Hunger-striker moms get their high school August 21, 2001 BY GARY WISBY STAFF REPORTER Supporters of a new high school for Little Village declared victory Monday with the news that $5 million has been set aside for design and site preparation at 31st and Kostner. The commitment was part of a $525 million program for this year that also calls for construction of seven schools, including new Kelvyn Park and Simeon high schools. Little Village residents staged a hunger strike last June, demanding a school that had been promised them in 1998. "The moms think this is a victory," said Jesus Garcia, former 22nd Ward alderman who heads the nonprofit Little Village Development Corp. "These are essentially the terms that had been negotiated with [former Schools CEO] Paul Vallas. It's a show of good faith." Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd) also praised the plan but said, "We won't stop advocating until we can start graduating students." The spending program commits another $5 million to planning a high school for the Pilsen area--which, like Little Village, is predominantly Hispanic--and an equal amount to replace Westinghouse High School, 3301 W. Franklin. The new Kelvyn Park High School, 4343 W. Wrightwood, will cost $44 million; the new Simeon High School, 8235 S. Vincennes, $40 million. New elementary schools, ranging from $14.5 million to $19 million, include Field, 7019 N. Ashland Blvd.; DePriest, 39 S. Parkside; Cuffe, 1540 W. 84th; Mcnair, 849 N. Leamington, and Anderson, 6315 S. Claremont. The building program "recognizes the limits of our current finances," Schools CEO Arne Duncan said. He said he will begin a "top-to-bottom" audit of system finances to determine how best to spend what money there is. Board of Education President Michael Scott said state and federal agencies must now step up because "we have essentially tapped all local sources of revenues." Jacqueline Leavy of the watchdog Neighborhood Capital Budget Group said, "We're still not spending at a pace to keep up with overcrowding." Leavy said an audit is a fine idea, but the board should release figures to rank spending needs school by school. "People don't know why one school gets picked over another--why Walter Payton and Northside prep schools are built when there are so many needs in the neighborhoods," she said. -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
