The K-12 online school had planned to start classes for its first 200 enrollees last fall, with part of its mission to evangelize its students in the Catholic faith. A group of parents, faith leaders and a public education nonprofit sued to block the school.

In many districts across the country, educators have sought to reassure immigrant parents that schools are safe places for their kids, despite the president’s campaign pledge to carry out mass deportations.

Low-income Illinoisans feeling the weight of college tuition might soon get a bit of a relief.

“This moment is no doubt historic," elected member Ellen Rosenfeld said, "not just for me but for all of us, because this body reflects the voices and values of the majority of the people of our district.”

The immediate challenges facing the new school board members are enormous: They must ink a new deal with the teachers union, pick a new leader and confront the threat posed by President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to deport thousands of undocumented Chicagoans.

Just days before Christmas, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez was terminated in a unanimous vote by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked Board of Education.

The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools still have not reached a contract deal. Meanwhile, the CPS Board of Education’s publicly elected members will be sworn in this week, and the district will be on the search for a new leader since the current board fired CEO Pedro Martinez.

A new annual report published Wednesday from the CPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlights the office’s major investigations from the previous year.

In his first interview since the CPS board voted unanimously to terminate Martinez, Johnson said the current board members were carrying out his vision for the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

Study after study shows incarcerated education helps do what citizens and policymakers alike say they want: keep people from committing more crimes. However, getting education for many people behind bars remains a challenge.

The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry’s “Christmas Around the World” and “Holidays of Light” exhibits are still here to keep your Christmas spirit alive. The annual exhibit started in 1942 with a single tree that was newly decorated for 12 days to represent the nations fighting alongside the U.S. during World War II.

Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of visual, speech, language and hearing impairments to execute tasks that come easily to others. Schools everywhere have been wrestling with how and where to incorporate AI, but many are fast-tracking applications for students with disabilities.

The threats to the CEO’s job drew pushback from elected officials at every level from Chicago City Council to the U.S. Congress, pushback from incoming board members and scores of principals, and legal action by Martinez’s lawyer.

To fully understand what led the district to this point, let’s go back in time to the spring of this year. Below is a timeline of the major events leading toward CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s termination and upcoming departure from CPS:

State Rep. La Shawn Ford is behind provisions in the state budget that allocate $10 million for a new Prepare for Illinois’ Future program, which would “offer comprehensive test preparation, free of charge and at no cost to students” in an effort to help them pass.

The unusual Friday night meeting saw more than an hour and a half of public comment before board members went into closed session to debate Martinez’s fate. In a 6-0 vote, the board dismissed Martinez without cause, which triggers a clause in his contract allowing him to stay on for a six-month transitional period and receive 20 weeks of severance.