CPS Taps Principal to Head Controversial Bronzeville High School

Norman Parish | As of Thursday, October 8, 2015

Beulah McLoyd was tapped to be principal of the controversial Walter H. Dyett High School in Chicago’s Bronzeville on the South Side. Protesters held a hunger strike to reopen the school as an open enrollment one that would focus on science. Instead, it will be an arts centered school.
Beulah McLoyd was tapped to be principal of the controversial Walter H. Dyett High School in Chicago’s Bronzeville on the South Side. Protesters held a hunger strike to reopen the school as an open enrollment one that would focus on science. Instead, it will be an arts centered school. Photo by Norman Parish.

A principal was selected to head a high school in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood that reopens next year after protests, including a hunger strike.

Beulah McLoyd, who served as principal of Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High on the West Side since 2010, will oversee Walter H. Dyett High School on the South Side, Chicago Public Schools officials announced.

Beulah McLoyd will oversee the school when it reopens next fall as a school centered on the arts.

photo

Photo by: Norman Parish

City residents held several protests over Walter H. Dyett High School on Chicago's South Side.

“As a Bronzeville resident, CPS parent and high school principal, I understand the need for a high-quality neighborhood option at Dyett, and I am fully committed to ensuring this school is the world-class success that the community deserves,” said McLoyd in a statement. “I look forward to developing a new neighborhood option with rigorous instruction and an elite arts program that will honor the legacy of Walter H. Dyett and prepare our students for a bright future.”

While McLoyd was principal at Michele Clark High School, the CPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) determined that an employee at the school allegedly orchestrated a fraudulent purchasing and reimbursement scheme. The OIG determined McLoyd improperly handled her password; but it did not conclude that she committed any intentional wrongdoing.

Cook County authorities charged other employees with wrongdoing. Two defendants pleaded guilty.

CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson praised McLoyd’s handling of the investigation.

Dyett has been the center of its own controversy.

Several protesters went on a hunger strike for 34 days because they wanted Dyett, this past school year, to reopen as an open enrollment one, specializing in science.

Instead, school officials decided to reopen Dyett at 555 E. 51st St. as an open enrollment school, focusing on the arts.

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