WBEZ - Education

Brizard discusses teachers' pay, longer days

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:12:00 -0600

Schools on the Line is the name of a call-in show WBEZ airs during the last Thursday of every month. It is a chance for listeners ask Chicago Public School chief Jean Claude Brizard their questions. There are certainly no shortage of issues facing schools, parents, teachers and administrators. School closings and longer school days are two of the most pressing issues right now.

During Thursday nights show,...

Spacetoon Kids TV addresses challenges teens face from conflict in Iraq

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:45:00 -0600

Fifty percent of Iraq’s population is under 19 years old. The younger generation is in a distinct position, having lived under the shadow of sanctions and wars for two full decades. Today, Worldview talks to a man who's focusing on helping to heal Iraq's youth.

Hussam Hadi is regional director of the Arabic cartoon channel Spacetoon Kids TV. Operating in the Middle East and North Africa, the channel...

Debate rages over longer day in Chicago's public high schools

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:59:00 -0600

Chicago Public Schools is setting guidelines for a longer high school day for the 2012-13 year. CPS maintains that the district falls behind nationally in instructional hours. And that’s coupled with underperforming schools. Meanwhile, Chicago parents, students and the teachers union are all asking tough questions about what to do with 40 more minutes of school each day.

Here’s a typical schedule for one Chicago high schooler.

Selena Frandsen is a junior at Jones College Prep in...

Brizard fields questions about paid protesters, longer school day, school closings

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:26:00 -0600

During February's installment of Schools on the Line, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard fielded questions from parents, teachers and students about the longer school day, paid protesters, and just when school might begin next fall.

Brizard gave his most extensive comments to date regarding media reports of...

Quinn: End natural gas tax, give families relief

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:57:00 -0600

Gov. Pat Quinn used Wednesday's State of the State address to call for ending an Illinois tax on natural gas.

The Democratic governor also proposed the creation of a new tax credit for parents with children, which he said will save $100 a year for the average family of four. And he called for expanding an existing tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans.

In his speech, Quinn also set a goal of higher education for 60 percent of adults by 2025.

He said...

Teachers, but not many parents, speak out against turnaround

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:07:00 -0600

This week Chicago Public Schools is holding hearings on whether entire staffs - principals, teachers, even the janitors - should be fired from 10 city schools.

At...

College presidents wary of Obama tuition plan

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:15:00 -0600

Public university presidents facing ever-increasing state budget cuts are raising concerns about President Barack Obama's plan to force colleges and universities to contain tuition prices or face losing federal dollars.

Illinois State University President Al Bowman says the reality is that deficits in many public schools can't be easily overcome with simple modifications. Bowman says he's happy to hear Obama call for state-level support of public universities but adds that, given the...

Chicago Board of Education to release documents kept secret since 1995

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:33:00 -0600

Chicago’s Board of Education is planning to release a decade of meeting minutes that have been secret since 1995.

School boards are allowed to talk about certain issues in "executive" or "closed" session. Those include personnel and legal issues.

Every six months the board is supposed to review minutes from those meetings and make public those it can. District attorneys determine whether a need for confidentiality still exists.

Chicago’s Board of Education...

Teachers facing longer school days consider best use of additional time

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:00 -0600

What's in a day? Well that's what a group of Chicago teachers has been asking its colleagues--and after hundreds of hours of work, the VIVA Project of Chicago came up with 49 recommendations for how best to use classroom time. The project is in response to Mayor Rahm Emmanuel's mandate to lengthen the school day. So what do teachers want? Well, Eight Forty-Eight invited a group of teachers who were part of the project to share...

Pastor responds to paying protesters

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:48:00 -0600

The Chicago pastor who has been paying people to speak out in favor of public school closings is responding to criticism.

Pastor Roosevelt Watkins, III said no one should be surprised that people are coming out in droves to support school closures. In a written statement issued Thursday night, he said, "the future of our children is on the line" and that he doesn't need permission to organize his community.

But Watkins has come under media fire for paying community members to...