As Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his schools team inch closer to the latest announcement of which schools they plan to close, I thought it would be a good time to examine how their predecessors have gone about it.
But let’s hold that thought for a minute.
So CPS backed off and moved Urban Prep into the old Medill school at 1326 W. 14th Place. The plan calmed folks at Cather and Beidler. On the other hand, the school isn’t actually in East Garfield Park. So let’s just forget the request for proposals that got this ball rolling.
CPS then spent about $42 million to build a new Skinner school, which opened last year.
Not far from Skinner West is Calhoun North, at 2833 W. Washington. To be honest, it’s not really relevant to this column, but I’d like to take the opportunity to mention it anyway because it’s named after former vice president John C. Calhoun, who, among other things, was a passionate defender of slavery.
Currently, Smyth is roughly 92 percent black and 95 percent low-income, while STEM is a mix of white, black, and Hispanic of all incomes.
