Less than a year after closing four elementary schools in Austin, CPS has announced it will overhaul a fifth Austin school.
Chicago Public Schools said late last week it will designate Ronald E. McNair Elementary as a “turnaround” school; the privately run Academy for Urban School Leadership will operate the school starting with the 2014-2015 academic year.
CPS had considered closing McNair this past year, but officials decided in the end to keep the school – which educates a high number of special education students – off the closure list.
CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett was quoted in the Chicago Tribune saying, “So now as we look at our schools at the lowest trajectory, I don’t think we can just close an eye and say, ‘Well, we’re just going to move along.’ We’ve got to also take action.”
The Chicago Teachers Union told the Chicago Sun-Times the move will hurt students and the mostly African-American teachers who teach at McNair and two other turnaround schools.
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Parents, LSC members and community stakeholders from McNair and the two other schools affected by CPS’ turnaround action will hold a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday, March 26) It will be held at 9:30 a.m. outside CPS headquarters, 125 S. Clark St – before the monthly Chicago Board of Education meeting.
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