Keeping Up With The Jones High School Plans

In the spirit of peace and reconciliation, I’ve found a way for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to win my everlasting support.

This is one of those never-seems-to-die stories that I’ve been following for years. In 1998 Paul Vallas, then the schools CEO, announced it was time to create a school for the burgeoning South Loop community. The move was part of Mayor Daley’s larger plan to create new high schools—college preps like Walter Payton, Northside, and Gwendolyn Brooks—that might keep middle-class parents from leaving the city.

So in the spring of 2001 Vallas announced that he was temporarily moving Jones to the old Near North high school building, at 1450 N. Larrabee. He said $50 million would be spent renovating the old Jones building, and the kids would be welcomed back in the fall of 2002. And all the time CPS would be negotiating to buy the mission property.

DUNCAN: Yes, boss—I will. Promise!

In the meantime, the Pacific Garden Mission has been moved to 1458 S. Canal, and the new school is almost completed, at a cost of about $120 million. The new Jones will open its doors in September, only 12 years behind schedule—but who’s counting?

At the very least, it makes no sense to demolish the building after spending $50 million to renovate it.