There's an old saying in the journalism business: A newspaper is a mirror of the community it serves. Usually this old saw is meant to imply that strong investigative reporting can force a community to notice its warts (or aldermen) and take action to remove them.
But for me, the saying has come to mean something else—that you can tell a lot about a city's civic health by the way it supports, or fails to support, news organizations that engage in public accountability reporting. Read more...
The Chicago Board of Education yesterday voted to go ahead with closing seven schools, although parents have expressed heavy opposition to the plan.
The changes include closing Anderson Elementary and consolidating it into LaSalle II Magnet School, consolidating Carpenter Elementary into Talcott, closing Schneider Elementary and consolidating it into Jahn, merging Avondale Elementary and Logandale Middle schools, and consolidating the four schools at the Bowen High campus into one. Read more...
The task force cited concern that some of the schools Mazany would consolidate have rising test scores.
