After waiting a month for Chicago Public Schools to provide him with a federally mandated bus service to and from his Chicago home to school, a high school student with cerebral palsy has decided to give up on the CPS and seek education elsewhere. Termel Jennings, who was an honor student at a high school in Joliet, had hoped to continue his education upon moving in with his aunt in Chicago. When Jennings enrolled at Fenger High School in early February, he was told that the bus service from his aunt's home on the Far South Side to Fenger High School would begin within two weeks. Five weeks went by without any word from the Chicago Public School system or its representatives, and frustrated by the lack of communication in addition to being unable to go to school, Jennings made a decision to withdraw from Fenger High School. more ›

It seems the corruption that dominates our local politics extends to the area school system. The Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General dealt with over 1,000 complaints of fraud and waste between July 2007 and July 2008, an issue symbolized by the Cappuccino Machine Debacle. A CPS manager ordered 30 cappuccino machines, at a total cost of $67,000, for a work-school program.

But five months after the machines were purchased, 22 remained unopened, one disappeared and three were being used at two schools—though not in the culinary arts program for which they were intended, the district's inspector general said Tuesday. more ›