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PI Original

by Ellyn Fortino

5:16pm

Sat May 18

CTU Pledges To Continue Fight Against CPS Closings During West Side March

Education

Hundreds of education activists took to the city's West Side streets Saturday as part of a three-day march in opposition of Chicago Public Schools’ plan to close 54 schools, among other actions, in June. Progress Illinois was there for the march.

Quick Hit

by Ellyn Fortino

4:56pm

Thu May 16

Chicago Public Schools' Turnaround Plan Called Into Question By Parents, Education Activists

Parents and members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) stormed the steps outside the Academy of Urban School Leadership’s (AUSL) office Thursday and raised concerns over the Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) plan to turnaround six schools at the end of the academic year.

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

1:41pm

Thu May 16

Protesters Say Woodlawn School Actions Endanger Students, Hold "Die In" To Show Area Violence

In the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Cottage Grove Ave. serves as the dividing line between two violent gang territories, according to area residents.

And concerned community members say a Chicago Public Schools’ proposal to close John Fiske Elementary and send its students to Austin Sexton Elementary means students will be forced to to travel across the invisible barrier.

Cottage Grove, according to the proposal’s opponents, is a boundary not to be taken lightly.

“That’s a line you just don’t cross,” said Randy Pouncy, 22, a Sexton Elementary alumnus who said he’s been shot at too many times to count. “It’s so dangerous.”

Quick Hit

by Ellyn Fortino

3:29pm

Mon May 6

1 comment

Englewood Residents Question TIF Program, Call For More Community Mobilization At Town Hall Meeting

Property taxpayers in Englewood were furious upon learning at a town hall meeting Saturday that their tax dollars had contributed at least $44 million to the Englewood Neighborhood Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District since it rolled out in 2001. According to data from the CivicLab's TIF Illumination Project, some $44 million of taxpayer dollars had funneled to the TIF district between 2001 and 2011.

In 2011 alone, the TIF district siphoned $5 million from property taxpayers in the area, which would have normally gone to local units of government such as schools and parks, according to the CivicLab.

“The original concept is that (TIFs are) designed to have an impact on blighted areas, and just looking out the window, we know that a blighted area is all around us,” CivicLab's Bill Drew said at the TIF discussion, held at the Chicago Public Library's Hiram Kelly Branch. Read more »

Quick Hit

by Ellyn Fortino

4:48pm

Tue Apr 30

Education Experts Question CPS Clout List Kept Under The Duncan Administration

A list kept under former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan’s administration of clout-heavy Chicagoans and public officials looking to get kids into some of the city’s top schools was made public last week.

Some education experts say the log is another example of the intense competition for too few high-quality school seats in the city and the disparity in education and economic investment in Chicago neighborhoods.

“The fact that there’s so many people who want to get into those schools shows that the people really want a quality education, and the system should be responsive instead of disinvesting in various school communities,” said Eric “Rico” Gutstein, faculty associate with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Collaborative for Equity and Justice in Education.

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

12:39pm

Mon Apr 29

Uptown Residents Rally Against Proposed School Closures, Gentrification (VIDEO)

Quanzina Haynes plans to pull her children from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district if the Chicago Board of Education votes in favor of closing their school, Graeme Stewart Elementary.

“The closure for me would really mean a hardship for my family, because I feel I have no choice but to enroll my kids in a Catholic school,” said Haynes, 33, a single mother of two sons, ages eight and 10.

Quick Hit

by Ellyn Fortino

2:21pm

Wed Apr 17

West Pullman Parents, Students Voice Safety & Gang Violence Concerns At School Closing Hearing

Parents and advocates in support of keeping West Pullman Elementary open called out Chicago Public Schools officials at a public hearing last night, asking if they've ever set foot in their school or its surrounding neighborhoods.

“Have you been there,” asked Susan Garza, a South Side resident and CPS counselor, after district representatives presented their case to the hearing officer. "Have you been to West Pullman? Because your portfolio is really impressive, but you haven't been there.” Read more »

Quick Hit

by Ellyn Fortino

5:18pm

Tue Apr 16

CTU Report Examines Culture Of Fear, Disinvestment Among Schools Targeted For Closure

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.

Quick Hit

by Ellyn Fortino

7:44pm

Mon Apr 15

SEIU School Workers Stand With Students, Community Members Against School Closings

Members of SEIU* Local 1 stood in solidarity with students and parents Saturday at the second and final community meeting regarding the phase out of Crispus Attucks Elementary School on the South Side and urged that their jobs be preserved.

“If you close these schools down, you’re going to force us to go into another environment we’re not used to being in,” said Chris Scales, a custodian at the DuSable High School campus, who spoke on behalf of SEIU Local 1 workers in the Chicago Public Schools system. “We’re used to speaking to our students on a daily basis.”

Another SEIU Local 1 member Michele Clark, who works at Henry Clay Elementary, said schools are safe havens for children, and they shouldn’t close.

“I feel that the city is not doing what they need to do for these kids,” she said at the microphone with fellow union members by her side. “They are saying that they’re for the schools ... but I see none of that.”

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