Home › Previous Issues › New Schools

New Schools

Download This Issue (PDF)
October 1, 1997

New Schools

Table of Contents

Mayor's bonds will cost more in long run

Veronica Anderson

The School Reform Board's capital program has a new head of steam. After stumbling last spring with state legislators, who rejected a variety of funding proposals, the board worked with its boss, Mayor Richard M. Daley, to tap the city's financial resources. In a first, the city will sell bonds to raise another $800 million for school construction projects.

In keeping with past practice, the new bond sale won't raise overall taxes for schools. When the Daley-chaired PBC was in charge of school construction, new bonds had to await the retirement of old bonds so taxes wouldn't rise...

> Read More

Watchdogs applaud, still want details

Rick Asa

Watchdogs of the Reform Board's capital improvement program are generous in their praise of Mayor Richard M. Daley for deciding to sell city bonds to keep school construction going. But they say they will continue pressing for more accountability in the school system's $1.4 billion capital improvement program.

"We have to commend the city and the Chicago public schools for some tremendous creativity here," says Jacqueline Leavy, director of the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group and a member of the School Reform Board's Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee on Capital Improvements.

...

> Read More

Group helps communities

Rick Asa

Armed with a $125,000, two-year grant from The Joyce Foundation, the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group (NCBG) is working with community development organizations in low-income areas to help them integrate school needs into their broader development plans.

In the process, NCBG hopes to build a network to pressure the city and the state to provide enough money for school capital needs and to use that money creatively.

In North Lawndale, for example, a NCBG community organizer is surveying schools and property owners to help identify community development priorities. At the same...

> Read More

Architects have their say

Rick Asa

Four Chicago architects with school design experience comment on Chicago's prototype schools. They asked not to be identified.

"The architects you mention are highly qualified and respected in the city, but one question is, What's going to happen in the year 2020 or 2030, when the school-age population declines? What are we going to do with these buildings? It would be nice if the Chicago public schools or some other large system had the resources to take it upon themselves to ask that kind of question, but they don't have the time or the resources. They are just bailing water as...

> Read More

New-school prototype: Not a Ferrari, but it runs

Rick Asa

In August, school officials in suburban Naperville unveiled a Ferrari of a school. Priced at $62 million, the new Neuqua Valley High School is fully loaded, with sophisticated technology and lots of extras packed into a sweeping, red-brick body.

In stark contrast, Chicago is cranking out Neons: plain, rectangular buildings with the basics (classrooms, a library, a gym, a multipurpose room, science labs and wiring for computers in each classroom). The one extra is air conditioning. But school officials make no apologies. "We have to make some sacrifices," explains Operations Chief...

> Read More
Updates

$900,000 grant for innovative math teaching

By: Danielle Hirsch

On a hot day in July, students in Bill Buchanan's math class at Foreman High School saunter around waving fake hundred-dollar bills. In clusters of four, they play dice and card games. But the main attraction is a roulette-like game. The dealer, senior Lisabelle Valle, instructs all players not to touch the board once their bets are placed. One student, who bet all his money on one number and lost, insists on playing one more round. "What do you have for collateral?" demands Lisabelle.

On a hot day in July, students in Bill Buchanan's math class at Foreman High School saunter around waving fake hundred-dollar bills. In clusters of four, they play dice and card games. But the main...
Read More
Updates

NSF grants

By: Danielle Hirsch

The National Science Foundation, an independent government agency funded by Congress, gives grants to education and research programs in science, math, technology and engineering. Its goal is for all students to be technologically literate when entering the workplace or college. The following are among the larger grants NSF has made to Chicago area institutions in recent years.

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Chicago Systemic Initiative. A citywide effort involving staff development and school-based teams.

Amount: An estimated $10 million from 1994 through 1999.

The National Science Foundation, an independent government agency funded by Congress, gives grants to education and research programs in science, math, technology and engineering. Its goal is for all...
Read More
Updates

Lake View a leader in AP calculus

By: Danielle Hirsch

This year, Lake View High School, a city pioneer in innovative math instruction, has one of the most extensive Advanced Placement calculus programs in the country. Sixty-one seniors, about a third of the senior class, are taking the college-level course.

This year, Lake View High School, a city pioneer in innovative math instruction, has one of the most extensive Advanced Placement calculus programs in the country. Sixty-one seniors, about a third of...
Read More

go here for more