Chicago Public Schools kicked off the new school year Monday with leaders saying academic achievement will continue to improve as the district works to serve students with increasing needs amid budget cuts.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez started Monday morning greeting students at McAuliffe Elementary School on the Near Northwest Side.
Johnson told reporters that only Christmas Eve is more exciting than the first day of school. He promised that academic achievement would reach new heights this year.
“Put your arms around your children,” he told the adults.
Martinez said schools have more teachers than ever before: “I am confident that this will be the best school year yet,” he said.
Kasaandra Varela walked her son and daughter to McAuliffe Elementary from their Hermosa neighborhood home.
She said it’s “amazing to have them back to their routine again.
“It’s always different,” Varela said.” They’re always kind of scared. This year, they’re not scared, they’re excited to come back.”
As long as it wasn’t their first year sending their kids to school, parents were generally ready for classes to start.
“No free time for me,” Varela added. “As soon as I get home, I work from home.”
Emma Skerrett waves goodbye to her mom Kasia before school at Funston Elementary School on the first day of school for CPS on Aug. 26, 2024.
Manuel Martinez/WBEZ
Classes are starting during a mini heatwave, with an excessive heat warning in effect from noon Monday until Tuesday night due to “dangerously hot conditions,” the National Weather Service said.
Temperatures are expected to stay in the ’90s through Tuesday, testing many schools’ old air systems. CPS is canceling all outdoor athletic contests Monday and Tuesday and plans to move practices indoors or cancel them. Officials say recess and P.E. will be held indoors if the heat is excessive. CPS says all classrooms have air conditioning.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates joined the party at Poe Classical School in West Pullman, where balloons and a DJ welcomed kids back.
“First day is my favorite day of the year,” Principal Eric Dockery yelled from the building’s fire escape.
Dockery announced each homeroom teacher over the mic, like a starting line-up, to a roar of applause. The principal and the school’s mascot Raven high-fived each kid as they entered the building, while “It’s Time for the Percolator” played over the loud speakers.
“This is joyful,” Davis Gates told the Sun-Times. “You have a principal who’s high-fiving his staff and his faculty. You have staff and faculty who are, you know, standing shoulder to shoulder with family. These are the sustainable community schools that we want to be pervasive across the district.”
“This is a manifestation of every contract proposal that we have put forward since 2012,” Davis Gates added. “It feels good to be here.”
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates greets people Monday at Poe Classical School in West Pullman.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
The beginning of a new semester puts CPS an additional year removed from the COVID-19 pandemic, and in a sign of students finding some stability, Martinez is touting preliminary data showing more kids are proficient in reading than before the pandemic. These new test scores come on the heels of a national study that found reading scores increased more than any other large urban district.
But math proficiency has been much slower to improve and is still below where it was before the pandemic.
Students arrive at Epic Academy Charter High School in South Chicago on the first day of class for Chicago Public Schools.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Martinez has not provided any insight into high school test scores from last school year. Previous results showed they were significantly behind where they were before the pandemic. Absenteeism rates remained high.
But graduation rates continue to inch up and are now at 83%.
Martinez and his team attribute the improvements, at least partly, to how they spent $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief money over the last few years. Every school got an extra teacher and many got a cadre of tutors to work with struggling students. In addition, schools got money for summer and after-school programs where they not only received enrichment but also some extra academics.
Students enter Poe Classical School in West Pullman on the first day of school Monday.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
The newfound stability could face challenges this year. That federal COVID relief money is set to run out and the school district had to close a $505 million deficit to balance its budget. CPS officials said they kept cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, focusing instead on trimming in central office and operations.
But extra support, such as teachers and tutors for struggling students, were targeted to high-poverty schools, and now dozens of schools are without that help. The amount of money given to schools for after-school programs was also sharply reduced, according to Chalkbeat Chicago.
At the same time, Martinez says CPS is seeing more high-needs students. CPS enrolled nearly 8,900 new immigrants over the past two years, who are helping to stabilize enrollment after a more than a decade of decline. Last year, a quarter of all CPS students were learning English, compared to less than 20% in the 2019-2020 school year.
Many of the newcomers are unhoused — a designation that requires the district to provide transportation stipends and other support services.
The percentage of special education students has also gone up. Last year, about 16% of students required additional support such as social workers, occupational therapists and speech pathologists, as well as aides.
Next year, CPS expects to spend $1.4 billion on special education, an increase of about $20 million from the year before.
Students at Epic Academy head into school Monday morning.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times