Manuel Sanchez, Chicago’s first Mexican American school principal, dead at 94

Manuel Sanchez surrounded by students after he was named principal of Komensky grade school at 2001 S. Throop St. (Sun-Times file)

The son of an immigrant stockyard worker, Manuel Sanchez became Chicago’s first Mexican American school principal when he was named head of Komensky School, 2001 S. Throop St., in 1971.

“His promotion is symbolic of the Spanish-speaking community’s emergence into the administrative level of the city’s school system,” a Komensky advisory council said at the time.