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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
1:12pm
Mon May 20

CPS Policies Reinforce Segregation In Chicago, Finds CTU Report

On the 59-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to end segregation in public schools, Brown v. Board of Education, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) released a report claiming widespread segregation still exists in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the district’s administration is doing nothing to address it.

In the 2011-2012 school year, 69 percent of African-American students in CPS were in schools with more than 90 percent of the student body composed of the same ethnicity, according to Friday’s report, titled “Still Separate, Still Unequal” (PDF).

“The newest CPS leadership frames the district’s current inequities as an inevitable result of demographic trends,” the report reads. “Their fraudulent attempts to absolve corporate reform of any culpability in our separate and unequal school system are an extension of the resistance that enforcement of desegregation faced in the decades after Brown v Board.”

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:16pm
Sat May 18

CTU Pledges To Continue Fight Against CPS Closings During West Side March

Hundreds of education activists took to the city's West Side streets Saturday as part of a three-day march in opposition of Chicago Public Schools’ plan to close 54 schools, among other actions, in June. Progress Illinois was there for the march.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:56pm
Thu May 16

Chicago Public Schools' Turnaround Plan Called Into Question By Parents, Education Activists

Parents and members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) stormed the steps outside the Academy of Urban School Leadership’s (AUSL) office Thursday and raised concerns over the Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) plan to turnaround six schools at the end of the academic year.

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
1:41pm
Thu May 16

Protesters Say Woodlawn School Actions Endanger Students, Hold "Die In" To Show Area Violence

In the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Cottage Grove Ave. serves as the dividing line between two violent gang territories, according to area residents.

And concerned community members say a Chicago Public Schools’ proposal to close John Fiske Elementary and send its students to Austin Sexton Elementary means students will be forced to to travel across the invisible barrier.

Cottage Grove, according to the proposal’s opponents, is a boundary not to be taken lightly.

“That’s a line you just don’t cross,” said Randy Pouncy, 22, a Sexton Elementary alumnus who said he’s been shot at too many times to count. “It’s so dangerous.”

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
12:47pm
Thu May 16

Brighton Park Students Gather To Discuss Gang Violence, Ways To Unite The Community (VIDEO)

In the interest of fostering a broad educational community in one of Chicago’s most gang-ridden Southwest Side neighborhoods, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) hosted its annual Youth Summit at Loyola University Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m so proud of myself,” said Danny Zamudio, 14, an 8th grade student at Nathan Davis Elementary School. “I’ve evolved because of this, I think I have a stronger character and I’ve become a better speaker.”

Zamudio was one of 23 youth leaders to help plan and lead a day of workshops for 325 seventh and eighth grade students from six Brighton Park schools. Called “Teen Life 101”, the fourth annual five-hour summit focused on social issues that, according to organizers, are not taught enough in the classroom.

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
7:19pm
Wed May 15

Federal Lawsuits Filed Against CPS Closings As Chicago Clergy Holds 'Pray-In' For Public Schools (VIDEO)

Two class action lawsuits looking to put a stop to the Chicago Public Schools' plan to shutter 53 elementary schools at the end of the academic year were filed in federal court today.