‘If I Don’t Speak Up, Who Will?’

Catherine Jones, 67, is the mother of two adult sons, but she remains actively involved in West Side public schools. A longtime community representative on Frederick Douglass Academy High School’s Local School Council (LSC), she is currently running for reelection to that seat while also running, for the first time, to serve as a community representative for Austin College & Career Academy High School, 231 N. Pine Ave.

On Feb. 23, the high school hosted a forum for five candidates vying for two community representative seats on the school’s LSC. Jones was the only community representative candidate who attended. She briefly spoke about her long personal history of education advocacy.

My son graduated from Austin High in 2000, then went on to college. I’ve always advocated for both Douglass and Austin. We need to advocate for more resources. 

I’ve been involved in local education since 1989, when I was PTA president at George Tilton Elementary in the Garfield Park area, where my son graduated. Then I met James Dean, local school council coordinator, and I just got involved. When I moved to Austin, I stayed involved. They always ask me, ‘Why are you still involved? Are you crazy?’ But who else is speaking up for us? A lot of the elected officials say one thing, but are they doing it? 

At this point, I don’t have nothing in the ball game. I don’t get paid for nothing I do. Everything I do is volunteer. If we don’t speak up for our community, who else is going to speak up? We need to be for real. God is not mocked. Whatever a man soweth, he reaps. We already got a crazy nut in the White House. Do we have to act like him, too? We got to come together. 

All these West Side schools around are low in enrollment. Back in the day, I can tell you how many kids were in this school. They’re leaving now. We’ve lost thousands of students since the pandemic. We need something in place for families who want to come back and want to be challenged. These students need to be challenged—if not, the streets will take them. 

But that’s not to say these schools don’t have anything. If you’re on the outside looking in, you don’t know what we have. People should come to meetings to see what we have in these schools and how they can improve.