Author: Becky Vevea
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.Chicago Public Schools told the U.S. Department of Education Friday it would not be walking back the rollout of its Black Student Success Plan or changing its policies related to transgender students until a federal investigation is completed. A letter sent by CPS’ Acting General Counsel Elizabeth K. Barton called the department’s demands outlined in a letter the Trump administration sent Tuesday as “unreasonable and untenable” and requested 30 days to respond. Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary of civil rights in…
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news.Chicago’s Air Force Academy High School will no longer be affiliated with the U.S. Air Force — and will change its name in the coming year.The school, which opened in 2009, will instead offer JROTC through the U.S. Army, Chicago Public Schools officials told families in an email Friday. The school opened in 2009 and was the only wall-to-wall public Air Force Academy high school in the country. It’s been lauded by Mayor Brandon Johnson and is one of six military schools in CPS where…
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.The buildings have sat empty for 12 years. Several are architecturally significant with striking details and character taking up multiple city blocks. But many are in rough shape, with copper stripped from the pipes, broken windows, and graffiti covering walls. One had to be torn down after an extra-alarm fire last year. Now, Chicago Public Schools aims to sell the former schools, putting 20 properties out to bid once again, with the hopes of seeing them repurposed and the possibility of bringing…
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.It’s been four years since Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis died at the age of 67. Now, a new book shares her life story in her own words. Co-written by Lewis and former Chicago school board member and historian Elizabeth Todd-Breland, “I Didn’t Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education” chronicles Lewis’ life from her childhood growing up in Chicago’s Hyde Park, to her twenties working a multitude of jobs, to her years leading the CTU. “She was very clear-eyed…