Chapter 4, Part 2
BEING IN BEHAVIOR SCHOOLS WITH THE WORST KIDS IN SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO
PARK FOREST ACADEMY (PFA)
Since no mainstream school would take me because of my white people mental issues, I was placed into a new school called Park Forest Academy.
Google it, and don’t let the reviews fool you. I tried to give honest reviews on the school websites and they actually DELETED my truthful review of the school. I got emails saying I was posting false information. Lol…I was the only person reviewing the school that had actually gone to it!
That place was the biggest piece of shit I have ever had to live through. The normal teachers have teacher’s aides that are 300+ pounds just to help if a kid gets out of line.
You walk in, and they hit you with metal detectors. They check you for weapons and make sure nothing you are wearing (clothing color included ) is gang-affiliated since most of the students were gang-affiliated.
I learned every single gang sign in Chicago just from sitting in class watching them throw the gang signs up or throw them down. Throwing gang signs was actually a 25 token fine in our token system. That is how often they threw up gang signs.
What was the worst possible thing of ALL of this…I was literally ‘THE ONLY’ white kid in that school. This was a school for the kids that were put into behavior classes in their mainstream schools and THEN were kicked out of those and this was the last chance school.
I was like 11 or 12 at 5′ 2″, fat, full of emotional instability, white people issues, and a big mouth.
This didn’t work out well. I would get my ass kicked consistently. Let me tell you why it’s worse – the school didn’t separate students based upon grade level. No, the kids from 7th to 12th grade were all in the same classroom. So this 7th grader could get picked on by all the older kids.
See those little white vans in the picture? Those were the ‘short buses/vans’. Someone came directly to the front of our house and picked us up EVERY SINGLE DAY. It was actually against the rules to let your parent drive you to school unless you had a special reason.
School started as soon as you got on the bus. You were on the token system immediately. Meaning any mess-ups could affect your level and tokens. Yes…level and tokens.
They came and honked twice. If you weren’t on the bus, they were allowed to physically make you get on the bus unless your parent told them you weren’t going that day for a special reason.
I was in Park Forest Academy from 7th to 11th Grade
You also got dropped back off at home by these vans. Very very very often kids would argue and fight on the van, then they would hop off the bus and fight a kid in front of his house when it came to their stop. I literally lived where most of the WorldStar videos were filmed lol.
Back to the school. Now, let’s imagine this: no cafeteria. We ate every day inside of our classroom. Our lunch food was delivered every day by a truck in boxes. In the boxes were small 6×4-inch aluminum containers. THAT…was our lunch…EVERY DAY. No choices, it was just set for you. And the food tasted like garbage. When I lived in a homeless shelter the food was better. I swear to God.
SIDE NOTE: It was so below average for school work, I received the same work from the start of the year to the end of the year EVERY YEAR from 7th Grade to 10th Grade. Sophomore year, I told my aunt and uncle I felt like I was retarded because I’ve done this work year after year. I mean it was literally THE SAME SCHOOL WORK. I requested school work from the normal school district. I wanted something to at least feel normal like other kids.
Before I hit puberty at like 15 1/2, I was super fat. I used to get called fat so much I went bulimic for like 6 months. That’s another story though.
Small notes about Park Forest Academy adventures: I was the only white kid so they were forced to let me play on the sports teams – everything from volleyball, soccer, basketball, football – you name it, I played it. At least it got me out of the very boring 8-hour day in the same classroom.
Also, as nerdy as it sounds, I started the chess club in that school. Teachers would pull me out of class to play against me. Every day during lunch, I was playing a different teacher. Every Wednesday for an hour, every kid who wanted to play in chess club could play. I love chess, I still do.
I broke some kid’s ribs with a pool stick, 7 black kids jumped me and beat my ass. Uhmmmm, I have tons of little stories, but I don’t think they help the actual story any.