Since the announcement of Dyett’s closing through phase out in 2012, the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett has lead a number of press conferences, protest and sit-ins to speak out against CPS’s plans to reopen Dyett as a contract school.

Community activists on hunger strike for more than a month to demand Dyett High School be turned into a green technology and global leadership school when it reopens ended their strike over the weekend.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to develop a modern, high-quality high school at Dyett, and these industry leaders will help us ensure that vision is realized”, said CPS CEO Forrest Claypool.

“We did not want to see one of our fellow hunger strikers die”, activist Aisha Wade-Bey said.

The school, which once had close to 700 students, graduated its last 13 students in June. They said their efforts were sparked by what they considered racial disparities in the school system – Dyett is located in the historically black Bronzeville neighborhood – and that the decision-making for the school’s future wasn’t transparent or in line with what the area wanted. “The hunger strike prevented the privatization of Dyett but there is still work to be done”. They say the strike has taken a toll on their health so they are calling it off. Officials are still searching for a principal to open the school next September, McCaffrey said.

A spokesman for the hunger strikers declined to comment Monday morning, saying that they would formally answer questions and explain their decision Monday afternoon at Rainbow PUSH headquarters.

“I’m not an activist, nor a protester, or a hunger striker”, she said.