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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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Catalyst Notebook

Monday, May 20, 2013 - 4:25pm

As school closings vote nears, questions remain on money, academics, safety

By: Sarah Karp
Tags: facilities, finance and budgets, parent and community engagement, school closings, turnarounds

When Margarita Miranda moved to Old Town in 2000, the area looked much different. The Cabrini Green public housing projects cast a long shadow, and neighborhood elementary schools were located on every few blocks.

Today, the high-rise public housing has been wiped away, leaving the area with a smattering of row houses, townhouses and some stretches of still-empty lots.

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Monday, May 20, 2013 - 8:20am

In the News: 3-day marchers make way to City Hall

By: Cassandra West
Tags: school closings

A three-day series of marches through neighborhoods with schools on the closure list was part of a final push organized by the Chicago Teachers Union and community groups before the Chicago Board of Education votes Wednesday on the closure plan. The marches will culminate Monday afternoon with a rally outside City Hall.

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Friday, May 17, 2013 - 9:45pm

Karen Lewis wins second term as CTU president

By: Rebecca Harris
Tags: Chicago Teachers Union

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has announced that she won a second term in Friday's election, garnering 80 percent of the votes in preliminary results.

The election was a referendum on how well Lewis' leadership and the Caucus of Rank and File Educators handled the fall's teacher strike and contract negotiations.

The opposition caucus, Coalition to Save Our Union, charged that Lewis put style and big-picture promises over substance and results.

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Friday, May 17, 2013 - 12:04pm

Union election: Karen Lewis vs. challenger, strike gains vs. contract losses

By: Rebecca Harris
Tags: Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, teachers strike

Almost buried in the whirlwind of news on school closings is the Chicago Teachers Union election, in which challenger Tanya Saunders-Wolffe is seeking to oust current President Karen Lewis.

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Friday, May 17, 2013 - 8:09am

In the News: CPS' use of selective data questioned

By: Cassandra West
Tags: school closings

A Chicago Tribune review of documents related to Chicago Public Schools closings raises questions about how district officials used information to promote and defend its plan. In many cases, the district appears to have selectively highlighted data to stress shortcomings at schools to be closed, while not pointing out what was lacking at the receiving schools.

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Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 8:48am

In the News: Thousands of CPS classes over size limit

By: Cassandra West
Tags: school closings

More than 1,560 homerooms in Chicago public elementary schools are over the school district’s class size limits, according to numbers obtained by WBEZ and Catalyst Chicago Magazine from Chicago Public Schools. The revelation comes as Chicago is proposing to shut down a historic 53 grammar schools. Activists have raised repeated concerns that the massive restructuring will result in more overcrowded classrooms.

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