Prescott spared at the last moment

02/24/2010 10:00 PM

By IAN FULLERTON
Contributing Reporter

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Chicago Public Schools leadership has removed Prescott Elementary from a list of schools slated for closure, an unexpected last-minute reversal.

The announcement came Feb. 23, a day before the Chicago Board of Education was scheduled to vote on the list, which originally sought to close, consolidate and “turnaround” fourteen public schools in the city.

Prescott, located at 1632 W. Wrightwood, was slated for closure due to the school’s enrollment of less than 200 students.

CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman said that the decision not to shutter Prescott was spurred by the commitment parents and faculty made to increase enrollment.

“The school community at Prescott has put forth a variety of plans on how they would improve enrollment, and we are going to give them the opportunity to do that,” Huberman said in a press statement released Tuesday.

Jenn Lister, a parent and organizer at Prescott, said the community was “thrilled that CPS has taken a deep look at what we presented.”

At recent public hearings on the proposal, Lister argued that the school had applications for more than 250 prospective students in the coming year.

“We’re going to step it up to make sure that we produce the results that CPS wants to see,” she said. n


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