Progress Illinois

Chicago Public Schools plans to close 54 schools in June, but a new Chicago Teachers Union study raises questions about whether the district has the capacity to close that many in such a short time, given its issues with closing at least one of four schools last year.

Once Englewood’s Simon Guggenheim Elementary closed last year, only 37 percent of its non-graduating students enrolled at the designated receiving school, Carrie Jacobs Bond Elementary, according to CTU’s “A Tale of Two Schools” study.

Also, CPS has yet to account for 23 former Guggenheim students, the study added.

“To lose any student, let alone that many ... it’s just dangerous, and it just baffles me how CPS thinks that this is a good plan, when for the past 10 years or so, when these school closings started, they’ve never been able to get it right, because it’s not right,” said Action Now Executive Director Katelyn Johnson.

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For the past 100 years, Delano Elementary has been a staple in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, but its teachers may be fired at the end of the year and the school turned into Melody Elementary as part of the Chicago Public Schools recent round of actions to address school utilization.

Under CPS’ plan, once Melody students and staff relocate to Delano’s building, the new school would offer air conditioning in every classroom, a library, an upgraded computer lab and iPads for students in 3rd through 8th grades, among other facility and capital improvements.

But West Side Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said CPS officials didn’t have the “decency or courtesy” to offer any additional academic enhancements at the new school, such as a STEM or fine arts program. The only academic enhancement, he said, is an iPad.

“An iPad is a dime a dozen,” Ervin said at the first of three public meetings last night on the proposed school action. “More kids got iPads than adults have iPads.” Read more »

Today, the city of Chicago demolished its “200th dangerous building” since July 12, according to the office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The mayor stated in a press release that demolitions are “preventing criminal activity in our neighborhoods.”

Is this true? “We’ve been knocking down houses since the 1930’s and it’s not clear if this has a significant effect on crime rates,” says Bradford Hunt, a sociology professor at Roosevelt University who studies Chicago housing issues.

Also in question: How does the city determine what properties see the wrecking ball? Read more »