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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.

facilities

May 10, 2007
By: Ed Finkel

Since January 2006, Chicago Public Schools has been cited eight times by the Illinois Department of Labor for having unsafe or unhealthy working conditions in eight schools.

Two of those schools, Montefiore Special School on the Near West Side and Monroe Elementary in Logan Square, have been cited multiple times for roof leaks and other damage that, according to some staff at the schools, have yet to be completely repaired.

May 10, 2007

The city and school district are charging ahead with Mayor Richard Daley's $1 billion Modern Schools construction plan.

More than $400 million in bonds has been issued, and construction has begun on two schools: a $35 million replacement of Miles Davis Elementary in West Englewood, scheduled to open in fall 2008; and a $103 million replacement for Westinghouse High in Humboldt Park projected to open in fall 2009. All three of the plan's major renovation projects—$30 million efforts at Mather, Austin and Collins high schools—are underway.

May 10, 2007
By: Ed Finkel

School districts across the country are facing pressure to improve classroom performance under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but are giving short shrift to problems like bad lighting or poorly heated classrooms that can affect learning, says a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers.

"It's a topic that doesn't get nearly enough discussion in the education dialogue," says spokesman George Jackson. "We don't talk about the [buildings] where we expect students to go and hit all these [legislated] benchmarks. It can't be a separate conversation."

May 10, 2007

After complaints were filed by the Chicago Teachers Union with the Illinois Department of Labor, these schools were cited in 2006 for having unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. Many of the problems are in the process of being repaired, union officials say.

November 29, 2006

Mayor Richard M. Daley's ambitious $1 billion plan to build 24 new schools and overhaul three others inched forward in November when aldermen asked the City Council's finance committee to consider a bond package worth up to $800 million.

For its part, Chicago Public Schools recently borrowed an extra $75 million—the first of its $400 million commitment—atop its usual construction bonds.

The finance committee is expected to vote on the bond package in December. If approved, the package would then go for a full council vote.

August 25, 2005
By: Ed Finkel

To help cut costs, Chicago Public Schools is looking to scale back controlled enrollment busing from overcrowded schools.

About 30 elementary schools and five high schools have a controlled enrollment policy, under which overflow students who would normally attend a severely overcrowded school are bused to other schools with space. (CPS officials expect the high schools—Morgan Park, Gage Park, Foreman, Steinmetz and Hubbard—to scrap the policy by 2006-07.)

August 18, 2005

Almost a third of the city's community areas—23 of 77—have school overcrowding problems. Fourteen of the 23 communities have been overcrowded for a decade, and a major capital improvement plan launched in 1996 has brought little relief. One CPS official admits the district is only "treading water" in solving overcrowding.

August 15, 2005

A Catalyst analysis finds that after $680 million in capital spending over the last decade, school overcrowding is still widespread. The district says it needs more money. Critics say the district also needs a better capital plan.

At Canty Elementary on the far Northwest Side, some teachers are doubled up two to a classroom, students eat lunch at their desks since the cafeteria was converted to classroom space, and primary-grade classes exceed union class-size caps.

July 29, 2005

Overcrowding is often considered to be primarily a concern in Latino schools and neighborhoods, but a small yet significant number of overcrowded elementary schools are predominantly African American, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis of CPS data for the current school year.

About one out of four, or 32, overcrowded schools is majority-black the analysis found. About half are predominantly Hispanic; largely white and integrated schools make up the remaining one-fourth.

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