Chicago Sun-Times

Teachers, parents, activists march on to save Chicago schools on chopping block

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:12:43 -0500

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.

CPS makes history, closing scores of schools in less time than it takes to boil an egg

Thu, 23 May 2013 06:50:53 -0500

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

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:39:09 -0500

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

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:49:38 -0500

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

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:08:40 -0500

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

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:10:08 -0500

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

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:16:13 -0500

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

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:33:07 -0500

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

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:50:58 -0500

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

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:32:40 -0500

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

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:04:37 -0500

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

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:51:14 -0500

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.

Hearing officers oppose 10 planned CPS closures, have reservations about others

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:17 -0500

Hearing officers appointed to review the school district’s plan to close underutilized schools across the city are opposing 10 of the slated school closures at the end of this school year and have reservations about several others, according to reports released by CPS. CPS said hearing officers either misinterpreted the requirements of state law or exceeded the scope of their authority in issuing their findings.

Work is stopped on UNO high school after state halts funding

Wed, 01 May 2013 02:22:32 -0500

Construction was halted Tuesday on a new, state-funded charter high school being built on the Southwest Side for the state’s largest charter-school operator, the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization, after the project’s general contractor said UNO has fallen behind in its payments for the work. The move came five days after Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration suspended funding to UNO following Chicago Sun-Times reports on insider deals.

Parent: Some Payton players want beleaguered coach out

Sat, 04 May 2013 02:08:42 -0500

The captain of Walter Payton College Prep’s baseball team and another top player told the team’s beleaguered coach Thursday they no longer want to play for him, the captain’s father has told the Chicago Sun-Times.

UNO charter teachers vote to unionize

Thu, 02 May 2013 02:24:32 -0500

Teachers at one of Chicago’s largest charter-school networks — run by the United Neighborhood Organization — have voted to organize into a union.