Become a Catalyst member

Join the conversation

We encourage our readers to leave comments and engage in dialogue about our stories. But before you do, please check out our "rules of the road."

Recent Notebook Entries

Subscribe to catalyst-chicago.org by e-mail

catalyst-chicago.org feeds

Current Issue

School closings

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

Read More
Home › Catalyst Notebook

Catalyst Notebook

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - 12:39pm

Arbitrator counting union votes at UNO Charter

By: Rebecca Harris
Tags: charter schools, teachers union

UPDATED: Teachers at UNO charter schools have voted 87 percent in favor of joining a union, an Illinois Federation of Teachers spokeswoman said.

The announcement comes just days after scandal prompted the state to cut off capital funding to UNO charter schools, and it means the city's charter teachers union will roughly double in size. According to the Illinois Federation of Teachers, more than 20 percent of charter teachers in Chicago will now be union members.

READ MORE | (3) COMMENTS
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - 7:24am

In the News: Construction halts on UNO high school

By: Cassandra West
Tags: charter schools, UNO

Construction stopped Tuesday on a new, state-funded charter high school being built on the Southwest Side for the state’s largest charter-school operator, the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization, after the project’s general contractor said UNO has fallen behind in its payments for the work, according to the Sun-Times.

READ MORE | (5) COMMENTS
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - 3:39pm

Closings point up the dangers of geography

By: James Reddick of The Chicago Reporter
Tags: school closings, youth violence

Lametrios West has made a point to separate himself from the trouble around him. Despite heavy rain and steady cracks of lightning, the 14-year-old Kershaw Elementary School student made his way on a recent afternoon to the nearby Teamwork Englewood, a community organization whose after-school programs draw boys and girls from the surrounding area. Here, he holes up to “get out of the neighborhood.”

READ MORE | (0) COMMENTS
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - 7:06am

In the News: PURE seeks deeper look at UNO funding

By: Cassandra West
Tags: charter schools, PURE, UNO

Parents United for Responsible Education are asking the state Executive Inspector General to broaden its investigation into the use of state funds by the United Neighborhood Organization Charter Network, according to a news release.

READ MORE | (1) COMMENTS
Monday, April 29, 2013 - 1:07pm

Prison costs in Humboldt Park double spending on schools

By: Angela Caputo of The Chicago Reporter
Tags: school closings

Torrance Shorter stands in the rain outside of Martin A. Ryerson Elementary School one recent afternoon in a last-ditch effort to keep the grammar school from being merged with the nearby Laura S. Ward Elementary School next fall.

READ MORE | (3) COMMENTS
Monday, April 29, 2013 - 9:07am

In the News: CPS closure czar is alderman's sister

By: Cassandra West
Tags: Ald. Pat O'Connor, Rahm Emanuel

Catherine Sugrue, the sister of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Council floor leader, Ald. Pat O'Connor, has been hired by the Chicago Public Schools to help with the controversial closures of dozens of schools, according to the Sun-Times.

READ MORE | (0) COMMENTS
go here for more