CPS and CTU are battling over contracts, parents are battling  turnarounds, phase-outs and closures, and legislators are pushing for a moratorium to halt all school actions, but in just a few months, more than 400,000 children in the Chicagoland area will be boarding school buses to start the school year. 7,500 of those children will be on a bus to a...
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School buses unloaded parents, students and community organizers last Monday afternoon outside CPS headquarters holding signs and megaphones demanding CPS to stop the reform of 17 schools that will be turned around, closed, or phased-out. Kenwood-Oakland community activist, Jitu Brown, organized 30-to-40 people in front of the building where his message was clearly heard by...
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Parents, teachers and supporters of a state bill to postpone school closings in Chicago gathered in Springfield on Feb. 28 for Public Schools Action Tuesday for the State Senate Education Committee Hearing. Illinois State Rep. Cynthia Soto (D-Chicago) first sponsored the legislation in the House, which was then sponsored in the State Senate by...
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Disney II Magnet Elementary’s initiative with local chefs to provide a better understanding of nutrition for students continues to make progress with Chicago Public School officials. Shari Berland, an advocate member for Disney II’s Interim Advisory Council, said the school is in conversation with CPS to get the initiative underway. CPS is considering Disney...
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  Henry D. Lloyd Elementary School parents, staff and children prepare their final goodbyes after the local school council formally announced its decision not to renew Principal Fernando Kim’s contract, which expires June 30. Some say the decision, announced on Feb. 1, was a result of the school’s low Illinois Standards Achievement Test, or...
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The Chicago Board of Education unanimously voted Wednesday, Feb. 22, to close 17 Chicago Public Schools following hours of emotional testimony urging the board to do otherwise. The board views the decision as an opportunity to help 7,500 students in the low-performing schools. The board’s decision came just hours after an emotionally charged public...
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Hundreds of protesters gather at Chicago Public School Headquarters Wednesday in opposition to proposed school closures and turnarounds.
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Between 60 and 100 parents and protesters left  Brian Piccolo Elementary Specialty School Saturday afternoon after an overnight sit-in once they had been promised a meeting with education officials before a key vote on the future of the school. Piccolo, in the city’s Humboldt Parkneighborhood, is one of 16 schools that CPS wants to “turnaround”...
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Illinois is in line to get $42.8 million of  “Race To The Top” grant money from the U.S. Department of Education, and members of Chicago’s local organizations say they hope a sizeable portion goes to Chicago Public Schools. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $4.35 billion for “Race To The Top,”...
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Hiring new, effective principals is a pressing problem for Local School Councils across the city. Currently, there are 95 principal vacancies throughout CPS’s 670 neighborhood schools, and there are typically about 100 vacancies each school year, said Steve Gering, CPS chief of leadership development. Responding to the need for more effective principals, CPS created...
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