The Chicago Board of Education approved a variety of policies today at their monthly meeting.
More than 500 parents attended the meeting and proposed a vote to add two new charter schools and four new campuses to the Chicago Public School system.
Among the measures approved Wednesday were the creation of a new high school in the South Shore community, a new charter high school for Legal Prep Academy, new campus for Chicago International Charter School’s Quest North and three new elementary school campuses for the UNO Charter School Network, the Sun-Times reports.
South Shore International College Prep High School will have an attendance boundary and be open to ninth graders in September. It will be housed in a newly constructed building located at 1955 E. 75th Street, according to a press release from CPS Office of Communications.
The school board was slated to discuss actions related to these specific charter school proposals last month but were postponed for further study and consideration.
Phyllis Lockett, president of The Renaissance Schools Fund, a nonprofit group that raises money for Chicago charter schools, pushed for the board to approve the new schools, citing, "capacity would serve 6,000 kids."
The Renaissance Schools Fund conducted a phone survey late last year that showed 70 percent of city residents and 3 in 4 CPS parents want more school choices.
An expansion of the District's Breakfast in the Classroom program was another major proposal approved at the meeting.
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The program is currently in place in some 200 CPS elementary schools and aims "to promote student health and academic achievement by providing a nutritious breakfast as a routine start of each school day," the release said.
Chicago Public Schools serves approximately 410,000 students in more than 670 schools. It is the nation's third largest school system.
