CPS REORGANIZATION Central office will undergo yet another reorganization, this time in an effort to cut $25 million in administrative costs. To streamline the bureaucracy, Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan will have fewer people reporting to him directly. The top management position held by David Vitale, who serves as chief administrative officer, will be eliminated. He will serve instead as a senior adviser. When the reorganization is complete this summer, central office will have trimmed its management hierarchy from nine layers to five.
AT CLARK STREET Allen Alson, Superintendent of Evanston Township High School, will move to CPS in July to lead the high school transformation project, the Gates-funded effort to improve high school instruction. His title has not yet been determined. Along with consultants from the American Institutes for Research, Alson will oversee the development of new curriculum and assessments in English, math and science that will be used in 15 CPS high schools in September and will expand to 45 high schools by 2008. … Martin Gartzman, CPS chief science and mathematics officer, has returned to the University of Illinois at Chicago as the associate provost for high school development. Michael Lach, CPS director of science, is serving as interim until a replacement is named.
MOVING IN/ON Jobi Petersen, former CPS director of special projects and accountability, was tapped for a new position as policy and advocacy consultant for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She will resign as executive director of the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health in June; a replacement has not been named. … Jeanine Jiganti of Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc. was elected to the board of directors at the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School.
PRINCIPAL CONTRACTS Daphne Strahan, former assistant principal at Moos Elementary, has been awarded a principal contract for Mt. Vernon Elementary. She replaces Gregory Stricklerpoe, who retired.
CHARTER NEWS The University of Chicago’s new charter high school received more than 500 applicants for 160 slots in its incoming 6th- and 9th-grade classes. Some 69 Woodlawn residents who live within the new school’s attendance boundaries were admitted. … The School Board approved two new charter schools to be operated by the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), which already runs two elementary charter schools. UNO’s Carlos Fuentes campus will be located at the former Resurrection Academy at 2845 W. Barry; the Bartolome de las Casas campus will be housed in the shuttered St. Adalbert Catholic school at 1641 W. 16th St.
GOLDEN APPLE TEACHERS Four Chicago Public School teachers won Golden Apple teaching awards. They are: Kristin Ziemke-Fastabend, Burley Elementary; Erica Hodges-Hilgart, Piccolo Specialty; Sandy L. Lucas, Murphy Elementary; and Ziomara Perez, Jahn Elementary. Winners will receive $3,000, an Apple personal computer, a tuition-free sabbatical at Northwestern University and induction into the Golden Apple Academy.
TEACHER ‘PAY FOR PERFORMANCE’ Amy Treadwell at Newberry Elementary has been named to a national task force of 18 “expert” teachers who will examine a variety of proposals under consideration in various states to pay better-performing teachers more money. The task force, which was convened by the North Carolina-based Center for Teaching Quality, will develop recommended models for school districts to adopt.
REFERENDUM On March 21, residents of the 48th Ward passed a referendum (69 percent to 31 percent) advising the Chicago Board of Education to “establish a formal process to receive community input regarding the removal of the Rickover Military Academy of Senn High School.” The naval academy opened last November despite opposition from neighborhood groups and Senn’s local school council.
AWARD WINNERS Principal Beverly Hides-Moriello won national recognition for “extraordinary efforts” to build community partnerships for Goethe Elementary. She will receive $5,000 from the MetLife Foundation to continue her work. … Three CPS teachers are winners of the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Award: Mary Hanson, Healy Elementary; Maeve Kanaley, Inter-American Magnet; Hertha Ramirez, Belmont-Cragin Early Childhood Demonstration Center. They will each receive $5,000 and their schools will get $1,000 and a class field trip to the Kohl Children’s Museum.
HIGH SCHOOL SCHEDULES High schools will be given the option to sign students up for six classes instead of seven next year and lengthen class time from 45 to 50 minutes. Principals requested the change to allow freshmen extra time in each class, and to reduce an unnecessary course load for seniors, according to CPS Budget Director Pedro Martinez. Chicago Teachers Union members at each school must vote to approve any proposed schedule change, he says.