The Latest Breaking News from Chicago Public Schools

While Mayor Lori Lightfoot has touted the new school to serve Chinatown and other neighborhoods, CPS alumni and even staff inside CPS fear it will do damage to existing schools that serve predominantly African American students.

Multiple fights broke out all over the field as Chicago Public Schools security and coaches and administrators from both schools struggled to calm things down.

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

The steady drop to 321,000 students means CPS could lose its title as the third-largest district to Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida.

It’s a question I have grappled with most of my adult life, first as a Chicago Public Schools teacher and later as a parent.

Officials are considering the rate an accomplishment after pandemic attendance struggles — and given it’s the earliest start to a CPS school year in modern memory after an unusually short summer.

CPS is offering universal pre-K for 4-year-olds in most of the city, but WBEZ found that thousands of seats are unfilled — mostly in schools serving high numbers of low-income families with large majorities of Black or Latino children.

CHICAGO — As the Carl Schurz High School students passed under the school’s brown iron gates Thursday morning, community members greeted them with doughnuts and flowers outside the Northwest Side school, a day after a shooting that left four teens wounded, including two Schurz students.

The uneventful and under-the-radar settlement of this year’s deal comes as a sigh of relief for educators and families.

We understand the challenges and appreciate that CPS is prioritizing buses for special education and homeless students, but it is not acceptable for any student — let alone one who has a disability — to spend four hours a day on a bus, five days a week.

CHICAGO — Four people believed to be Chicago Public Schools students, including three age 15 or younger, were shot near a Northwest Side high school Wednesday afternoon, Chicago police said.