Chicago’s wildly popular network of selective-enrollment public high schools, conceived as a bulwark against a perceived flight of middle-class city residents to the suburbs in search of educational opportunity for their children, is set to get its 11th member: Barack Obama College Preparatory High School.
Frank Spielman and Lauren Fitzpatrick of the Chicago Sun-Times report that the secondary school will be constructed on the near north side, mere blocks from Walter Payton College Prep, one of the most successful members of the selective-enrollment network, whose acceptance rates are in many cases on par with those of the Ivy League universities. Payton, named for the late Chicago Bears running back and philanthropist, in fact, is so tough an admissions ticket that its acceptance of the daughter of the Republican gubernatorial nominee has been a significant political football over the past year.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Sun-Times reporters note, has been under fire for building new schools and expanding facilities at Payton and at fellow selective-enrollment secondary Jones College Prep on the relatively upscale southern periphery of Chicago’s Loop in the immediate wake of the City Hall–ordered closure of 50 schools. The first-term mayor, previously Obama’s White House chief of staff, has also weathered a bruising strike by Chicago Public Schools teachers. (View slide show.)
U.S. News, in rankings out this week, tapped Chicago selective-enrollment schools as the four top public high schools in the state of Illinois, led by Northside College Preparatory, which the magazine ranked No. 36 nationally. Payton was ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 49 nationally; Jones, No. 3 in Illinois and No. 91 nationally; and Whitney Young Magnet High School, No. 4 in the state and No. 120 in the country. Suburban secondary schools, however, claim the vast majority of the U.S. News statewide rankings between fifth and 50th.
The high school named for the president is slated to open in the fall of 2017, according to the Sun-Times report, mere months after the anticipated return to Chicago of the Obama family. Naming the school for a living person will require a Board of Education rule change or exception, note Spielman and Fitzpatrick.
Chicago has also been jockeying for position in the race to land the Obama presidential library.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Chicago mayor Emanuel announces high school named for President Obama
Chicago’s wildly popular network of selective-enrollment public high schools, conceived as a bulwark against a perceived flight of middle-class city residents to the suburbs in search of educational opportunity for their children, is set to get its 11th member: Barack Obama College Preparatory High School.
Frank Spielman and Lauren Fitzpatrick of the Chicago Sun-Times report that the secondary school will be constructed on the near north side, mere blocks from Walter Payton College Prep, one of the most successful members of the selective-enrollment network, whose acceptance rates are in many cases on par with those of the Ivy League universities. Payton, named for the late Chicago Bears running back and philanthropist, in fact, is so tough an admissions ticket that its acceptance of the daughter of the Republican gubernatorial nominee has been a significant political football over the past year.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Sun-Times reporters note, has been under fire for building new schools and expanding facilities at Payton and at fellow selective-enrollment secondary Jones College Prep on the relatively upscale southern periphery of Chicago’s Loop in the immediate wake of the City Hall–ordered closure of 50 schools. The first-term mayor, previously Obama’s White House chief of staff, has also weathered a bruising strike by Chicago Public Schools teachers. (View slide show.)
U.S. News, in rankings out this week, tapped Chicago selective-enrollment schools as the four top public high schools in the state of Illinois, led by Northside College Preparatory, which the magazine ranked No. 36 nationally. Payton was ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 49 nationally; Jones, No. 3 in Illinois and No. 91 nationally; and Whitney Young Magnet High School, No. 4 in the state and No. 120 in the country. Suburban secondary schools, however, claim the vast majority of the U.S. News statewide rankings between fifth and 50th.
The high school named for the president is slated to open in the fall of 2017, according to the Sun-Times report, mere months after the anticipated return to Chicago of the Obama family. Naming the school for a living person will require a Board of Education rule change or exception, note Spielman and Fitzpatrick.
Chicago has also been jockeying for position in the race to land the Obama presidential library.
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