More Charters For CPS

By Alexander Russo, August 14, 2013 at 10:14 am
More Charters For CPS

MORE CHARTERS

Just months after closing 50 schools, Chicago issues RFP for more charter schools  WBEZ;  The district wants what it’s calling “next generation” charter schools, which could combine online and traditional teaching. It also wants proposals for arts integration charter schools and dual language charters. Around 13 percent of district students—and more than 20 percent of the district’s high school students— are educated in charter schools.
Despite closings and budget cuts, CPS calls for new charter schools Sun Times: As Chicago Public Schools officials finish shuttering a record number of schools and leave many neighborhood schools to open their doors in two weeks with diminished budgets, the district has quietly issued a call for new charter schools.
BUDGET CUTS / REVENUES
10 legislators working to make pension reform happen, but they …Chicago Sun-Times: What’s missing is any mention of cutting costs for the pension systems for the Chicago Public Schools and the City of Chicago, which are controlled by the state.
‘Safe Passage’ Signs Are a Signal That Chicago Has Surrendered Daily Beast: A violence-wracked city that posts yellow ‘Safe Passage’ signs and civilian sentinels along routes for kids to walk to schools in potentially hostile areas has given up, says Michael Daly.
49 Schools Closed, Now What? Huffington Post (Jaqueline Edelberg): When the Board chose to shutter LeMoyne and replace it with Inter-American, a lottery-based selective enrollment magnet school, parents didn’t protest, the Chamber of Commerce didn’t circulate a petition, the Teacher’s Union didn’t rally, Bill Ayers didn’t ask the United Nations to intervene — no one gave a damn. Want to be inspired? Check out: Waters Today and Whittier here in Chicago, Peralta in Oakland, the Passyunk Square Civic Association in Philadelphia, the Sustainable Heights Network in Cleveland and the Downtown Family Alliance in Baltimore.

NATIONAL

Sequestration Effects: 59 Percent of Districts Cut Professional Development PoliticsK12: Districts are dealing withautomatic, across-the-board trigger cuts of federal education funding by slicing professional development (59 percent of districts), eliminating personnel (53 percent), increasing class size (48 percent), and deferring technology purchases (46 percent).

Obama pushes ambitious Internet access plan Washington Post: There’s just one catch: The effort would cost billions of dollars, and Obama wants to pay for it by raising fees for mobile-phone users. Doing that relies on the Federal Communications Commission, an independent agency that has the power to approve or reject the plan.

New LA Unified school year starts with imporant classroom changes KPCC: Students will also notice a different teaching style, Zimmer said. This is the year California public schools are phasing in the Common Core, a new set of rules for skills that teachers are expected to teach students.

Frank DeAngelis, Columbine High School Principal, To Retire HuffPost: In a moving letter to parents, DeAngelis announced his plans to retire after this school year and reflected on his time at Columbine. “I felt it might be time to retire before a student informs me that I taught their grandparents,” he wrote.

Filed under: Communities & CBOs, Daily News Roundup

Comments

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  • Alexander Russo said August 14, 2013 at 12:00 am

    Catalyst has a new online jobs board -- check it out http://ow.ly/nVpfO @catalystchicago

  • Cheryl said August 14, 2013 at 12:00 am

    Now if they only had some empty buildings to put the new schools in.

  • district299reader said August 14, 2013 at 12:00 am

    CPS is all too willing to build pseudo-Frank Gehry/Rem Koolhaas buildings for UNO. Take a look at 51st and Homan. Besides, there are numerous half-filled parochial schools the Archdiocese would be all too happy to consolidate for some quick cash from Emanuel.

  • Alexander Russo said August 14, 2013 at 12:00 am

    Will 'Safe Passage' Routes Really Keep Chicago Kids Safe? : NPR http://ow.ly/nWcF4

  • district299reader said August 16, 2013 at 12:00 am

    Ashburn does not need a charter, Owens Academy has room
    and should take more students. There is a highly paid principal for 400 student as they got extra funds in the perpupil debacle as neighborhood schools suffer. Let’s be real. It is about pushing charters no matter what-even if not needed or necessary or if they have lower score.

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