Jones Magnet looks for extra space August 14, 2001 BY JANET RAUSA FULLER STAFF REPORTER Jones Academic Magnet High School is a mess. Since March, the school at 606 S. State has been undergoing a $50 million renovation that will include a new gym, revamped library, two new science labs and double the number of classrooms. And until last week, school officials, staff and students thought they would be making North Metro High School, a dilapidated school at 1450 N. Larrabee, their temporary digs for the 2001-02 school year. The first day of classes is Sept. 4 . But because of a communication snafu within the Chicago schools district, that plan has been scrapped and the approximately 800 students at Jones now will be dispersed to several high schools--and universities--across the city. With details still being worked out, school officials know this much: Freshmen will take classes at Whitney Young High School. Sophomores will be sent to Walter Payton Prep on the Near North Side. Juniors and seniors will be split between DePaul University, Roosevelt University, Robert Morris College and Columbia College. "My focus has to be on making sure our students are in classes on the first day of school," Jones principal Cynthia Barron said Monday. Faculty and staff will work out of temporary offices at North Metro, where files and supplies already sit in boxes. Teachers may have to split their time between schools or drop certain classes their schedules. Adding faculty from the other schools to pick up the load is a possibility. For now, extracurricular activities, and frustrated students and parents, are in limbo. "How are we going to put on [theater] productions?" asked Hugo Orejel, 16, an incoming junior who is active in theater and choir. "This kind of demotes the whole high school experience of having all our classes together." "I'm angry because they're going to tell us this three weeks before school starts," added Angelina Morales, 15, a sophomore. Hugo, Angelina and dozens of other students, parents and staff voiced their concerns Monday at a meeting at Roosevelt University. It was the first time they had heard about the proposed changes. "Life at Jones is one big amoeba. It changes every hour. That's the latest that we have, and it's a programming nightmare," said Walter Paas, LSC chair at Jones and father of two Jones students. The nightmare began in the spring, according to Schools Chief Operating Officer Tim Martin. Originally, the bulk of construction was to be completed over the summer, with classes to resume at Jones in the fall. But by May, work already was behind schedule because "expectations of the fire department and the building department were not being met," Martin said. "To stay in Jones would not be feasible." So, Martin, Barron and other school officials decided to move into North Metro High School, which was closing after the past school year. "We assumed we got an empty school," Martin said. "We assumed wrong." North Metro, which is owned by the Board of Education, was scheduled to be put up for sale to developers in June and demolished by the winter to make way for replacement and subsidized housing, something Martin says he overlooked. "In the meantime, there was a whole series of developers vying for replacement housing in the Near North area who were just waiting for our parcel to go up for bid," he said. That left officials scrambling to find Jones a new temporary home. The new plan, which scatters Jones students across the city, was crafted last Wednesday and presented to Barron, the principals at Whitney Young and Walter Payton schools and university officials. The meeting at Roosevelt University Monday was intended to be a small gathering of only school officials, faculty and student leaders, but PTO members got word and called parents. Barron has scheduled meetings for the entire student body and their families next week at the Harold Washington Library, and will send out letters to families explaining the situation. If the parent of an underclassmen has a concern or objection to a child being placed at Whitney Young or Walter Payton, they are free to suggest another school and "that selection will be honored," Barron says. -- 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/>
