Top Education Stories You Don’t Want to Miss – Week of October 7, 2019
By Hannah Leone for the Chicago Tribune
“The first group of business partners has been finalized for a new apprenticeship program that seeks to put Chicago Public Schools students on the way to careers in manufacturing, health care or information technology. Career Launch Chicago, an initiative involving CPS, the City Colleges of Chicago, the city of Chicago and business partners, will pair students with paid work experiences and mentors intended to put them on the path to a career. The initiative was announced earlier this year, and next year, the program expects to recruit 50 students for its inaugural group. By 2024, the initiative aims to have 1,000 apprentices. “A pipeline of skilled and trained students that can step into jobs today and tomorrow is critically important,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday at Westinghouse College Prep, where she described the initiative as a way to both help students find careers and help Chicago build a more equitable economy.”
CPS elementary school honored with national award
By Mitch Dudek for the Sun-Times
“Prescott Elementary in Lincoln Park has been named a 2019 National Blue Ribbon School, a prestigious national honor from the U.S. Department of Education. Prescott, which is a Chicago Public Schools neighborhood school, is one of only 16 public schools in Illinois and 312 public schools nationwide to be honored this year, according to a news release issued by CPS. The school received the honor in the Exemplary High Performing Schools category for testing in the top 15% of all schools in Illinois, high achievements in key subgroups and completing a rigorous application process that evaluated everything from social and emotional learning supports to professional development and quality classroom instruction, according to the news release. “An accomplishment like this does not happen by coincidence,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in the news release. “It is the culmination of years of hard work from the entire school community whose efforts have set high standards of academic excellence and prove that neighborhood schools are vital to creating lifelong learners.”
Chicago Teachers Union plans downtown rally days before potential strike
By Nader Issa for the Sun-Times
“In what could be a preview of a massive city worker strike just days later, Chicago’s teachers, school support staff and park district employees are expected to march through downtown Chicago on Monday while schools are off on a holiday break. The mid-afternoon rally and march could draw thousands of workers who are still negotiating three separate labor deals with the city. Monday’s pre-strike rally is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at the Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington, before it moves outside. Though space could be limited inside the Temple Building’s chapel, a Chicago Teachers Union spokeswoman said leaders are expecting a good turnout. If agreements aren’t reached by next Wednesday night, the Chicago Teachers Union’s 25,000 members will join another 10,000 school staff and Chicago Park District workers with SEIU Local 73 on the picket lines.”
And here’s a great blog post from earlier this week:
My name is Monica Bromber-Karis. I am the Director of Dining Services at Noble Network of Charter Schools. Here at Noble, we place a high value on the health and nutrition of our students. We’re always looking for ways to make healthy food more accessible for them. So when my I heard that our CEO, Constance Jones, had a connection with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and that they wanted to partner with us, I jumped at the opportunity to work with them.
