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Lafayette Elementary string orchestra tunes up despite uncertain future

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:52:00 -0500

It’s obvious when you walk through Lafayette Elementary that music is a big part of the school. Every weekday afternoon, students toting violins, violas and cellos shuffle down the third floor of the building. The halls are lined with murals of musical instruments and quotes like, “Music is the universal language of mankind.” A crowded rehearsal room fills with children prepping their instruments for orchestra practice.

But students will not return to the rehearsal room this fall if Chicago Public School officials decide to shut down the school. CPS has proposed closing 54 schools in an effort to consolidate resources in the financially stricken district. The Chicago Board of Education is expected to make the final decisions Wednesday.

The Chicago Teachers Union plans to start a three-day march protesting the closings. It will kick off at Lafayette and feature the school’s string orchestra. Students, parents and teachers say they hope to shine a light on a program that’s had a positive impact on the school, where 94 percent of students come from low-income families.

CPS said there are discussions about moving the program to the school where Lafayette students will be sent, but no details have been finalized.

“I believe this program does something that cannot be duplicated, that cannot be easily replaced,” Arturs Weible, Lafayette music teacher and orchestra director, says. “It has to be continued.”

Weible started the orchestra program at Lafayette 13 years ago in partnership with Beth Bistro of the Merit School of Music, a Chicago nonprofit that supports music programs for students in at-risk communities. Bistro and Weible still direct the orchestra today.

Prior to Merit coming along, Weible said Lafayette’s music program was in scraps and tatters. He recalls scrounging garage sales to find any sort of instruments. So when his principal asked if he’d be interested in the partnership, he thought, “Uh, yeah! It’s a dream job kind of situation.”

Weible said the orchestra has grown to be the largest elementary string orchestra in CPS. Students, grades third through eighth, meet after school to play cello, violin, viola and double bass. They’ve played at the Chicago Children’s Museum, the state capitol in Springfield and even for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Students in the program are more likely to go on to selective enrollment high schools and college, Weible says.

This isn’t the first time the program has been in jeopardy. Just two years ago it faced financial troubles and received an outpouring of community support.

“There are times when I feel like I’m hitting my head against a wall,” Weible says of the program’s ups and downs. But “I really believe in this. When you believe in something, you will do what it takes to make it work.”

Rousemary Vega, 32, attests to the positive influence the program has on students. She lives about a mile from the school, in a modest home with a red “Support Our Schools, Don’t Close Them” sign tacked on the front door. She has one daughter in the orchestra and another who recently graduated from the program. She’s eager to show off photos of her daughters smiling and posing with their instruments.

“They’re good memories and good images of someone who loves their instrument and loves what they do,” she says.

Vega had her first child at 17. Instead of college, she went to work to support her family. She said the orchestra has given her children opportunities she never had: “That was hope. That was a future through music."

Her oldest daughter, 15-year-old Nidalis Burgos, got accepted as a music major in the selective Lincoln Park High School. Her younger daughter Meleny Ramos hopes to follow in her sister’s footsteps.

Meleny, a cello player in fifth grade, expresses concern for the program’s future.

“I love the music program, and I didn’t know this was going to happen,” Meleny said. “I wanted to play for the rest of my life.”

But CPS officials say the campus is under-utilized and should close. The school’s enrollment has dropped by more than 600 students since 2000. Officials say the closings would allow the district to run more efficiently, and they’d be able to better focus on providing more resources to schools. Most Lafayette students are slated to transfer to Fredrick Chopin Elementary, considered a higher performing school, about seven blocks away.

The possibility of Lafayette shutting down is emotional for Vega, who attended the school herself as a child.

“It was almost like family news of saying someone just died,” Vega says. “Everyone gathered in disbelief.”

Lafayette parents aren’t letting the school close without a fight. One of the leaders in that is Valerie Nelson, whose daughter Tesa plays violin in the orchestra. Nelson is also chair of Lafayette’s Local School Council. She tears up as she describes how the orchestra has allowed her shy daughter to open up on stage.

“We’ve been to Springfield; we’ve chased down senators; we’ve done walks,” she says. “I don’t know who else to beg and plead with to save our school.”

If the school is closed, the next challenge is figuring out whether Chopin has the budget and room to rebuild the orchestra program there. Weible says officials at Chopin and the Merit School of Music have expressed their hope for the program to continue.

Protesters march against plan to close CPS schools

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:45:00 -0500

Chicago to renovate Navy Pier, build arena

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:10:00 -0500

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a multi-million dollar renovation plan Thursday that includes remodeling Navy Pier and building a 10,000-seat basketball arena near McCormick Place that would be the home court of DePaul University's basketball teams.

In a news release on Thursday, Emanuel's office said the first phase of a $278 million project to renovate Navy Pier will begin in the fall and will cost about $166 million. The city will put up $110 of that and private restaurants and the Chicago Children's Museum will put up the rest.

The arena built near McCormick Place also will be used as a hall for conventions and trade shows. McCormick Place and DePaul will each put up $70 million to design and build the arena.

Construction on the arena is targeted to begin in 2014, and officials hope to have it ready in time for the 2016-17 season. The facility likely will be able to host 17 men's basketball and 10 women's games.

The arena could be a boon for a once-proud men's program that has struggled in recent years.

The Blue Demons are coming off their sixth straight losing season and haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2004. They are 30-64 and just 6-48 in Big East play in three years under Oliver Purnell.

But there was a time back when Ray Meyer was the coach and Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings were electrifying fans that the Blue Demans were the most popular basketball team in the city. That also was before Michael Jordan landed with the Bulls.

The DePaul men's team has played most of its games at Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont, Ill., since 1980, making it difficult for students and fans living and working in the city to attend. The small crowds and older arena probably weren't an easy sell for recruits, either.

Many fans were hoping DePaul would build an arena on or near its main campus in the vibrant Lincoln Park neighborhood, but finding landing in a densely populated area was no small task. The school reportedly turned down an offer from Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to play at the United Center.

The new arena at McCormick Place would be near several major highways and be reachable by train from DePaul's campuses in the city.

Illinois Senate approves medical marijuana bill

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:28:00 -0500

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn must decide if he will sign a measure allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes after the state Senate approved legislation on Friday.

The proposal has been touted as the strictest in the nation among states that have legalized medical marijuana. It authorizes physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients with whom they have an existing relationship and who has at least one of more than 30 medical conditions listed on the measure.

Lawmakers voted 35-21 to send the measure to the Democratic governor. Quinn has declined to say whether he will support the bill, saying he's "open-minded" on the issue. Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, a former prosecutor, said she is in favor after meeting with patients, including veterans.

The proposed legislation creates a framework for a four-year pilot program that includes requiring patients and caregivers to undergo background checks. It sets a 2.5 ounce limit per patient per purchase and calls for 60 dispensaries regulated by the state where patients could buy the drug.

Supporters of the legislation say it is a compassionate measure that could save patients from the agony caused by illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV. They argue that marijuana can relieve continual pain without triggering the harmful effects of other prescription drugs, including painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.

Opponents contend the program could encourage the recreational use marijuana, especially among teenagers.

"We are embarking here on a way to achieve relief, compassionate relief, consistent with the law (with) a system which avoids abuse," said the bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Bill Haine of Alton. "It's the tightest, most controlled legislative initiative in the United State related to medical cannabis."

A report issued last month by the Pew Research Center poll showed that 77 percent of Americans say marijuana has legitimate medical uses. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

But opponents in the Illinois Senate worry whether the regulations set by the proposed legislation would be enough to prevent abuse of the drug.

"For every touching story that we have heard about the benefits of those in pain I remind you today that there are a thousand times more parents who will never be relieved from the pain of losing a child due to addiction, which in many cases has started with the very illegal, FDA-unapproved, addiction-forming drug you are asking us to make a normal part of our communities," said Sen. Kyle McCarter a Republican from Lebanon.

Nonetheless, Haine touted his measure as the strictest that the General Assembly has considered on medical marijuana. Haine and other supporters have been trying to legalize it for several years. A measure that had cleared the Senate failed in the House in 2011, when six Republicans and 50 Democrats voted yes.

The current version of the bill received the House's approval in April.

Violence in the streets can start in the home

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:51:00 -0500

Ubaldina is a mother of six, who works the night shift at a packing company so she can be there when her kids come home from school.

She’s raising her kids alone now. She said her husband abused her verbally and physically almost every weekend.

“He came home drunk one day,” Ubaldina said. “I was pregnant with my 12-year-old. And the police came home and arrested him because they found him hitting me. I was on the floor with my face covered in blood.”

Ubaldina said she didn’t have the strength to end the relationship, until her husband tried to abuse her oldest daughter.

“I woke up,” she said. “I didn't make any noise or turn on the lights. I was going to the bathroom and everything was dark. I went back and heard my daughter’s bed moving and that’s when I opened the door and I found him there, but my daughter had no clothes on.”

All of her children slept in that bedroom. They watched what happened next.

“I took him out of the room,” Ubaldina said. “ I slapped him in the face twice and pushed him out. I was so angry that I remember going to the kitchen sink and grabbing a knife. I wanted to kill him.”

Ubaldina took her kids out of their house and waved down a cop car. Juvenal, her oldest son who is now 16, was terrified.

“That really got to me. I wanted to like, already be grown so I could beat up my dad. I wanted to beat him up, and I got so mad.” Juvenal said.

His dad was arrested, convicted and is still in prison. Ubaldina said her kids got some counseling at the time, but nothing to deal with all the domestic violence they witnessed at home.

Today, eight years later, Juvenal and his younger sister still struggle with anger. They’ve both been arrested for getting into fights at school.

“My anger is like when you feel the blood is coming up to your head and is not working back now. You get this nervous feeling and your hands ball up,” Juvenal said.

Experts say that anger can lead to violence on the streets if youth, like Juvenal, have ties to local gangs. They’re finding a link between domestic violence and youth involvement in gangs that goes largely unreported.

“Domestic violence is basically at the root of much of the violence that we see here in the streets,” said Father Dave Kelly of Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation. He teaches at-risk youth -- even rival gang members -- how to resolve their disputes peacefully.

“Most of the kids whom we deal with, youth who are locked up, speak of the violence they had to endure a big part of their life,” Father Kelly said.

Several other agencies say they’re seeing the same pattern.

CeaseFire Illinois, the local branch of Cure Violence, tries to “interrupt” violence before it erupts in the streets. More and more, leaders there say, they’re being asked to intercede in homes, too.

But there’s no single way to measure how big the problem is in Chicago. The Chicago Division of Domestic Violence said it doesn’t collect data on the number of minors who witness violence at home. They referred me to the Chicago Office of Violence Prevention, which doesn’t collect such data either.

“The primary challenge is to find a unique way to count children,” said Chicago Office of Violence Prevention Director Marlita White. “That is going to continue to be a difficult thing, because you are dependent on internal resources of very different departments. And often times you have a child who may be exposed to domestic violence, but also to community violence or to child abuse or neglect.”

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority collects some data from state-funded domestic violence programs. They said of the 22 state-funded domestic violence organizations in Chicago, more than 11,000 victims of domestic violence sought services last year. Those clients had a total of more than 20,000 children, but only 1,348 of them were identified as witnesses of domestic violence, and also received some type of supportive service.

Domestic violence groups said victims of domestic violence like Ubaldina are often afraid to come forward themselves. They’re also hesitant to acknowledge their kids witnessed the violence and are in need of services. The leaders of those groups said there is no uniform intake form that asks that information.

Some of those agencies like Mujeres Latinas en Accion are starting to identify and treat these young people, but they lack resources and can serve only small pockets of the population. But even when the resources are there, it can be hard to fight the influence of gangs over kids like Juvenal who have seen violence at home.

Juvenal said if he has trouble at home or if he’s being bullied and no one is around to protect him, the gangs are there.

“It’s easy man. It’s really easy. If what you need is protection, they are gonna throw it at you,” he said.

His mom said the gangs have been after him since he was 13. He also has cousins who are already gang members.

What stands between Juvenal and the gangs is the aid of one cop.

Officer Rafael Yañez mentors Juvenal and other at-risk youth. He founded an organization called Union Impact Center that provides after-school sports and mentoring.

On his own time, Yañez picks up Juvenal and his sisters every Saturday and drives them to a local gym.

“He is running away from the problems and the male figures and the real role models that he has are not the most positive ones, but are the only ones there,” Yañez said.

Juvenal sits up front so they can talk. Juvenal tells Yañez his plans of building a recording studio in his room. At the gym, they talk about the importance of keeping good grades for college and, as usual, they play ball.

Yañez said it’s hard for Juvenal to control his anger and that gets him in trouble.

“There was a time where I had to be in his high school, I was called by the principal maybe every week. Sometimes every other day to come and talk to him about his behavior,” he said, adding that’s slowed down since the pair started working together.

And he said Juvenal’s mom, Ubaldina, calls him when her son comes home late or breaks the rules.

“I prayed to God so my kid would not accept to join the gangs,” Ubaldina said.

Despite all of this support, there are ongoing pressures for Juvenal. His family lives in a crowded apartment. The TV is always on, and his younger siblings play everywhere.

At home he loses his temper easily. Ubaldina worries because her son is growing up without a father. And if he wants to go out, the gangs are right there.

“My perimeter is where I live and how I get to school, that’s it. You know like sometimes I get mad because I can’t go places that some of my friends can go to,” Juvenal said.

He lives with a constant reminder of the looming violence just across the street. It’s a memorial made of stuffed animals and beer cans.

A young man* who lives nearby stooped to clear garbage away from it and said the altar’s there to remember a friend who was shot three years ago, on Thanksgiving.

“All his friends gathered up before going back to their families for Thanksgiving and I guess they thought they were gangbangers and started shooting at the group, and he is the one that got shot,” the neighborhood resident said.

So Juvenal sees this every day. And he said he stays inside as much as he can. He’s trying to figure out how to build that recording studio in his bedroom using foam and cardboard.

But the lure of the streets is evident even in his favorite rap tune, “Knuck if You Buck.” He likes the song because he said it reminds him to always stand strong.

But even though Juvenal’s trying to stay out of a gang, he knows one more fight could change everything. If he joins, he said he’ll have to get tattooed, carry their guns and sell their drugs.

When I ask Juvenal where he sees himself in five years, he said he isn’t sure if he’ll even make it that far.

*Name withheld by WBEZ to protect the family’s confidentiality. And WBEZ isn’t using the last names of the family in this story to protect their confidentiality, given the nature of the abuse.

More than Derrick Rose's injuries need to heal

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:00:00 -0500

There is plenty of time for the Bulls to heal all their various ailments after losing the series to Miami. In the case of Derrick Rose, he has some other wounds that need to be repaired between now and when he returns to play next year.

The anger directed at Rose for not returning this season after major ACL knee surgery was frankly, unbelievable. There were definite mistakes made concerning the prospect of the Bulls guard’s return to game time action. His shoe company even did a video "The Return" to highlight the rehabbing Rose was doing after he was given the green light.

At media day in early October, Rose sounded hopeful that he would be able to join the team during the season. At no time, publicly, did Derrick Rose or the Bulls ever give a hard date. It was all speculation that drove the story, lit a smoldering fire and turned into a firestorm once months passed.

The silence of Rose and his camp of handlers muddied the waters. When there were "on the record" quotes, it was Rose’s brother/manager Reggie that caused the biggest stir. He inferred that there were other issues than his brother’s health (like the quality of the team’s roster) that was impeding his comeback. Eventually, Rose did give a lengthy interview with a national paper and from time to time spoke with the media, but nothing was settled.

A report from ESPN.com writer Melissa Isaacson in March indicating that doctors cleared Rose to play stirred the pot. Once that news was out, it was assumed that he would soon be announced in the players’ introductions for a game, but that never materialized.

Rose did practice with the team, but the Bulls did not have many full team scrimmages at this point. With all the team ailments, film sessions and free throw shooting filled most of the practice time. Most scrimmages involved under-used players.

During every interview, coach Tom Thibodeau was asked about his star player and the answer was optimistic but never definite.

As playoffs approached the tide of public opinoin turned against Rose. Everyone became an expert on what was best for him. Many argued he owed it to the Bulls to return. Some want the Bulls to trade him.

Last season the Chicago native suffered one injury after another, tried to play through it and was felled by the devastating one. Forget that the injury is scary for a young player that does things on the court most can only dream about. People have questioned his heart and his courage.

A few weeks ago, Rose was in the hallway of the United Center and I asked him if he was hearing or reading the negative comments. He said no. Maybe he hasn’t, but he likely has some knowledge that his reputation has been marred.

The reaction to him not playing is more apt for a player who has committed a major crime. Not for one trying to be completely healed in his mind and his body.

What has been a problem was how it was handled. There should have been more transparency about the situation. Maybe the Bulls could have taken the decision out of Rose’s hands once the season was winding down. Maybe they did, but strategically they allowed teams to think a Rose return could make it difficult to game plan.

It would have been advantageous to have a media session with the doctors, Rose and the front office to answer the whispers out loud. Hopefully, lessons were learned by everyone involved in this situation.

It will be a long summer and fall before we can expect to actually see Rose on the court. If it is the pre-season, it won’t even be in the U.S. The first game is in Brazil. That doesn’t really matter, once he steps on the court and drives to the basket and lands on his feet, he and the fans should feel better. If the fans still don’t forgive him, Rose should close his social media accounts.

Derrick Rose hasn't deserved the condemnation and I look forward to seeing him again on the court exciting the fans whostayed in his corner.

Follow Cheryl on Twitter @CRayeStout and Facebook Cheryl Raye Stout #AtTheGame

Tenant group sues Chicago Housing Authority

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:57:00 -0500

Displaced tenants of Cabrini Green filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Housing Authority in an effort to return to their neighborhood after redevelopment.

After the last iconic tower fell, the Cabrini Green row houses were all that remained of the public-housing complex.

Its residents should have been able to return after the row houses were renovated.

But only a quarter of the 586 units were rehabbed.

Elizabeth Rosenthal represents the Cabrini-Green Local Advisory Council. She explained that residents stand to lose much more than fair housing.

“It’s an area of opportunity. It has access to good schools, access to jobs, it’s on public transportation lines--there’s that new Target going right there,” Rosenthal expanded.

In response, CHA spokesperson Wendy Parks stressed that there are no fixed plans for the Cabrini homes in question.

“We have said in the past that we are committed to adhering to the needs of CHA residents. We did not specifically state what that would look like with regard to revitalization of Cabrini homes,” Parks said.

The agency plans to invite CHA residents and area stakeholders to provide input on any proposed plan for the area--no date for those meetings has been set.

Katie O’Brien is a WBEZ reporter and producer. Follow her @katieobez.

Illinois Senate panel: Separate gun OK for Chicago

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:56:00 -0500

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois Senate panel approved a measure Thursday allowing the carrying of concealed weapons, but the committee's move followed sharp questioning from Republicans concerning whether packing a gun in Chicago should require special permission and how authorities would determine who is fit to carry.

The Senate Executive Committee voted 10-4 to advance the legislation sponsored by Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat. Senate President John Cullerton said the bill might get a Senate floor vote Friday.

Raoul is selling the measure as a permissive way for gun owners to take their weapons out in public, as demanded by a federal court decree in December that declared Illinois' concealed carry ban unconstitutional. But gun owners, led by the National Rifle Association, deride the legislation as restrictive, potentially confusing and ripe for lawsuits. The Republican chosen to negotiate a deal on the issue with Raoul, Sen. Tim Bivins of Dixon, opposes the proposal.

"It's an imperfect process, it's an imperfect product, but it's an attempt to act on something," Raoul told the committee. "I don't know what the end game is, but I'm trying to do something to respond to the mandate of the court, to promote public safety and balance the right of law-abiding gun owners in the process."

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies outside the home and ordered Illinois to jettison its ban on public possession by June 9. Gun advocates have struggled for years to bring concealed carry to the state, now the nation's lone holdout. They've mostly been stymied by Chicago lawmakers sensitive to the carnage handguns — mostly illegally obtained — cause on the streets of the nation's third-largest city.

The most vociferous opposition to the measure has been over a provision that would require gun owners who want to carry in Chicago to get not only a statewide permit from the Illinois State Police, but from the Chicago police. Raoul has repeatedly said the density of Chicago creates greater "sensitivities" to guns and requires an extra layer of scrutiny.

But the NRA has rebutted Raoul's contention that the legislation creates a "shall issue" permit system, requiring police to OK public gun possession for anyone who obtains the proper training and passes a background check. That's because it contains language requiring police to find that an applicant is "of good moral character" and has a "proper reason" for carrying a gun.

"This is not a carry bill. This is a bill to discourage people and prevent people from exercising their fundamental, constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in the public," NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said.

Raoul dismissed GOP Sen. Dale Righter's concern that someone could be denied a gun permit for nebulous reasons like not being a good parent.

Cullerton, also a Chicago Democrat, supports the bill and said a vote could come as early as Friday, two weeks before the General Assembly's scheduled adjournment.

Fact check: Chicago school closings

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:31:00 -0500

Chicago is bracing for a critical vote by the Board of Education Wednesday: whether to shut down 54 schools.

Conflicting figures are still flying, as they have through months of debate. There’s controversy around many questions: Will closing schools save money or cost money? Will kids go to better schools? Are the targeted schools under-used, or not?

WBEZ dug into these and other questions. Check your facts:

Chicago is closing 61 buildings.
30,000 children are affected by school closings.
Schools are under-enrolled because the City of Chicago lost 145,000 children in past the decade.
Children will be going to better performing schools.
CPS needs to close schools to address its $1 billion deficit.
CPS will save $560 million in capital expenses over the next 10 years.
Chicago Public Schools will save $43 million annually on operating expenses by closing schools.
Students will have busing if their new school is more than 0.8 miles away from their old school.
Schools slated to close are half-empty.

Chicago is closing 61 buildings.

Chicago Public Schools says it is shuttering 61 buildings and removing them from the district’s “footprint.” But that number overestimates how much that footprint will actually shrink.

The real number of CPS buildings that could be closed is 48.

Three of the buildings CPS counts in its 61 total were never part of the district’s “footprint” to begin with—they’re private buildings leased by charter schools.
Two other “buildings” the district says it will be able to close are actually additions. CPS is counting Goldblatt as one potential closure and the Goldblatt addition, constructed in 1972 and attached to the school, as a second building closure. The same is true for Songhai.
Two buildings CPS says it can get rid of due to closings are actually temporary buildings the district is considering demolishing. One is an annex next to Pilsen Academy (which is neither a closing school nor a receiving school) and a temporary modular unit built next to Ft. Dearborn.
Six schools—Armstrong, Peabody, Parkman, Key, Kohn and Ross—have two physical buildings on their campuses. CPS is counting each of these proposed school closures as two closed buildings. In some cases, the second building is a temporary annex or modular unit.

One school slated for closure, Burnham, does in fact operate out of two buildings separated by more than a mile.

The number of buildings to be shuttered (48) is smaller than the total number of closures (54) because not all closures will result in a vacant school building. For example, Wadsworth school is closing and students are moving to Dumas. But the Wadsworth building will continue to house the University of Chicago Charter School-Woodlawn.

30,000 children are affected by school closings.

CPS says 30,000 children will be impacted by school closings. But the district’s plan actually will touch more than 46,000 children.

A WBEZ analysis shows that if the 54 proposed school closings, 6 turnarounds and 11 co-locations are approved by the Board of Education, 46,147 current students at 132 schools will be affected.

WBEZ’s 46,147 figure includes current 8th grade students at the closing and receiving schools. (CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said graduating 8th graders were subtracted from the district’s count because they will move on to high school next year.) Neither the district nor WBEZ includes incoming kindergartners.

Schools are under-enrolled because the City of Chicago lost 145,000 children in past the decade.

School officials--and city officials--have repeatedly cited the 145,000 figure. It’s based on U.S. Census figures. The City of Chicago has around 18 percent fewer children now than it did in 2000.

But a drop in child population does not automatically mean a loss of students in CPS.

In fact:

Between 2000 and 2013, actual enrollment in Chicago Public Schools has not decreased dramatically. Enrollment since 2000 is down 6 percent (28,289 students).
Also, since 2000, the proportion of Chicago kids attending public schools has actually increased. For decades, the percent of city kids ages 5-19 in CPS hovered around 65 percent. In 2010, the percent of all 5-19-year-olds in CPS was up significantly, to 79.7 percent.

	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2013
Total CPS enrollment (includes Pre-K)	577,679	477,339	408,442	431,750	409,279	403,461
# of schools in CPS	“more than 550”	n/a	560	597	674	681
U.S. Census Bureau population totals for City of Chicago, Ages 5-19	904,731	731,103	592,616	625,776	513,476	n/a
U.S. Census Bureau population totals for City of Chicago, Ages 0-19	1,187,832	963,125	809,484	844,298	699,363	n/a
Percent of Chicago's school-aged (5-19) kids in Chicago Public Schools	63.90%	65.30%	68.90%	69.00%	79.70%	n/a
Percent of Chicago's 0-19 kids in Chicago Public Schools	48.60%	49.60%	50.50%	51.10%	58.50%	n/a

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Chicago Public Schools, Illinois State Board of Education, Chicago Tribune (for the number of schools in CPS in 1970)

And the loss of population in the city does not fully explain why some schools have lost enrollment.

At the same time enrollment was falling, CPS launched an ambitious effort to open new schools (more than 130 since 2004). While district officials also closed schools during that time for poor performance or low enrollment, they did not keep pace with new schools opening. In 2000, CPS had 597 schools. In 2005 it had 625. It now has 681 schools and is slated to open 13 more by fall. Many new schools were located in areas experiencing population decline. Those areas are now home to proposed school closures.

There are 28,289 fewer students in all CPS schools (district and charter) since 2000. But there are 75,680 fewer students in CPS-run, non-charter schools. (All 54 schools slated for closing are district-run). That enrollment loss has come at the same time enrollment in charter schools has increased by 47,391 students.

If you take a long view, you do see dramatic declines in CPS enrollment. Fueled by white flight, CPS lost 100,000 students in the decade between 1970 and 1980. The district lost more students in the two years between 1978 and 1980 than it has in the past 14 years.

At the time, city officials proposed closing dozens of schools at once, but didn’t follow through. Newspaper articles from that time read like déjà vu.

In a Chicago Tribune article published on Feb. 6, 1980, then-Mayor Jane Byrne suggested closing 65 public schools in order to cut costs, arguing at the time that the school system operated inefficiently because it had too many schools for its steadily declining enrollment.

Enrollment declines have not been even across schools and depend on everything from neighborhood change and gentrification to the addition of charter schools in an area.

The chart below outlines CPS schools with the largest enrollment dips in recent years.

The following are schools with the largest enrollment declines since 2000. An * indicates the school is slated to be closed or to receive students from another closing school.

CPS SCHOOLS W/ BIGGEST ENROLLMENT DECLINES 2000-2013
SCHOOL	Community Area	1999-2000 Enrollment	2012-2013 Enrollment	Percent Change
Duprey*	WEST TOWN	495	92	-81%
Montefiore*	NEAR WEST SIDE	127	27	-79%
Field	ROGERS PARK	1443	384	-73%
Von Humboldt*	WEST TOWN	1330	362	-73%
Williams*	DOUGLAS	868	256	-71%
Faraday*	EAST GARFIELD PARK	615	184	-70%
Mason*	NORTH LAWNDALE	1490	485	-67%
Goldblatt*	WEST GARFIELD PARK	700	236	-66%
Dubois	RIVERDALE	488	174	-64%
Songhai*	WEST PULLMAN	878	317	-64%
Nash	AUSTIN	1042	392	-62%
Yale*	GREATER GRAND CROSSING	490	186	-62%
Holmes	ENGLEWOOD	751	288	-62%
Dett*	NEAR WEST SIDE	524	202	-61%
Hearst	GARFIELD RIDGE	935	363	-61%
Fiske*	WOODLAWN	558	220	-61%
Morgan*	AUBURN GRESHAM	587	236	-60%
Hinton	ENGLEWOOD	687	281	-59%
Armstrong, L.*	AUSTIN	239	98	-59%
Reavis	KENWOOD	679	279	-59%

Chicago Public Schools recently released a draft 10-year master facilities plan that included demographic projections through 2017 for various neighborhoods throughout the city.

Children will be going to better performing schools.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said the key reason to close schools is about getting children “trapped” in low performing schools to a better place.

But moving schools doesn’t guarantee moving up.

In a 2009 study of school closings, the Consortium on Chicago School Research found that between 2001 and 2006, most students whose schools were closed by the district re-enrolled in schools that were academically weak. Consortium researchers found that most students lost academic ground in the year their school was slated for closure. And once they were in their new school, they continued on an academic trajectory that was just like the trajectory of the closed school.

There was one group of children who did much better after their low-performing schools closed: the 6 percent of kids who ended up in significantly better schools. Several years ago, CPS decided to change its school closings guidelines and promised that schools would only be closed if kids could be sent to better performing schools.

However, CPS has defined “better” very differently than the Consortium. Marisa de la Torre, the author of the Consortium’s school closings study, said in order for students to get better academic results, the closings would have to result in students going to schools in the top quartile of all CPS schools.

Out of the 55 designated receiving schools, there are six that are in the top quartile of all schools: Burnham, Chappell, Chopin, Courtenay, Jensen and Leland.

Just three out of 53 grammar school closures move kids from the lowest performing Level 3 schools to schools in the top quartile. They are King to Jensen, May to Leland, and Trumbull to Chappell

In 18 cases, students will be moving from Level 3 schools to Level 3 schools.

Closing Level 3	Receiving Level 3
ALTGELD	WENTWORTH
ATTUCKS	BEETHOVEN
BANNEKER	MAYS
DUMAS TECH ACAD	WADSWORTH
FERMI	SOUTH SHORE
GOODLOW	EARLE
JACKSON, M	FORT DEARBORN
KOHN	HUGHES, L
MANIERRE	JENNER
MAYO	WELLS, I
MORGAN	RYDER
OVERTON	MOLLISON
OWENS	GOMPERS
WILLIAMS ES	DRAKE
WILLIAMS MIDDLE	DRAKE
YALE	HARVARD
NEAR NORTH	MONTEFIORE
BUCKINGHAM	MONTEFIORE

CPS needs to close schools to address a $1 billion deficit.

CPS has said it faces a $1 billion short on funds this school year; that represents about 20 percent of the district’s operating budget.

But closing 54 schools won’t reduce that shortfall.

Nearly every press release CPS has put out about school closings mentions a billion dollar deficit (though no official budget has been released yet this year). Every “transition plan” given to parents at closing schools begins like this:

“CPS is doing everything possible to provide Chicago’s children with a 21st century education that helps them thrive and succeed.….However, our District faces a $1 billion deficit, which threatens everything in our system by making it difficult to provide the robust supports and services that all children deserve. Our District’s financial crisis is significantly challenged by underutilization, resulting in financial resources being invested in half empty buildings that are costly to maintain and repair. Currently, CPS is financing schools and buildings with a capacity for 511,000 students while only serving 403,000 students. This utilization crisis is spreading our already scarce financial resources much too thin.”

But despite all the references to the deficit, Chicago Public Schools has admitted that closing 54 schools will not reduce this year’s budget deficit at all.

That’s because all cost savings, plus tens of millions of additional dollars (for a total of $233 million), will be put into receiving schools this year.

“We’ve assumed that we’ll have to spend in this first year an investment that we’ll make back over time with the savings that we’ll realize both in operating savings and cost avoidance of capital investment at these closing schools. So that’s the way we’re looking at it,” Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley told reporters on a telephone briefing March 21.

“Budgets reflect priorities. This is a major priority for us,” added communications director Becky Carroll.

Chicago Public Schools will save $43 million annually in operating expenses by closing schools.

Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Becky Carroll said the district will realize $43 million in net savings by closing 54 schools. But Carroll has not responded to multiple requests from WBEZ to itemize the costs and savings the district would realize by closing schools. And no news organization has published an itemized accounting of costs and savings that add up to $43 million.

In an e-mail, Carroll said "the bulk" of the district’s operational savings from closing schools would come from “reduction in non-teaching positions such as principals, clerks, engineers, etc.” The district would also spend less on utilities and maintenance.

WBEZ did find one cost of closing schools that CPS had not considered in its equation. The district is borrowing $329 million to pay for improvements to receiving schools. Borrowing that money will cost $25 million in debt service every year for 30 years, beginning in 2015—it will be paid for out of revenue normally directed to the operating budget.

CPS will save $560 million in capital expenses over the next 10 years.

When it first announced closings, Chicago Public Schools said it would save $560 million in capital expenses over the next 10 years by shuttering schools. The savings would come by avoiding repairs and other upgrades to those buildings. On May 2, the district quietly lowered that number to $437.8 million. But most of the numbers fueling the revised figure are not based on any new building assessments.

Students will have busing if their new school is more than 0.8 miles away from their old school.

CPS has committed to busing students at nine of the 54 closing schools because the distance from school to school is more than 0.8 mile. They are: Bethune, Bontemps, King, Overton, Lawrence, Canter, Kohn, Ericson, and Trumbull . But transportation will only be offered to current students through their graduation, not to kindergarteners and new students who move into a school’s attendance area next year.

The district’s transportation plan also doesn’t look at the distance between a child’s home and his or her new school. It measures from closing school to receiving school. Buses will not pick students at home. Instead, eligible students will go to a designated location—possibly their closed school—and get on the bus there.

Schools slated to close are half-empty.

CPS officials have said the district cannot continue to throw money at “half-empty” schools. Parents and activists have challenged the notion that all targeted schools are truly “half-empty.”

Here’s what’s behind the debate:

District officials calculate how under-used, overcrowded, or “efficient” a school is by assuming that every school should have 30 students in each homeroom.

The formula says 76 percent of rooms in a school should be considered homerooms; 24 percent of a school’s rooms should be considered “ancillary” rooms for specialty classes like art and music.

If you apply CPS’ own formula to the 54 schools proposed for closing, you find not all are “half-empty.” Fifteen have a utilization rate higher than 50 percent: Buckingham, Canter, Emmet, Ericson, Fermi, Goodlow, Key, Mayo, Near North, Overton, Owens, Ryerson, Trumbull, Williams Elementary and Williams Middle.

But activists have challenged CPS’s formula. Rod Estvan, education policy analyst for disability advocacy group Access Living, says the utilization rates are “totally wrong” for schools like Trumbull and Lafayette, because they have inordinately high proportions of special education students (30 percent and 28 percent, respectively).

CPS officials have admitted the formula does not take reduced special education class size requirements into account in the formula. By state law, self-contained special education rooms can have no more than eight students per teacher or 13 if there are two teachers. However, district officials say an adjustment accounting for self-contained programs would not dramatically alter a school’s utilization rate.

Because an “efficient” school can have a utilization rate of up to 120 percent, CPS’s formula has also been criticized for allowing classrooms of 36.

Others have a more fundamental problem with the “half-empty” designation.

“It’s like this bad metaphor that gives people this image of like a restaurant that’s half empty or something as if CPS has teachers teaching half empty classrooms or schools are literally full of desks that don’t have kids in them,” said Seth Lavin, a teacher at Noble Street Charter School-Rauner College Prep who opposed the closing of his neighborhood school, Brentano. “How many seats you want in any school, how many kids you want in any school, is totally in the eye of the beholder.”

The final report of the School Utilization Commission issued in March concluded that “many schools are well used, but technically under-utilized.”

Becky Vevea and Linda Lutton cover education for WBEZ. Follow them @WBEZeducation.

South Red Line closures just around the corner

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:04:00 -0500

The South branch of the Red Line closes Sunday for five months while it undergoes renovation. Chicago Transit Authority officials say nine stops, also known as the Dan Ryan branch, are in desperate need of repair. The CTA will provide a few backup solutions for the more than 80,000 people who ride each weekday. Other groups like PACE, Metra - even the White Sox franchise - are also lending a hand.

Starting Sunday, service will be shut down between 95th/Dan Ryan and Cermak-Chinatown. According to CTA spokesman Brian Steele, construction crews will rip everything up -- like ties, rails and ballasts - and rebuild the tracks and all but one of the train stations. Steele says the 95th/Dan Ryan stop is scheduled to receive a separate facelift beginning in the first half of 2014.

“Remember that the Red Line South opened in September of 1969, just two months after Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon,” Steele said. “It’s seen, literally, millions of train trips in that time, and has really served the CTA well.

Steele says the Red Line has been patched and fixed over the years, but it’s to the point where the only way to ensure effective operation of the line is to completely rebuild it.

That’s going to take some time - five months, to be exact. Steele says they looked at other options, like closing down only on the weekends, for example, but he says the five-month plan was the most efficient and cost-effective way to complete the project. Steele says once completed, the trackwork will provide faster and more reliable service.

To ease riders’ headaches, the CTA will provide a number of backup options. The CTA website has been upgraded with a trip planner that calculates rerouted directions for commuters. CTA is also offering express buses from four of the closed Red Line stations (95th/Dan Ryan, 87th, 79th and 69th) that will go directly to the Green Line Garfield station. Steele said Green Line service and local bus routes will also provide additional service during peak times.

For riders who think Metra or Pace might be the best option, the three transit agencies are offering a joint fare pass. Riders can buy the cards at stores like CVS or Walgreens. They provide five days of unlimited rides on CTA/Pace and 10 rides on the Metra. The cost of the pass depends on which Metra zone the rider travels to and from.

According to Metra spokesman Michael Gillis, the agency isn’t expecting an influx of riders during the Red Line closures, but says there will certainly be a “settling-in period” as riders figure out which new route works best.

Even the White Sox are chipping in to help potentially disgruntled commuters, as the Sox/35th stop is one of the stops getting a makeover. The team is offering fans discounts on some tickets to the May 20th, 21st and 22nd games against the Boston Red Sox.

Lauren Chooljian is WBEZ’s Morning Producer/Reporter. Follow her @laurenchooljian