Catalyst Notebook

Pressured for months by teachers, community leaders and aldermen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked school board is nonetheless expected on Wednesday to approve closing all but a few of the 53 elementary schools the administration wants to shut down. One source said the six-member school board is likely to vote for saving fewer than five of the schools on the closings list, according to the Tribune.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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