education
Ex-judge: Charter-school operator UNO needs ‘robust’ policy against conflicts
The United Neighborhood Organization needs to adopt “robust conflict-of-interest” policies in the wake of a scandal that’s jeopardized tens of millions of dollars of state funding for UNO’s network of charter schools in Chicago, a retired federal judge hired by the politically influential group urged Thursday.
CPS vows to keep tabs on all 12,700 kids sent to new schools due to closings
In last year’s round of closings at Chicago Public Schools, more than 400 children were displaced from four elementary schools, and the district wasn’t able to say where some ended up. Chicago Public Schools says this year, as it moves nearly 13,000 children from a record number of schools approved this week to close, it will track all its displaced students to see where they land, how they fare in their new school, and what the influx means for the new school.
Dunbar H.S. employee suspended over video of girl shoved down stairs
Chicago Public Schools officials have suspended an employee of Dunbar Vocational Career Academy on the South Side after a video surfaced that appears to show him pushing a 16-year-old female student down a flight of stairs. On the video, which seems to have been taken on a cell phone, it appears the man then hovers over the girl at the bottom of the stairs and shoves her again when she gets up and lunges at him. The video is posted on www.worldstarhiphop.com.
Teachers, parents, activists march on to save Chicago schools on chopping block
It’s part of three-day walk to bring awareness to the slated closures. Marchers, who walked miles Saturday between schools on the South and West Sides slated for closure, will conclude their walk Monday with a rally at 4:30 p.m. in Daley Plaza.
As school closings loom, 27,000 CPS students now enrolling in new schools
Enrollment runs through May 31, giving parents little more than a week to register their children in person for the fall. Both closing and welcoming schools will host registration as kids prepare to switch schools.
CPS makes history, closing scores of schools in less time than it takes to boil an egg
History was made in Chicago Wednesday in about 90 seconds, but most of the folks who witnessed firsthand the death of a record 50 Chicago Public Schools firsthand didn’t even realize it. Rather than list the names of the doomed elementary schools, the Board of Education took a single group vote on most of the closings that will affect some 27,000 children. The board secretary read out the numbers assigned to each resolution and asked for the vote. But onlookers didn’t even get that, as the board president resorted to parliamentary maneuver to speed the process along.
Pickets, chanting begin long before vote on school closings
Chanting “No school closings!” protesters made a last-ditch effort Wednesday morning to keep the Chicago Board of Education from shuttering what’s believed to be the largest number of schools in one place at one time in the country.
Sunny news for staff, parents at schools taken off closing list
Despite dreary skies and occasional downpours Wednesday morning, the mood was bright and sunny at two schools spared from the CPS closing list.
Four Chicago Public Schools saved from closing list; fate of remaining schools up for vote today
Four Chicago Public Schools are no longer up for closing this year, a fifth wouldn’t close until next year and a sixth school would be spared from the staff reboot known as a turnaround, the Chicago Sun-Times learned Tuesday. CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett is expected to withdraw her recommendations to shutter Marcus Garvey; Mahalia Jackson, Leif Ericson and George Manierre, according to a source familiar with her deliberations.
SPECIAL REPORT: Kohn students would pass many vacant homes on path to Lavizzo
Part 3 of 3: If the school board votes Wednesday to close Kohn Elementary School, some of its students will be sent farther south in Roseland to Lavizzo Elementary. Longtime Kohn volunteer Nancy Thomas counts the vacant properties along the way.
Police lead school-closing opponents out of City Hall, 25 get tickets
Chicago Police led away protesters Monday who blocked elevators in the lobby of City Hall after they vowed to “cause chaos in this city” to stop a sweeping school-closing plan. Also Monday, Chicago Public Schools officials released reports providing additional details of how nine schools that are absorbing student bodies from shuttered schools plan to address student safety and the accommodations of special needs students.
SPECIAL REPORT: If Marconi closes, students will have to walk past drug dealers on way to Tilton
PART 2 OF 3: If Marconi Community Academy is approved Wednesday to be closed, its students will be sent to Tilton Elementary School, just half a mile away but across one of West Garfield Park’s open-air drug markets.
CTU files civil-rights lawsuits over school closings
Attorneys backed by the Chicago Teachers Union filed two federal class action lawsuits Wednesday charging that the closing of 53 public schools in September will violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Illinois Civil Rights Act. The suits, filed on behalf of parents with children in schools designated to be shuttered, seeks an injunction to delay or stop the closings.
UNO charter-school scandal has Wall Street worried
THE WATCHDOGS: Now under investigation by two state agencies, the United Neighborhood Organization is also facing tough questions on Wall Street from the investors who lent tens of millions of dollars to help pay for the rapid expansion of UNO’s charter-school network. The questions were prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports on state grant money paid to companies owned by two brothers of Miguel d’Escoto, a top executive of the politically well-connected group.
River Forest student dead in crash on way home from Indiana University
A college student from River Forest was killed in a car crash Saturday as he and three friends headed home from Indiana University, and less than an hour later a Valparaiso, Ind., woman died when the car she was in lost control as it approached backed-up traffic near the first crash scene.
Mayor isn’t promising to follow hearing officers’ school-closing recommendations
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he appreciates the work done by hearing officers who want to keep open 13 of 54 Chicago Public Schools targeted for closing but made no promises to follow their recommendations.
