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.
Education
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.
The board announced a special meeting for Friday evening where it will take up only a small handful of items, including the schools chief’s possible termination and a settlement with CPS.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s picks, which include a mix of well-known community activists and candidates who lost their bids to win a seat on the board, will join the 10 people who won in November.
Reliance on school buses has been waning for years as districts struggle to find drivers and more students attend schools far outside their neighborhoods.
“What we’ve heard from the families is that we should not close these schools,” CPS Chief Portfolio Officer Alfonso Carmona told the Chicago Board of Education during its Thursday meeting.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said the district enacted a “comprehensive response” to protect its students, families and staff when President-elect Donald Trump’s first term began in 2017, and CPS officials are planning to take similar steps before Trump’s inauguration next month.
Sean Harden — who previously worked as Chicago Public Schools’ deputy CEO of community affairs and as an executive assistant to former Mayor Richard M. Daley — took his oath of office and was sworn in as the board’s seventh member Thursday.
The Merriam-Webster entry for “polarization” reflects scientific and metaphorical definitions. It’s most commonly used to mean “causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.” Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based on data, tracking a rise in search and usage.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on health and his stated policy initiatives could have far-reaching effects on public health, including on policies in Illinois. Kennedy has often encouraged healthier food consumption for Americans — a goal Illinois Democrats could support. But Kennedy holds other views at odds with science.
Despite the attorney general’s declaration that Illinois schools should stop using police to discipline students, officers statewide continue to ticket kids with costly fines. One lawmaker will again pursue legislation to end the practice.
That new plan, called Vision 2030, was announced Friday and is built around three main pillars: future-focused learning, shared accountability, and predictable funding.
