Current Issue

School closings

As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.

Cassandra West

January 13, 2011

Chicago Public Schools is planning to open a new elementary magnet school that would be located near the University of Illinois at Chicago, where a politically connected group has been advocating for a new school. It’s the latest example of parents with means demanding better schools from CPS, Linda Lutton of WBEZ reports.

January 12, 2011

Chicago group organizes about 300 parents for task force to address restoring recess for city's elementary school students. CPS has a policy that "encourages schools to have recess," but the majority of elementary school students are without it, the Tribune reports.

January 11, 2011

Nettelhorst Elementary was a failing educational backwater in Lake View when some determined moms got involved—and sparked a tremendous improvement, making it one of the most celebrated tales in Chicago urban education, a story by Beth Wilson in Chicago Magazine reports.

January 10, 2011

A U.S. District Appeals Court heard arguments Friday from Chicago Public Schools attorneys challenging an earlier ruling that called on them to develop rules for recalling teachers laid off over the summer.  CPS attorney Sally Scott told judges that the 1995 state school reform law set out that tenure protection only applies to disciplinary firings – not economic layoffs.

January 06, 2011

Illinois lawmakers are hearing this week from groups who want to overhaul teacher tenure and limit teachers’ right to strike. Draft legislation, called Performance Counts, could fundamentally change how Illinois teachers are hired and fired, WBEZ's Linda Lutton reports. Instead of teachers getting tenure automatically after a certain number of years on the job,  teachers’ job security would be tied to performance—how much their students learn. Performance Counts also would all but eliminate teachers’ right to strike.

January 05, 2011

Mayor Richard Daley says he doesn't think Chicago public school teachers should be allowed to strike and hopes state lawmakers pass a bill making it more difficult for them to walk off the job. Daley made his comments Monday at the ribbon cutting for the new Azuela Elementary School. (ABC 7 News)

January 04, 2011

The Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general is questioning more than $800,000 in spending under two former school board presidents — from $3,000 to check the board’s offices for “eavesdropping devices” to $12,624 for holiday parties at a president’s home, the Sun-Times reports.

January 03, 2011

Home-schooling experts say more African-American families are choosing to school their children at home, according to the Chicago Tribune. The families are opting out of public schools, which critics say may be not only failing their children, but also in some cases shortchanging them of their history. In south suburban Hazel Crest, 12 families participate in the Indigo National Homeschooler's Association, where the curriculum is centered on African-American history, culture and language.

December 30, 2010

The Chicago Teachers Union is among seven organizations demanding that Chicago move to a 13-member elected school board that would strip the next mayor of the power to appoint board members, according to the Sun-Times. CTU President Karen Lewis and others contended some reforms under a board appointed by Mayor Daley has stalled and, in some cases, hurt schools and students.

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