CPS recently recommended six schools for turnaround based on their academic performance, and 16 schools for closure, phaseout or consolidation based on either low enrollment or the condition of the building.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to what happens next.

Community input

A public hearing will be held for each school. View the  hearing schedule.  Anyone wishing to speak in favor of or against any proposed changes may do so at these hearings.

Based on the community input, a hearing officer will recommend to the Chicago Board of Education whether or not the action should be taken. The Board can choose to vote on the proposals as early as its Feb. 25 meeting, though it may delay voting on some proposals until March or April. The Board will consider the hearing officer’s report, the original recommendations and public comment, and then either approve or reject each proposal.

For more information about how your child’s school may be affected, call the Student Reassignment Hotline at (773) 553-5020. Teachers at the affected schools who have questions can call (773) 553-2606 or e-mail employeeassistance@cps.k12.il.us.

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Turnarounds

A school is recommended for turnaround when it has consistently low academic performance. Read the requirements for a school turnaround.

No students have to move in a turnaround. Instead, the staff would have to reapply for their jobs, and an organization would work with the school to change the culture. CPS’ Department of Human Resources would work with staff who need to find new jobs.

The following is a breakdown of the turnaround organizations and the proposed schools that they would run:

School Turnarounds:

• Fenger High School, 11220  S. Wallace St.
• Yale, 7025 S. Princeton Ave.

New Schools:

• Dulles Elementary School, 6311 S. Calumet Ave.
• Johnson Elementary School, 1420 S. Albany Ave.

Academy for Urban School Leadership:

• Bethune, 3030 W. Arthington St.
• Holmes, 955 W. Garfield Blvd.

The other proposed changes are not based on academics, but on low enrollment and building condition.

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Closings

The five elementary schools that are proposed to be closed for low enrollment are all less than half full. Only one, Peabody, is a neighborhood school. Peabody students would go to Lozano, 1424 N. Cleaver St., Ogden, 24 W. Walton St., or Talcott, 1840 W. Ohio St.

The others were created to relieve overcrowding. Now that the students’ home schools can take them, the students would enroll there. CPS’ Department of Human Resources would work with staff to help them find new positions. The closing schools are:

• Nia, 2040 W. Adams St. (located in the Cregier Multiplex)
• Foundations, 2040 W. Adams St. (located in the Cregier Multiplex)
• Peabody, 1444 W. Augusta Blvd.
• Princeton, 5125 S. Princeton Ave.
• South Chicago, 8255 S. Houston Ave.

Las Casas, a special education high school at 8401 S. Saginaw Ave., is being recommended for closure because there are better options at nearby therapeutic day schools, where CPS’ Office of Specialized Services has already developed partnerships. In addition, the school is currently housed in a leased Archdiocese building, where the current conditions require additional repair, upgrades and maintenance that are too costly to justify the investment.

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Consolidations

The difference between a closing and a consolidation is that all of the consolidated school’s students would move to the same receiving school. Staff usually follows the students except where there are overlaps, which would then be subject to union rules. The following schools are proposed for consolidation:

• Abbott, 3630 S. Wells Street, to be consolidated into Hendricks, 4316 S. Princeton Ave., and shuttle service will be provided to the affected students.
• Davis Developmental, 9101 S. Jeffrey Blvd., into the new Langston Hughes building, 240 W. 104^th St.
• Medill, 1301 W. 14^th St., to be consolidated into Smyth, 1059 W. 13^th St.
• Schiller, 640 W. Scott St., to be consolidated into Jenner, 1119 N. Cleveland Ave.
• Global Visions High School, a small school at the Bowen campus, 2710 E. 89^th St., into New Millennium High School, another small school at the same campus.

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Phaseouts

When a school is phased out for low enrollment, all students currently enrolled in the schools would be allowed to graduate. However, the school would not be able to enroll any kindergarten, or in some cases pre-K, students as of the 2009-10 school year. The following year, the school would not be able to enroll kindergarten or first-grade students, and each year would enroll one fewer grade. The attendance-area boundaries for each school would be reassigned to nearby schools as of the 2009-10 school year, except for Best Practice, which does not have an attendance-are boundary. No K-11 students currently attending any of the proposed schools would be affected. Also, no students attending or eligible to attend any of the receiving schools would be affected either. Staff would be determined by enrollment each year in accordance with union regulations. The schools proposed to be phased out are the following:

• Carpenter, 1250 W. Erie St.
• Hamilton, 1650 W. Cornelia Ave.
• Lathrop, 1440 S. Christiana Ave.
• Reed, 6350 S. Stewart Ave.
• Best Practice High School, 2040 W. Adams St. (located in the Cregier Multiplex)

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