Sharon Weeks immediately became suspicious Friday evening as only one student checked into Evanston Township High School’s study center – an after-school facility that usually rooms at least 25 pupils, she said.
Weeks, an ETHS study hall specialist, checked the hallway outside the study room, only to find several athletes straggling back from weekday practice. And then, as she later departed the faculty parking lot, an instant flurry of sirens and flashing lights rushed by her windshield.
The study center vacancy suddenly made sense, she said.
“This is why we had that emptiness,” Weeks said. “Somebody knew something was up.”
Her revelation served as a stark reminder of Friday’s juvenile shooting at the Dempster Street McDonald’s, which resulted in a 17-year-old suspect’s being charged with four felony counts Monday morning. It also confirms students may have anticipated the act of violence – a point raised by District 202 Superintendent Eric Witherspoon in a message to students released Monday afternoon.
“We have reason to believe that some of you knew that there was a dangerous situation developing after school on Friday, ” he wrote. “I urge you, if you ever know anything or even suspect anything about any situation that might put you or anybody else at risk, tell a member of our staff here at ETHS immediately.”
Weeks reiterated that she can usually gauge the pulse of the community through study center attendance.
“I thought something was definitely wrong,” she said. “The kids always know when something is going down.”
ETHS PTA co-president Cherie Hanson agreed a minority of students may have known of an upcoming altercation. She added that there is a culture among ETHS students in which a “code of silence” is enforced and “snitching” discouraged.
“Quite frankly, someone could have known,” Hanson said. “I’m not surprised that some students may have been privy to that information.”
Witherspoon also confirmed that both the shooting suspect and victim are not currently enrolled in ETHS. Both individuals’ Facebook pages say they attended the high school at one time.
The shooting has inspired the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People student chapter that Weeks sponsors to organize a April 26 peace march as part of a newly launched campaign titled, “Stop the Violence, Stop the Funerals, Start the Peace, Start the Love.”
The after-school rally is “just the beginning,” Weeks added. She said she hopes the awareness effort will include poetry readings and speaker appearances that highlight student unity through the end of the school year.
Weeks described the NAACP campaign as a direct response to a growing “‘Untouchables’ mentality” at ETHS that intimidates well-intentioned classmates. She clarified that this atmosphere is “not necessarily blatant but present” in hallways and surrounding neighborhoods.
“There are some students who are just afraid to walk down the street because they don’t want to get hit by a stray bullet,” Weeks said. “Kids don’t want to speak because they’re afraid of retaliation … They’re just tired of the tenseness.”
But MaryJo Boyer, ETHS PTSA co-president, rejected this theory Tuesday night. She admitted any shooting creates a sensitive environment, but the most recent incident doesn’t “concern students unduly.”
“Students understand that this kind of violence is among people who know each other,” Boyer said. “I don’t think that students in general are afraid for their safety.”
In his released statement, Witherspoon repeated the need for a safe climate at all district schools.
“Nobody in any community should be in danger when eating in a local restaurant or attending school or walking on the sidewalk,” he said. “We all must take action to stop the violence.”
Calls left with ETHS’ counseling department Tuesday were redirected to a school spokesperson who then deferred to the superintendent’s message.
A hospital spokesperson refused to confirm the patient’s status because his parents have opted out of disclosing his condition.
