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

Getting a chance February 04, 2013 By: Sarah Karp In 2008, a federal judge freed CPS from the dictates of a long-standing desegregation decree that had kept at least some racial balance in the district’s elite selective schools. To try and maintain that balance in four selective high schools—Walter Payton, Jones, Northside College Prep and Whitney Young, bar-none the best high schools in the city—CPS officials started a program that offers seats to promising black students from the district’s worst elementary schools, who otherwise would not have qualified for admission. Read More \| (22) Comments	Special education, preschools at risk in school closings February 04, 2013 By: Sarah Karp On the first floor of Brown Elementary School is a room with colorful mats on the walls, a ball pit and calming low-intensity lights. Principal Kenya Sadler proudly shows off this new feature of her school. Sadler raised private money to install it because she thought the specially designed environment would benefit the children in her schools’ two classes for children with autism. Read More \| (2) Comments
School closing meetings: Week 1 February 01, 2013 By: Sarah Karp This is how CPS officials envisioned the 28 community meetings on school closings taking place this month: First, a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation with details in each area, showing how many schools are underutilized and low-achieving, followed by the now-familiar refrain about CPS’ looming deficit and limited resources being spread too thin. Read More \| (6) Comments	For the Record: Walton Foundation funds community engagement January 30, 2013 By: Sarah Karp District officials have said they don’t want to link the volatile issue of school closings with the equally volatile issue of charter school openings. But a major pro-charter foundation is providing financial backing for the current crop of school closing meetings taking place around the city this month. Read More \| (78) Comments
State says student test scores set to plummet under higher standards January 23, 2013 By: Sarah Karp Next year, parents likely will get a rude awakening when they are handed their child’s ISAT scores. After a decade in which ISAT cut scores crept down, state officials are poised to raise them, thereby likely reducing the number of students who meet or exceed standards. Read More \| (3) Comments	Jones College Prep set to add selective seats January 22, 2013 By: Sarah Karp Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday that the old Jones College Prep building, standing in the shadow of a gleaming new school, won’t be demolished, but that it also won’t be the neighborhood school some nearby residents want. Read More \| (5) Comments
CPS may still close high schools; no list till February of schools facing action January 18, 2013 By: Sarah Karp CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett agrees with the recommendation of her hand-picked Commission on School Utilization to include school performance among the criteria for school closing decisions, but she may still close one or two high schools and could veer from other recommendations. Read More \| (2) Comments	Commission: Closing high schools is too dangerous January 10, 2013 By: Sarah Karp UPDATE: CPS announced Friday that it will put out a more specific list of schools "still on the table" for closure before the end of the month and will host a community engagement process around those schools.Two meetings will be held in every network in the month of February so that people can make their case for specific schools.“We recognize the need for a more granular level of community engagement – it’s something we’ve heard loud and clear as part of the community meetings the Commission on School Utilization has hosted over the last several weeks,” said Byrd-Bennett in a press release. “It is critical that the community has the chance to give us their feedback on individual schools, and we want to provide them with that opportunity.” Read More \| (11) Comments
CPS board approves only two new charter schools December 19, 2012 By: Sarah Karp CPS board members gave the nod Wednesday to two charter schools and the expansion of three traditional schools, but deferred action on two other charters. The board approved Intrinsic Charter School and Chicago Collegiate Charter School, as well as the addition of 7th and 8th grades to Marine Military Academy and Rickover Naval Academy. Disney II also will expand to include a high school. Read More \| (5) Comments

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