting her students at sports games, chess tournaments, debates, wherever they want her to be, she said. Brandon Porter-Young was a handsome, quiet 18-year-old senior who loved playing basketball and gardening, according to a peer and members of the Whitney Young staff. TEAM. Kenner said the school was about 60% black when she took over. More than 50 years later, Kenner is the now the long-serving principal of Whitney Young, one of Chicago’s most selective high schools, named for a civil rights leader. Kenner said she has tried her best to support students and is responsive to other viewpoints. Dorsey remembers riding his bicycle to Third Street in Dayton and looking at the damage from looting sparked by King’s death, unable to understand why people would tear up their own neighborhoods. According to the Chicago Tribune, Joyce Kenner has been the principal of Whitney Young High School for the last five years. Joyce Dorsey Kenner from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School located in Chicago, IL US | Rate My Teachers Look for your teacher/course on RateMyTeachers.com in Illinois, United States Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. “I think the issues have impacted them more greatly than they did before, and now they have found a way for their voices to be heard," she said. Whitney Young Magnet High School principal Joyce Kenner is considering a $500 fee for students to cover a budget shortfall. Whitney Young is operated by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school is still very diverse, but its African American population has shrunk to 19%, with another 19% Asian, 28% white and 29% Latino students. You feel it as an African American person on a day-to-day basis, but it’s painful to talk about.”. By the turn of the millennium, about 41% of students were black, 24% white, 19% Latino and 16% Asian, according to CPS data. Absolutely. Kenner recalls trying to understand why “this man who had stood for peace and unity was gunned down.” Her mother was from Mississippi, and though the family didn’t talk a lot about race issues, she would relay stories from her own mother and grandmother about their experiences living in the Deep South and about lynchings there. I still have a lot of work to do for my African American students,” Kenner said. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker. In a letter to administrators, some members of the senior class wrote they hoped Whitney Young would not be neutral while students demanded justice, voicing frustrations that Kenner initially rejected a video submitted for the school’s virtual graduation in which a student holds up a sign in support of George Floyd while singing the national anthem. Work Experience. Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (locally known simply as Whitney Young) is a public magnet high school and middle school located in the Near West Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. View Full Caption Principal and CEO. Decatur Classical School, Hancock High School, Jones College Prep, Lenart Regional Gifted Center, and Northside College Prep also were honored with the 2020 Blue Ribbon Award. “She’s always been the first one in line,” he said, “always been aggressive in her mindset in terms of opinion, and she works hard in what she believes in.”, When King was shot and killed in Memphis in 1968, the triplets were young and, said Allen, “I don’t think we understood the gravity of the moment. Published on … Whitney Young is operated by the Chicago Public Schools district. Discover more about Friends. JOYCE KENNER WHITNEY YOUNG HIGH SCHOOL & COACH MAYDEN ... Whitney Young Community Trailer - Duration: 6:12. “She listens and she reflects and she’s not afraid to admit she’s made a mistake,” said Boeke-Given. Absolutely. Level 1+? Prior to working for Chicago Public Schools, Kenner was deputy director of PUSH for Excellence, the education arm of renowned civil rights leader Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition. If I don’t understand about black people and oppression, nobody else does,” Kenner said. ", She recognizes that not all students agree with her but said she tries her best “to make sure that every student’s needs are addressed.”, "Have I failed in some things I’ve tried to do? All of my sisters and brothers were educated.”. “You could go by your experience, and the only thing I've ever tried to do is get our black kids educated so they have the opportunity to be part of this world,” Kenner said. Available for sale from Geary, Suzette Bross, Dr. Joyce Kenner, Whitney M Young Magnet High School (2018), Photograph, 40 × 26 in Several students told the Tribune they were offended by statements Kenner made in a video address about unrest sparked by George Floyd’s killing, in which she asked that if students do protest, they not participate in violence or looting, and said the way to seek change is to get a degree and get a "seat at the table.”. I don’t support the cause or that I don’t understand the cause.". Further, she calls it “nonsense” to say she doesn’t support Black Lives Matter. Whitney Young High School consistently ranks among the highest performing schools in the nation (Washington Post, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Niche). After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, an 11-year-old Joyce Kenner witnessed people take to the streets in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio, “for the same things we are marching for today." providing the very best possible education for young scholars, pursuing careers in higher education among the most . Their early jobs were at their father’s three record stores. Kenner says she’s “never tried to silence a student,” citing her open-door policy as the reason she’s still at Whitney Young. Whitney Young Magnet maintains one of the premier high school soccer programs in the city of Chicago. We believe in providing our students with intellectually stimulating learning activities," says Whitney Young's principal, Dr. Joyce D. Kenner. So now, (after) 50 years, it’s a different environment where now the discussion is had," Allen said. She is also the mother of a black son who once had to explain to police that he had a baseball bat in his trunk because he played for the Whitney Young team. In recent weeks, as protests gripped her adoptive city after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Kenner has been working and babysitting her granddaughter. Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (locally known simply as Whitney Young) is a public magnet high school and middle school located in the Near West Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Mauricio Peña/ Block Club Chicago . Now, after 25 years at the helm of Whitney Young, she finds herself the target of an online petition, posted by unnamed “disappointed alumni,” calling for her to resign, claiming she has “silenced student activists speaking against all forms of injustice. School reputation over student well-being? Whitney Young Magnet School wins Blue Ribbon Award for the second time. She said she’s tired of trying to explain her position in life, and that all she’s been through has made her a better person. Last season, the Dolphins advanced to the City Semifinal and IHSA Sectional Cha... Read More. The three had to walk 10 city blocks to get to grade school, and Kenner always got there first, said the youngest triplet, James Dorsey. PROGRAM(S) PARTICIPATED IN: Sprint 2015. Even their birth, to a 19-year-old mother and 18-year-old father, made headlines. The charges against former Whitney Young High School coach Andrew Parro and the suspension of one of the district’s most respected principals, Joyce Kenner… After hearing from her students and trying to understand their concerns, Kenner said she decided to allow the video. SCHOOL WEBSITE. Kenner points out that, as far as she knows, she was the first CPS principal to let students kneel during the national anthem. Whitney Young boasts a diverse student body: 25.1 percent African American, 24.4 percent Latino, 16.7 percent Asian, and 29.3 percent Caucasian. "You don’t have to talk to feel racism, you don’t have to speak it. “If one student was negatively impacted by my statements or my non-actions, then I have to address that,” she said. Thankful she ended up his daughter ’ s always sought to advocate for racial integration ”!. `` the School was about 60 % black when she took.. Is considering a $ 500 fee for students to cover a budget shortfall and trying to understand their concerns Kenner. Her and want her to stay by my statements or my non-actions, then I have to speak it survey... The professional educator, and he did it well will replace the results shown here the same time, said... & 2008-2020 VP Limited, LLC - All Rights Reserved Soccer League Jackson has known Kenner for more three... Would spare it from damage your ad blocker and is responsive to other viewpoints professional! 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