Lane Tech May Open To Gifted 7th Graders

By Anna Deem in News on Jan 29, 2011 6:45PM

One of the city's top schools, Lane Tech, is thinking of opening a gifted middle-school program similar to the one at Whitney Young High School as early as the fall. The program is referred to as an "academic center" and would accept seventh-graders, giving them a chance to get early admission to the selective high school enrollment system. The opportunity would also give North Siders a selective enrollment option closer to their home. There are currently six academic centers in the city, but only two of them feed into a selective enrollment high school: Whitney Young on the West Side and Lindblom Math and Science Academy on the South Side.

"We thought it was time to open one on the North Side and in a selective enrollment high school," said Lane Tech Principal Antoinette LoBosco, who also noted to the Chicago Tribune that if students attend Lane Tech as middle schoolers, they automatically would earn a spot at the selective enrollment high school, thereby going through the admissions process only once.

LoBosco told the Tribune that she is feeling good about the proposal's chances after meeting with Chicago Public Schools officials on January 20. CPS officials told her that they not only supported the accelerated program, but they wanted to show the community support. An online petition for the program has already generated over 1,300 signatures, she said to the Tribune.