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AUSTIN WEEKLY news
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Austin students among majority of those caught attempting to enroll at OPRF,
Vol. 32 No.18
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May 2, 2018
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
@AustinWeeklyChi
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@AustinWeeklyNews
Biz incubator developers face backlash from residents At April 25 public meeting, The Hatchery owners, Ald. Burnett faced blizzard of complaints By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
The owners of a food business incubator under construction on the West Side have vowed to do more to include the public in the development amid complaints from residents and community leaders about what they considered to be the owners’ insufficient community outreach efforts. The officials behind The Hatchery, which is currently being built on the southeast corner of Lake/Kedzie intersection in East Garfield Park, admitted during an April 25 community meeting that they could have done more to communicate their plans with area residents and said that they would be doing more public forums in the future. Last week’s meeting, formally called the Hatchery Update and Community Fair, was held at Jacob Beidler Elementary School, 3151 W. Walnut St., a block north of the food incubator site. Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), along with Accion Chicago and the Industrial Council of Northwest Chicago — two of the owners of The Hatchery — co-hosed the meeting. Last Wednesday’s meeting took place nearly two weeks after East Garfield Park resident Melvin Cox organized a community forum designed to give residents a chance to ask questions to the organizations involved with The Hatchery, but no officials involved with the See HATCHERY on page 4
Photo by José Alejandro Córcoles/The Chicago Reporter
SOMETHING NEW: Jeremy Mann (center), the founder of The Field School, leads a morning song and prayer to greet students. He says when the private Christian school relocates to the former Key Elementary in Austin, it will offer the neighborhood something it doesn’t currently have: a racially and economically diverse school option.
When school choice closes in
Private schools are moving into shuttered public ones across city, West Side By KALYN BELSHA Chicago Reporter
When Chicago Public Schools closed an unprecedented 50 schools five years ago, officials repeatedly promised that the empty buildings wouldn’t go to charter schools. The move appeased critics who said charter school growth contributed to enrollment declines and budget cuts in neighborhood schools, making them targets for closure.
Since the shutdowns, nearly every closed school that has been sold carries a permanent deed restriction saying the building can never become a charter, even if it’s resold on the private market. But as districtwide enrollment falls and public opposition has slowed charter growth to a trickle, public schools face a new threat: private schools are moving into the vacant CPS buildings and may take public school students with them. Over the past year, four private school
operators have purchased closed school buildings. All of them say they hope to benefit from the state’s new $75 million tax-credit scholarship program, which makes a private education free for many low-income families. And more sales could happen, as another 14 vacant schools without restrictions on becoming private schools are awaiting buyers. While more than 20 schools vacated due
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See PRIVATE SCHOOLS on page 9