By Paige Gray

Faculty and parents of a high-performing elementary school in Uptown believe imagination and innovation create successful students, and schools plans to continue with creative programs.

At a recent Local School Council (LSC) meeting for Walt Disney Magnet School , 4140 N. Marine Drive, funds were approved for additional lab computers for the popular animation program and a revolutionary new reading software for disabled learners was introduced.

These decisions, school officials hope, will help the school get even better. In the last six years, students meeting or exceeding standard test scores improved overall by 30 percent. Because of its academic achievements and diverse population -75 percent of the school's 1,500 students are low-income and 80 percent are minority -Chicago Public School officials approached Principal Kathleen Hagstrom about building a new school modeling Disney last spring.

By Dara Belic

Attendees of a recent Jones College Prep meeting voiced both concern and optimism about a recent open house at the South Loop school that attracted more than 5,000 people. Located at 606 S. State St., Jones is one of eight Chicago public high schools with selective-enrollment programs.

Like Chicago’s other magnet high schools — Lane Technical, Martin Luther King, Brooks College Prep Academy, Lindblom College Prep, Northside College Prep, Walter Payton College Prep and Whitney Young Magnet — Jones College Prep accepts students based on a series of exam scores.

An applicant's scores on three separate tests — worth 300 points each — combined with the student’s 7th grade attendance record - worth 100 points - determines whether he/she is admitted as a freshman.

For the current school year, the mean average score accepted at Jones was 912 out of 1,000, according to Chicago Public Schools. The high school has more than 700 students and enrolls between 190 and 200 freshmen each fall.

By Jennifer T Lacey

In the 14th week of the 2007-08 school year, Julian High School administrators were still receiving notices from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to cut positions with no explanation for why the additional cuts had to be made.

Katherine Rice, a first-year Spanish teacher at the school located on the city's South Side, received a notice dated Dec. 4 from Chicago Public Schools informing her that on Dec. 5 her position would be cut. She was to vacate her position immediately.

Interim Principal Therese D. Johnson said she was "blindsided" by the notice and did not understand why one more teacher was being cut. Already, nine teachers have been let go because enrollment at the 1,688-student school was lower than expected.

Decline may affect all parishes, even those without a school

By Brian Matos

Faced with a declining student enrollment in the city’s Catholic schools, Cardinal Francis George is proposing that all Archdiocesan parishes be required to fund a Catholic school even if they don’t have one.

This proposal is one of the more dramatic ideas being considered to address the current funding problem. The number of students enrolled in the Archdiocese system has declined almost 50% since 1981.

By Tom Smith

Chicago Public Schools is failing black children, and it's time to act. That's the message Philip Jackson and roughly 50 supporters dressed in yellow t-shirts with the words "educate or die" delivered to the Chicago Board of Education on Nov. 14.

"Because our children fail in your schools, they succeed in the streets, prisons and cemeteries," Jackson told the school board.

Jackson headed the Chicago Housing Authority in 1999 and is now running for a state House seat in the 26th District. He founded the Black Star Project in 1996 to improve educational opportunities for blacks and Latinos through mentoring and after-school programs.

The achievement gap between black and white students, poor and rich school districts, has been demonstrated in study after study, Jackson said, but the problem is getting worse in Chicago.

Rep. Fritchey Speaks Out on Moment of Silence

New Legislation Would Repeal Mandate, Prayer References

Chicago – State Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) and State Rep. Roger Eddy (R-Hutsonville) today announced legislation amending a recent mandate requiring public school students to observe a moment of silent prayer or silence at the beginning of each school day. The announcement comes in the wake of widespread objections and a federal court ruling stating that the requirement is both unconstitutional and unenforceable.

By Alyx Sariol

By Paige Gray

A blue ribbon school in Uptown recently marked a red letter day. Horace Greeley Elementary School was one of only 12 schools in Illinois to earn top honors from the U.S. Department of Education for high achievement.

At a school assembly earlier this month, Greeley students and staff learned that the school was named one of the 2007 Blue Ribbon Schools. This designation was given to only 287 schools nationwide as part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Officials from Chicago Public Schools and the Department of Education attended the Oct. 4 assembly at the school, which is located at 832 W. Sheridan Rd.

By Tom Smith

The Chicago Teachers Union called Chicago's newest charter school, Henry Ford Academy: Power House High, the latest example of the "Wal-Marting" of public education.

The school's site is the former Sears, Roebuck and Co. world headquarters on S. Homan in the city's North Lawndale neighborhood. It is scheduled to open in August of 2008.

By Dara Belic

More than 1,000 people are expected at the 1st Annual Employment and Resource Fair in Chicago's 2nd Ward this Fri., Oct. 5. The fair, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will be held at Malcolm X College of Chicago at 1900 W. Van Buren St.

It is a unique opportunity for job seekers with special needs to find employment, said Floyd States, outreach manager for the Economic Information & Analysis division of the Illinois Department of Economic Security (IDES).