Uptown Families Rally for McCutcheon STEAM Elementary's Long-Overdue Gym: 'Our Bodies Are Meant to Move'
By Socialhood News · Il/Chicago/Uptown ·
A spirited, community-wide rally is shaking the walls — or rather, the lack thereof — at McCutcheon STEAM Elementary in Uptown. On April 10, students, parents, staff, and neighbors gathered outside the school at 4865 N. Sheridan Road to demand that Chicago Public Schools finally deliver on a promise years in the making: a real gymnasium for one of the only CPS schools that doesn't have one.
Right now, McCutcheon's students are bused next door to the Pedersen-McCormick Boys & Girls Club at 4835 N. Sheridan for P.E. class — a workaround that the community says falls far short of what kids deserve. Third grader Ivy put it simply and powerfully at the rally: without an indoor space to play during Chicago's brutal winters, 'our world shrinks.' Health and physical education teacher Karen Jasinski, who has been at McCutcheon for 31 years, said she has heard promises of a gym from principal after principal — none of which came through. CPS had earmarked
The rally marks a renewed, energized push from the McCutcheon community to get the project back on track. It's exactly the kind of grassroots advocacy that makes Uptown special — neighbors showing up for neighbors, and students speaking up for themselves. Want to support McCutcheon's fight for a gym? Connect with the school community and stay up to date on all Uptown news at exploreuptown.org and right here on Socialhood!
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/2026/04/14/uptown-school-demands-its-own-gym-after-years-of-delays-we-are-kids-our-bodies-are-meant-to-move/