OK, then. This is the last blog post I’ll be making here at Catalyst, after nearly two years. Thanks to everyone involved, especially Linda Lenz, the Catalyst founder and publisher who brought the blog to Catalyst a year and a half after it began, and Mark Royko, the web designer who developed and [...]
Now that the CPS desegregation decree has been scrapped, a number of
questions are up in the air: What criteria will the district use to
admit students to highly sought-after selective and magnet schools?
Will CPS provide any busing to magnet schools–and if it not, how will
lower-income families get their children to them? What will happen to
the extra [...]
Coverage of the Board meeting by WBEZ’s Linda Lutton.
“Today
we’re starting a new segment called “Cheat Sheet,” and it’s meant be a
quick and dirty peek into Chicago’s often contentious school board
meetings and the issues that are brought up there.”
It’s a welcome addition. I can’t believe no one’s done it before. I hope they keep it [...]
The Illinois Network of Charter Schools blog spotlights Schools Chief Ron Huberman’s comments at the year’s first District 299 charter school get together.
Mr. Huberman spent much of his time reviewing the “report card” that CPS will release in the next 4 -6 months which will provide parents reliable information about how every public school is [...]
At last, popular Chicago schools can let more white kids in.
No more pesky 35 percent rule (WBEZ).
…
Source: Catalyst-Chicago – District 299: The Chicago Schools Blog RSS Feed
Late Thursday afternoon, a federal judge scrapped the CPS desegregation consent decree–a move that likely will result in the district abandoning the use of race as a factor in the admissions policies of magnet and selective schools. The move by U S District Judge Charles Kocoras also halted the court’s monitoring of the district’s bilingual [...]
Oh, lovely.
First came news that
districts were being told to redo their stimulus reports to make it
look like as many jobs were saved as possible (State School News
Service PDF here).
Now Illinois has been IDd as one of four states who are “at risk” of having misused federal stimulus funding: 4 States Are Ripe for Stimulus Slip-Ups [...]
The folks at AUSL were kind enough to send along this picture of one of their folks in DC last week. Apparently, AUSL is going to help Chicago get the Olympics. Another reason to like or hate them.
They even provided a helpful caption: “Rob Harman, wrestling
coach at the Academy for Urban School [...]
The big news from yesterday’s Board of Education meeting: A collective of Englewood pastors protested a decision to award $5 million for mentoring services to the Pennsylvania company Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. The Tribune broke the story yesterday, noting that the pastors felt “purposely disrespected” and cut out of the bidding process by CEO Ron [...]
Ignoring the obvious self-interest involved, who do you think should be getting money to implement Huberman’s violence prevention program — familiar folks like the ministers and CeaseFire or unfamiliar out of town folks like YAP with their magic out of town powers?
South Side ministers irate over CPS anti-violence plan Tribune
Saying
that Chicago schools chief Ron Huberman [...]