Current Issue

School closings

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

school closings

March 25, 2013

A student-organized march against school closings drew about 30 protesters to CPS' 125 S. Clark St. headquarters today.

March 25, 2013

In announcing school closings, Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett indicated students who are displaced would be sent to better-performing schools, but that is not the case, according to the Sun-Times.

March 22, 2013

Inside the backpacks of Lattrice Jamison’s children on Thursday were several sheets of paper, some of which infuriated her and others that confused her.

One sheet informed her that Emmet Elementary School, the school her son and daughter attended since preschool, was closing next year.  According to the paperwork, students from Emmet would go to either DePriest or Ellington. (For a complete list of closing and receiving schools, see our chart to the right.)

March 22, 2013

Juan Rangel, the $250,000-a-year chief executive officer of one of the largest charter school operators in Chicago, has three children of his siblings on the UNO payroll, who together earn $208,000 annually, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.

March 21, 2013

In announcing the largest shakeup ever attempted in one year by a major urban school district, CPS officials laid out a complicated plan for a total of 71 actions--closings, co-locations and turnarounds--that will affect more than 30,000 students. (Full list below.)

March 21, 2013

The number of Chicago Public Schools slated for closing could be as many as 50, sources told the Tribune Wednesday evening. CPS has never closed more than a dozen or so schools in one year, so this year's closings could be historic.

March 19, 2013

Josephine Norwood’s children have undergone multiple school closings and forced transfers in their time at Chicago Public Schools. But when Norwood got wind that her autistic son’s current school was on the final list of schools being considered for closure, it was just too much to take.

The program her son is in has already been moved two times because of school actions. Now, it is at McClellan, a small school in Bridgeport.

March 14, 2013

CPS officials unveiled what they called a "comprehensive" safety plan to address concerns that closing schools will put students in danger. Much of what they outlined--from community members patroling the routes to and from school to social emotional programs at welcoming schools--have been offered before at welcoming schools.

March 14, 2013

Illinois Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno said at a press conference Wednesday that Chicago "receives a disproportionate share of the state's education resources" thanks to "outdated (funding) formulas, a de-emphasis on the foundation level which equalizes school districts' property wealth and a shift to special grant(s)," Crain's Grez Hinz reports.