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Special Education

Even as CPS opens more new schools, children with special needs have a tougher time finding options. Placements in private therapeutic schools are scarce, and some charters are reluctant to enroll them.

CPS administration

May 15, 2012

The Logan Square Neighborhood Association is establishing the Logan Square School Facilities Council to make sure no closed-door decisions are made at the Board of Education about the future of Ames Middle School.

May 11, 2012

Last week Chicago Public Schools issued to all principals an elaborate memo outlining how all teachers were being required to "verify" the students they had taught in the previous year — even down to estimating how much of the "learning" these students did should be attributed to the individual teacher, Substance News reports.

April 30, 2012

Less than one business day after revealing that Chief Education Officer Noemi Donoso is leaving, CPS officials announced that she will be succeeded by Barbara Byrd Bennett, a veteran educator who ran Cleveland schools for seven years.

Though Donoso’s resignation is not effective until May 31, Bennett will be in town working in an advisory role for a month, spokeswoman Becky Carroll says. Bennett will then serve as interim chief education officer.

April 30, 2012

CPS officials are saying the district will implement a coordinated bell system to "assure a smooth transition as it moves to a full school day" while improving student safety and streamlining bus transportation.

April 28, 2012

Less than a year after Mayor Rahm Emanuel hand picked Noemi Donoso as the chief education officer, the brusque administrator who hailed from out West is resigning.

A statement released Friday evening said that Donoso is leaving to pursue a national project to train the next generation of urban leaders. She said she has “profound respect and appreciation for this district’s commitment to young people.”

April 16, 2012

CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union, which had previously been in mediation since early February, have appointed members of a three-person fact-finding panel – one of the final steps of a lengthy, legally required pre-strike process set out in Illinois law.

April 12, 2012

CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and Budget Director Ginger Ostro detailed the district’s budget woes before an Illinois General Assembly committee today at a hearing on the Illinois State Board of Education budget.

March 30, 2012

CPS officials called the unveiling of a new teacher evaluation system a “historic opportunity” and said they were surprised that Chicago Teachers Union leadership wouldn’t stand with them in support.

March 29, 2012

The Chicago School board took several actions Wednesday during its monthly meeting, including agreeing to settle a CTU lawsuit over longer day compensation, announcing the resignation of Food Service Director Louise Esaian, limiting the contract of two charter operators, expanding report card pickup to better accommodate parents who work.

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