Students from the Catherine Cook School march in the annual Chicago Pride Parade in June 2018.
Sun-Times file
Pride Parade organizers have reversed their earlier decision, now allowing some school participation in the June 30 festivities after originally cutting all schools that had previously joined the popular event.
The change came a day after the Sun-Times reported parade organizers denied entry to six Chicago schools that had a history of participating in the parade.
Nettelhorst School, in the heart of the city’s well-known LGBTQ+ area in Lake View, will now coordinate participation for the six previously denied schools, said Francis W. Parker School teacher Karen Liszka.
Motoko Maegawa, a teacher at Catherine Cook School, confirmed parade organizers contacted the denied schools with a new plan.
According to an email to participants that Liszka sent the Chicago Sun-Times, a pride organizer said, “Nettelhorst School is pleased to help us coordinate our group of schools into one entry, which is helpful with the new, smaller limit on the available number of entries.”
The six schools that were previously denied will now be allowed 30 overall participants and will not be able to use cars or buses, the email stated. . Instead, golf carts will be provided by Nettelhorst according to the email.
The schools include: Francis W. Parker School, Nettelhorst School, Catherine Cook School, Near North Montessori School, Rogers Park Montessori School and Lycée Français de Chicago.
The entrance fee will be waived as a a “mea culpa” for the initial denials, according to Liszka.
“(The Pride organizer) said that strength of LGBTQ+ work in the community was a large determining factor initially, not finances, but also admitted that their decisions may have been rushed,” Liszka told the Sun-Times about her conversation with the organizer.
According to Chicago Public Schools, Nettelhorst was placed on a “waitlist” earlier in the week for the Pride Parade, before being accepted. .
Pride Parade organizers said in an email statement Thursday, “Engaging in open communication and collaboration with all stakeholders, including Ald. Bennett Lawson’s office, we’re excited to announce that we’ve been able to come up with a creative solution that ensures the spirit of inclusivity and celebration continues.
“As of the present moment, confirmation has been secured from four of the six schools. Efforts are underway to finalize arrangements with the remaining two schools from 2023.
In future years the schools will share the cost of the one entry slot, Liszka said.
Admission into the parade typically comes at a steep cost to national franchises and corporations that frequent the event yearly. These companies pay over six times more than a nonprofit to participate in the parade, according to 2023 documents reviewed by the Sun-Times.