Deputy Inspector General Amber Nesbitt said her office has seen a rise in the number of district schools, charter schools and vendors that have launched investigations into sexual misconduct allegations without contacting the inspector general or CPS.

CPS on Wednesday published its proposed calendar for the 2023-24 school year, which would see classes resume Aug. 21, 2023, and run until June 6, 2024. Parents and families now have a week to tell the district what they think before the Board of Education approves the new calendar next month.

Chicago Public Schools has been working to combat declining enrollment and funding challenges — but a significant number of low-income families of color are leaving the district. Between 2019 and 2022, CPS lost nearly 37,000 students.

Chicago principals could soon have a seat at their own bargaining table. The bill would allow principals to unionize but not strike.

If signed by the governor, House Bill 5107 would repeal current provisions that bar principals and assistant principals in the city from bargaining unit membership.

Classes are not canceled Thursday, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez announced. Chicago is expecting to get hit with a dangerous combination of high winds, extremely cold temperatures and blowing snow, creating whiteout conditions.

Students and community members rallied Monday calling for solutions to the city’s gun violence, which has recently come to the doorstep of schools like Juarez. The shooting also sheds light on the debate over police officers in schools, who are known as school resource officers. 

The shooting occurred Friday as classes were being dismissed according to Police Superintendent David Brown.

Chicago police announced the student has been charged with felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon and threat to a school building. He was also cited for possessing a high capacity magazine and metal piercing bullets.

A final vote on the city subsidy for the high school set to be built at 24th and State streets, once home to the demolished CHA Harold L. Ickes homes, is scheduled for Wednesday’s full City Council meeting.

Bryon Ortega, 19, was charged this week with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault and two child pornography-related charges after he allegedly abused two high school students.

“Everything I have in my life I owe to public education,” Sendhil Revuluri said during the meeting. “Our city, our students, our educators all need and deserve a board that listens to the community, focuses on student outcomes, sets clear goals to drive our progress and then holds one another and our district accountable for that progress.”

Chicago police are seeking the community’s help after a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot outside Michele Clark Magnet High School Tuesday afternoon.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially opposed efforts by members of the City Council to require the heads of the city’s sister agencies to answer questions from the City Council but dropped her objections Wednesday. 

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday voted to revoke the charters for Urban Prep Academies campuses in Englewood and Bronzeville, with CPS itself set to step in and begin managing those schools.

There are fears for the futures of students who don’t catch up. They run the risk of never learning to read, long a precursor for dropping out of school. They might never master simple algebra, putting science and tech fields out of reach. The pandemic decline in college attendance could continue to accelerate, crippling the U.S. economy.