Sarah Karp | catalyst-chicago.org

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School closings

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

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Sarah Karp

CPS agrees to halt Longer School Day Pioneer Program November 04, 2011 By: Sarah Karp The Chicago Teachers Union announced Friday that CPS leaders agreed to stop asking teachers to vote for waivers to add 90 minutes to the school day. Read More \| (18) Comments	Citing safety, most high schools keeping police October 28, 2011 By: Sarah Karp This summer, CPS officials announced a cost-cutting move that they hoped would save $13 million: Offer high schools $25,000 in exchange for each police officer they agreed to give up. Having officers assigned to schools for 8-hour shifts cost about $75,000 a year per officer, according to CPS. But while CPS eventually upped its offer, most high school principals’ concerns over safety have led them to hold on to the two uniformed police officers that have traditionally been assigned to their schools. Read More \| (13) Comments
Charters line up for extended-day cash October 27, 2011 By: Sarah Karp Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday that most charter schools eligible for the financial incentives to lengthen the day by 90 minutes have quickly signaled that they are ready to jump on board. But the location of his announcement--a school with a longer school day and a poor academic track record--shows the complexity of the issue. Read More \| (10) Comments	Board sets the stage for more school closings October 26, 2011 By: Sarah Karp CPS’ new Chief Portfolio Officer Oliver Sicat made his first presentation before the Board of Education on Wednesday, laying the ground work for what is expected to be a slew of school closings this year. Read More \| (8) Comments
Labor board seeks injunction against longer school day October 20, 2011 By: Sarah Karp The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board voted unanimously to recommend that a temporary injunction be issued to stop Chicago Public Schools from expanding the number of schools with a longer school day, but it will not try to get the schools that have already implemented the schedule to revert to a standard schedule. Read More \| (5) Comments	Advocate: New teacher evaluation overlooks special ed students October 19, 2011 By: Sarah Karp As state officials prepare to roll out a new teacher evaluation that is partially tied to student test scores, a leading advocate wants them to “think long and hard” to avoid adopting a process that inadvertently harms special education students. Read More \| (11) Comments
Charter wins federal grant to share learning strategy October 18, 2011 By: Sarah Karp Perspectives Charter School Network is preparing to take its signature curriculum on the road next year, making good on an oft-forgotten selling point of charter schools: to innovate and share what they’ve learned. Read More \| (1) Comments	Community Action Councils present their vision of local schools October 17, 2011 By: Sarah Karp Imagine this: A community that is viewed as an expansive campus, home to elementary schools that specialize in all sorts of things from Montessori to math and science to language. Read More \| (10) Comments
A special push October 13, 2011 By: Sarah Karp Marshall has long been a candidate for drastic action, with the percentage of students meeting state testing standards lingering in the single digits for years. But when CPS leaders announced that Marshall would become a turnaround, there was an additional outside push: The state had sanctioned the school because of its poorly run special education program. Read More \| (0) Comments

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