VISION

Gage Park High School will meet the needs of our students by developing the necessary skills to be successful in both college and the world of work. Gage Park High School will provide access for all students to rigorous academic courses and provide teachers with high-quality sustained professional development to improve instructional capacity.

MISSION

As members of the Gage Park High School community, we will aspire to excellence and reject “making peace with mediocrity.”*

                                                                                    *James Baldwin (1963)

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF VISION & MISSION

James Baldwin was a brilliant writer during a time when people of color were not recognized as scholars. During this time, he inspired many people to action. Following is an excerpt from a letter written to his nephew regarding educational expectations relative to his environment. The thrust of the author’s anger is deep.

 
Gage Park High School adopted his spirit of academic success for all students.

“This innocent country set you down in a ghetto in which, in fact, it intended that you should perish. Let me spell out precisely what I mean by that, for the heart of the matter is here and the root of my dispute with my country. You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity and in as many ways as possible that you were a worthless human being. YOU WERE NOT EXPECTED TO ASPIRE TO EXCELLENCE: YOU WERE EXPECTED TO MAKE PEACE WITH MEDIOCRITY.”

Wherever you have turned, James, in your short time on this earth, you have been told where you could go and what you could do (and how you could do it) and where you could live and whom you could marry. I know your countrymen do not agree with me about this and I hear them saying, “You exaggerate.” They do not know Harlem (New York) and I do. So do you. Take no one’s word for anything, including mine – but trust your experience. Know whence you came. IF YOU KNOW WHENCE YOU CAME, THERE IS REALLY NO LIMIT TO WHERE YOU CAN GO.

SCHOOL-COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

Gage Park High School is a general high school located on the southwest side of Chicago.  The majority of its multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial population emanates from four communities: Chicago Lawn, Gage Park, New City, and West Englewood. 

The school population of 1,700 consists of African-American, Hispanic and Caucasian students as well as others.  There are English Language Learners and Special Education students.  The faculty includes veteran as well as new teachers.  Ninety percent of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.  Our daily attendance rate is approximately 88%.

Gage Park High School is fortunate to have substantial support from its business/industry and post-secondary partners.  Our collaborative/cooperative efforts make it possible for the students in our education-to-careers institutes to earn college credit, at no cost, while they are still in high school.  In addition, our business partners guarantee employment to students who complete the programs and graduate.

Gage Park High School is a general education high school, which maintains an environment that is safe, secure, and pleasant. Our mission is to prepare the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural student body academically for a high democratic society. The administration and staff recognizes that students come to school with a wide range of abilities, value, and levels of creativity. These qualities are seen as assets, which need direction and cultivation, so that students can become responsible leasers and contributing members of the greater society.

Espousing the African proverb: "It takes a whole village to raise a child," the broader vision focuses on the expansion of student resources, the restructuring of learning and achievement, expansion of the scope and quality of community involvement, supplementing present instructional programs, increasing faculty involved decision making and enhancing student/faculty relations. The administration and faculty also recognizes that students have a responsibility for their own success, and therefore, from all students, in all endeavors, "WE EXPECT SUCCESS AND NOTHING LESS."