High School

Leo Track Running Despite Hurdles
Mon, 02/27/2012
In sports, it’s about numbers. Leo High School won their latest track and field state title last May by one point. This marked the school’s sixth state championship. When Leo won its first state title in 1981, it became the first Catholic school to take the top trophy in track and field, and no other Catholic school in Illinois has done that...

McGrath: What About Cubbie Occurrences?
Fri, 11/11/2011
Pete Mackanin is a smart guy. He has to be if he graduated from Brother Rice High School, a South Side citadel of learning where several scholars I know first embarked on the path to true knowledge. Mackanin, a self-described “young 60” after 43 years in pro baseball, looked the part during last week’s visit to Wrigley Field: trim physique, nicely...

Warren: Longer School Days Are Just a Start
Fri, 09/09/2011
Given the well-orchestrated hoopla over how they circumvented their union and voted for a longer school day, you might think that teachers at STEM Magnet Academy were Chicago’s version of the workers at the shipyards in Gdansk, Poland, who fought Communism 30 years ago. The Gdansk workers inspired the Solidarity movement, led by Lech Walesa, a...

As Schools Break Ranks, Union Looks for Answers
Fri, 09/02/2011
Just days after ruling out a strike, the Chicago Teachers Union finds itself grappling with dissent and fighting for public support, as district leaders have begun circumventing the union in their push for a longer day this school year. After pressing the union unsuccessfully to agree to a longer day throughout the summer, Chicago Public Schools...

Aid for startups, way down south
Thu, 09/01/2011
 High school buddies Scott Thompson and Scott Bird had long talked about starting a company. But life and careers got in the way as Mr. Thompson worked his way up in marketing in a big New York financial firm and Mr. Bird became CFO for a liquor distributor. They were making good money but didn't have the cash to start a company on their...

Teachers' Union President Vows No Strike This School Year
Wed, 08/31/2011
After weeks in which the Chicago Teachers Union seemed to be preparing to strike, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis on Tuesday told the Chicago News Cooperative the union will work the entire school year without a walkout. Under pressure from Mayor Rahm Emanuel over extending the school day and year, the CTU had seemed ready...

McGrath: A Manager Manages, Even in Fifth Place
Fri, 06/24/2011
Those before-and-after photos used to illustrate the effects of stress on a man performing a complicated job would not reveal much about Mike Quade. The 54-year-old baseball “lifer” hasn’t had a hair on his head or anywhere else on his body since a childhood episode of alopecia areata, a condition that results in total hair loss. But managing...

Chicago’s New Gridiron Star
Sun, 05/01/2011
Jessica Springer left a lasting impression on Linda Bache three years ago in a women’s football championship game. Springer was a 220-pound running back and linebacker for the Dallas Diamonds. Bache, playing safety for the Chicago Force, tried to tackle her and suffered a concussion that, combined with another hit she took later in the game,...

An Escape From Violence. Almost.
Mon, 04/25/2011
As his team pulled into Dayton, Ohio at 4 a.m. one day in early April, the head coach of the South Shore Drill Team was confident his sleepy squad of 15 teenagers from some of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods had a shot at glory for the first time in nearly 20 years. They had done everything he asked. They had worked hard in practice for months...

The Public School Probation Maze
Fri, 04/22/2011
Austin Polytechnical Academy, a school established in 2007 to help broaden the West Side community’s academic opportunities and retool perceptions of vocational education, is facing harsh realities as it prepares to graduate its first senior class: lagging test scores, diminishing attendance and dismal reading levels. Last October, Polytech joined...