Editor’s Note: The copy in this report has been corrected to address an inaccuracy. In the original script and on-air version, we
incorrectly identified the Academy of Urban School leadership as a private company. It is a private, non-profit that runs schools.
About 300 high-school freshmen will begin classes next week at the newly built Eric Solorio Academy. It’s the first public high school named after a police officer killed on duty.
Mayor Richard Daley and other officials on Wednesday toured Eric Solorio Academy High School, and Daley reminded everyone who picked up the more than $100 million price tag.
DALEY: Remember, this is all city money. Not state or federal government. This is taxpayers in the city of Chicago. They’re paying for modern schools across Chicago.
It might be taxpayer money, but the school will be managed by a private, non-profit organization. Schools chief Ron Huberman says the Academy of Urban School Leadership, or AUSL, will run the school and act as a sort of teaching laboratory.
HUBERMAN: If you’re opening a state of the art high school such as this, it’s a great opportunity to recruit the very best teachers and put them in an environment where we can really train them in an ideal setting.
The three-story school includes five computer labs and a six-lane pool.