s advocates and organizers celebrate Chicago’s first ever elected school board signed into law last month some are turning their attention to the next task: fighting for noncitizens to be able to vote for school board candidates as well. Democratic representation on Chicago’s Board of Education is something that organizers and advocates in the city […]
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Posted inLatest
Public Meetings Report – March 18, 2021
This is post 1 of 60 in the series “Public Meetings Report” A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level. Produced in partnership with City Bureau’s Documenters. Public Meetings Report – March 18, 2021 Public Meetings Report – April 1, 2021 Public Meetings Report – April 15, 2021 Public Meetings […]
Posted inPolitics
Who’s Running for Governor of Illinois?
Republican Candidates In the Republican gubernatorial primary, the “Insurgent” vs the “R.I.N.O.” While Chicago is rightly understood to be a Democratic stronghold, Republicans live and vote here as well. In the profiles below, the Weekly explores the platforms of the two Republican candidates for governor, incumbent Governor Bruce Rauner and three-term state Representative Jeanne Ives. […]
Posted inEducation
A Different Kind of Education
ast Saturday, over 700 people flocked to Kenwood Academy for a curriculum fair featuring presentations, workshops, and a panel regarding community organizing and social justice in Chicago area schools. This was the fourteenth annual fair from Teachers for Social Justice (TSJ), an organization of educators from both private and public schools, pre-K to university, who […]
Posted inUncategorized
CPS Layoffs Shock Teachers
n Friday, June 18—the last day in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) school calendar before summer break—fifth grade dual language teacher Sophia Lukatya was abruptly called into her principal’s office at Carl Von Linné School in Avondale. To her surprise, she was handed a letter notifying her that her position had been eliminated due to […]
Posted inActivism
North Lawndale Teachers and Parents Tackle School Closures Head-on
ireless organizing over the past month has prevented the closure of three public elementary schools on the West Side. The North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC) proposal would have consolidated three neighborhood schools—Lawndale Community Academy, Sumner Math and Science Community Academy, and Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts—into a new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts […]
Posted inBest of the South Side 2020
Best of Bridgeport 2020
Best Comeback Best Use of Empty Lots Best Community Response Best Comfort Food in Uncomfortable Times In Memoriam: Johnny O’s hen I solidified my love affair with Chicago and became an official resident in 2016, I was struck by the sense of kinship that permeated the near South Side neighborhood of Bridgeport despite the diversity […]
Posted inEducation
Tax Credit Scholarships Don’t Add Up, Panelists Argue
ast August, the Illinois General Assembly passed SB 1947, an education funding bill aimed to make funding more equitable, which also allotted $75 million towards a tax credit scholarship program for low-and middle-income students. Added as a compromise amendment to SB 1947 and called the Invest in Kids Act, the state’s first tax credit scholarship program is, […]
Posted inEducation
Charter School Chokehold
hicago Public Schools’ perennial funding woes have occupied headlines since time immemorial, but recently, the bad news seems to be increasing in both quantity and severity. Recently, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Forrest Claypool, his CPS CEO, were forced to walk back statements that CPS schools would close weeks early if the state did not provide […]
Posted inLatest, Politics
(Partial) Guide to the 7th District Race
Read answers to our questionnaire from two of the five candidates.