Chicago Sun-Times

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.

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.

Scientist Toshio Narahashi, expert on pufferfish toxin

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:33:00 -0500

It isn’t every scientist who would cite James Bond’s poisoning by pufferfish toxin in a research paper. But Toshio Narahashi was a scholar with a sense of humor, and both feet in the real world, where “From Russia with Love” is a classic book and film. He described one of the best Bond battles —with Russian spy Rosa Klebb — in a 1967 paper he co-authored, titled “Tetrodotoxin’s Highly Selective Blockage of an Ionic Channel.”

Payton coach returns to the dugout after controversial cancellation of baseball game

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:50:03 -0500

The coach of Payton College Prep’s baseball team remained in his post Tuesday night while school officials tried to sort out a controversial situation that arose this week when the North Side coach said he was forced to cancel a game on the South Side because parents feared for their children’s safety.

Quinn surprises Englewood teacher with Golden Apple

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:16:42 -0500

Freshman English teacher Katherine Dube encourages her students to yell insults at each other during class. Those would be Shakespearean insults.

Brooks coach puts Payton on his do-not-play list

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:15:18 -0500

Bryan Street, Brooks College Prep’s baseball coach, said Sunday he doesn’t want to play Payton College Prep ever again after a group of Payton parents refused to send their kids to the Far South Side school for a night non-conference game, citing safety concerns.

CPS cuts standardized test for youngest students

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 02:21:55 -0500

A day after some high school juniors boycotted standardized tests, partly blaming them for school closings, Chicago Public Schools announced thedistrict will cut one of the computerized standardized tests given to its youngest students this year.

Jesse Owens’ family voices objection to proposed school closure

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:20:14 -0500

To Jesse Owens, all children were champions, the famed Olympian’s daughter said Tuesday evening, trying to save the West Pullman school named for her father from the Chicago Public Schools’ closing list. Jesse Owens Community Academy is one of 54 schools proposed for closing, and at least a dozen schools named for prominent African Americans on the closing list. “He called everyone champ, to him every child was a champ, all they needed was the opportunity to be one,” the eldest of Owens’ three daughters, Gloria Owens Hemphill, said at the final hearing for the school’s community to voice or …

With the ax expected fall on state funds, school busing fee could be on the horizon in West Aurora

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:41:49 -0500

Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing in the next fiscal year budget to cut transportation reimbursements to a 19 percent level, which would be about an 81 percent cut from this year and translate to an estimated $1 million less for the district.

CPS removes special-ed teacher after abuse complaints from parents

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:04:28 -0500

A special-education teacher at Finkl Elementary School in the Little Village community has been removed from her classroom, Chicago Public Schools confirmed Tuesday — with the move coming after parents of her students complained of physical abuse against their children.

W. Side parents, aldermen: Closing school puts kids on risky path

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:18:18 -0500

King Elementary parents have been telling Chicago Public Schools how dangerous it would be for their children to trek to Jensen Elementary next year. On Tuesday, a bunch of King supporters, including Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd) and Jason Ervin (28th), braved vacant lots, a pockmarked garbage-strewn viaduct, homeless shelters, a halfway house and several boarded-up homes on the roughly eight-block walk from King, which is on the CPS closing list, to Jensen.

Parents argue that Owens school closing makes no sense

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:19:27 -0500

What sense does it make, supporters of Jesse Owens Community Academy argued boisterously Monday night, to turn Owens into a K-3 branch of Samuel Gompers? Leaving both buildings open won’t save money, since the $8 million in renovations needed to the Owens building will still have to happen, and both Owens and Gompers not only have CPS’ lowest rating but also are on academic probation, parent Michelle Stagger told a panel of Chicago Public Schools employees at a hearing on proposed school closings. How can one principal manage both buildings, half a block away, Stagger asked, adding “she can’t be in two places at once.”

CPS creating safety routes for kids heading to new schools

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:19:06 -0500

Jadine Chou, chief of security and safety for Chicago Public Schools, emphasized in an interview Monday that she is working closely with police to design safe routes for students whose elementary schools are on the chopping block.

CPS launches 27-day series of 180 public hearings on school closings on Saturday

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:18:28 -0500

The final round of public hearings, the public’s last chance to petition to save 54 Chicago Public Schools and 61 buildings slated for closure begins Saturday at school sites around the city. Twenty eight hearings take place Saturday, eight of which are for closing schools, six designated as welcoming schools, 13 proposed to share a building and one slated for relocation. Hearings continue until May 2; The Board of Education is expected to cast its final vote in late May. Three hearings must be held for each school to be closed, two in the community and one at the Board of Education.

Byrd-Bennett defends CPS closing plan, insulted by racism charges

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:09:07 -0500

The head of the Chicago Public Schools said Wednesday that accusations of racism about her plan to close 54 school programs insult her “as a woman of color.”

State investigating $98 million grant for UNO charter schools

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:27:38 -0500

Gov. Pat Quinn’s executive inspector general has opened an investigation into the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization’s use of a $98 million state grant for new charter schools, after a report in the Chicago Sun-Times that UNO gave millions of dollars in contracts for the schools to companies with ties to the organization’s top officials.