Article

"We Need an Angel to Save This Place'"

By Felicia Dechter
Pioneer Press

They're looking for an angel and a miracle in East Rogers Park to save the North Shore School, 1217 W. Chase St.

So say parents and teachers of the private lakefront school, who have been brainstorming to find a way to save the institution since it recently announced it will close its doors on Sept. 1, after 68 years in the community.

"We need an angel to walk into this place," said Andrew Clark, a parent who comes from Albany Park. "I think it's a tragedy.

"I would like it to stay open. This is going to be a loss for the neighborhood...there are enough townhouses and condos going in. I don't want to see this building torn down."

According to David Wilkinson, the nonprofit school's director/owner, the 100-year-old school building was built on the lake as a country club. Wilkinson's wife's parents bought the place after landfill was added to the lake and another building built in front of it, and they founded the school in 1938. The Dix family gutted the building and made it into a "marvelous, unique school," with a bowling alley in the basement, Wilkinson said.

An old ballroom houses the gym, and the oak floors are creaky, Wilkinson said, but the school has a "warm and charming past."

Legacy

"It's really a great place," said Wilkinson, whose children also attended the school. "It's a legacy. That's what makes this whole thing heart-wrenching. We love the kids, we love the parents."
Low enrollment is one reason the school is closing. It currently has about 70 pre-school through eighth- grade children. "The reputation we have in the private school community is absolutely fantastic," Wilkinson said. "But there comes a time when you realize if no one on the family wants to take it over..."

The school's doors will close after this year's summer camp, Wilkinson added.
"We want to continue through the summer so the little people can enjoy the lake," he said.
He added that some private schools in the area have shown some interest, but, "At the moment, I don't know what our next move will be," Wilkinson said, adding that he was absolutely sure he is closing and that he has not yet exposed that fact to developers.

Yet parents, faculty and community members have been quietly holding Saturday meetings to try and save the school, with the next being held at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 15. And the students have even been penning letters to Oprah Winfrey, in hopes that she'll help.

French teacher Claudine Wojtowicz, a member of the Friends of the North Shore School, has started a full-blown campaign to save the school. Committees have been formed, and "all kinds of ideas are being formed and positive action is being taken by all concerned, even the kids, she said.

"The children are so attached to it, they want to help," Wojtowicz said, calling it a life lesson for the kids. "It's a worthy cause, and we want to see the children having the life force to do something, even when the adults are down.

"I believe there is still time," she added. "This is a marvelous school and it's a loss for the community." Other faculty members agreed.

"There's not another institution like this in the city of Chicago," said kindergarten aide Terri Wagner. "This is heartbreaking, and has left families scrambling. The kids can't eat, sleep and are peeing in the beds.

Reborn

"I hope by some miracle there could be enough money raised for the school, and a new set of directors could be reborn. If somebody has two million they want to give us..."
Principal Christine Kallis would like to see the same. "I'd like us reborn with the same high standards and giving the community the same jewel of an education they have offered," she said.

The school, according to West Rogers Park parent Edythe Freeman, offers a "loving, nurturing environment that gives the child a method to express themselves and to handle situations."
"We want to stay," Freeman said.

Yet according to Wilkinson--who also has another company, the Wilkinson Company in the Merchandise Mart his mind is made up and for his family, there is no turning back to stay.
"It's a great place, with great people," he said of the school. "It's a wonderful oasis for little people to begin their academic experience. But as they say in show business...it's been a great run."