A plethora of teachers, parents and students attempted to counter Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) claim that Thomas Chalmers Specialty Elementary is “chronically underperforming” Thursday night at the school’s final public hearing.
Attributed
to “low performance” and “insufficient progress”, a proposal by CPS has
suggested replacing Chalmers’ entire staff with the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a school turnaround contractor, by next year.
But
since school Principal Kent Nolen was hired in 2010, Chalmers has
seen significant growth, according to Thursday’s speakers. If the West Side school were permitted to continue on its current course, presenters said
it would surely close achievement gaps.
“We pray that this
hearing officer holds the current faculty, staff and administration
accountable for the work they’ve accomplished, not penalizing them for
work under the former administration,” said W. T. Harris, a parent of
one Chalmers student, member of the local school council (LSC) and one of approximately 75 attendees.
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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.
Lewis Elementary
Upon returning home last year from serving two years in the U.S.
Army, Asma Njesada said her greatest challenge was finding a job.
Congregation members of a new mosque located in a former hot dog
stand on Western Avenue provided a first look inside their recently
renovated-space at a meet and greet with West Ridge residents Wednesday night.