The only new students who will be admitted to Englewood High next year are those headed for its achievement academy, a catch-up program for 8th-graders who scored too low on tests to be promoted to 9th grade, but who are too old to be retained.
Rising 9th-graders in Englewood’s attendance area will be eligible to enroll in one of four high schools: Robeson, Dyett, Hyde Park or Hirsch.
All of them are on academic probation; only one, Robeson, is in the same community.
Principal James Breashears says Robeson has not fully recovered from absorbing students displaced by the closure of Calumet High, and may get an extra 200 freshmen this fall.
The glut of students—Breashears estimates a total of 1,850—will push Robeson over its design capacity of 1,500. So far, the district has provided some facilities upgrades, installing 1,800 new lockers, for instance, and reopening a swimming pool that had been out of commission for three years.
But Breashears says he could use a few more teachers. “I’m just working in the vineyard, but it would be nice to have another shovel or two,” he says.