Becky Vevea
Bureau Chief, Chalkbeat Chicago
Becky Vevea is the Bureau Chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Before coming to Chalkbeat, she spent a decade at WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR News Station, reporting on city politics and schools, as well as filling in as anchor and host. Becky is an award-winning journalist whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and USA Today. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication and a native of rural central Wisconsin. She currently lives in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood with her husband and two young sons.
New research from the University of Chicago Education Lab found a drop in student suspensions and arrests at schools with restorative justice practices. Officials and activists say ongoing partnership to create safer schools could be a national model.
Officials said about 40% of kindergarten through second grade students were at or above grade level by May, up from 9% in September. They declined to share school-level data or any information about how students fared on early math assessments
School-level data from the 2023 Illinois Assessment for Readiness shows many schools have not returned to pre-pandemic levels of students meeting standards in reading and math.
Shipments of the new COVID vaccine are expected to arrive in the coming weeks and should be “plentiful” by early October, public health officials said this week.
The inspector general found they fraudulently got federal loans during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Jianan Shi describes himself as “an immigrant that’s fallen in love with Chicago.” Here’s why he feels “the urgency of this work,” and what he plans to do about it.
An email to parents outlined Chicago Public Schools plan for Wednesday and Thursday when temperatures are forecast to be close to 100 degrees.
As roughly 320,000 students went back to class across Chicago, the district faces a number of challenges for the new school year.
While COVID-19 testing and vaccinations are widely available, contracting the virus is still a concern for students — especially for those who are medically fragile
Due to a drop in low-income student enrollment and an increase in local property values, the district could continue to get a smaller share of new state dollars.
Some 17,000 students and 1,500 staff would scatter to schools across Chicago. Many others would leave the district altogether.
The budget will allocate roughly $4.8 billion directly to schools. District officials say more money will go to bilingual education and staffing positions that work with students with disabilities.
The details of the new policy are still being worked out, but would make Chicago Public Schools a leader nationally and bring the nation’s fourth largest school district in line with a new expanded parental leave policy for city workers.
City residents ages 14 to 24 are eligible to apply for the six-week jobs program. Numbers show participation rates have yet to bounce back from a pandemic decline.
Illinois legislature approved a measure giving themselves more time to draw Chicago’s school board districts. Once signed by the governor, the deadline will move from July 1, 2023 to April 1, 2024 — seven months before the first elections on November 5, 2024.
Districts for the soon-to-be-elected Chicago Board of Education must be drawn by July 1, but lawmakers could finalize a map in the coming days. Those who spoke at the latest public hearing rejected the current proposal, saying it is rushed and does not represent public school families, which are mostly Latino.
Lawmakers are scheduled to discuss and potentially vote on the draft at 5 p.m. Thursday. They have until July 1 to solidify the electoral districts for Chicago’s soon-to-be-elected school board.
A decade after leaving the classroom to help the Chicago Teachers Union build political power and improve conditions outside schools, Brandon Johnson has been sworn in as the city’s 57th mayor.
As Chicago’s next deputy mayor of education, Jen Johnson will oversee policy related to the city’s public schools, youth, and families. Historically, the deputy mayor of education also represents the mayor in contract talks with the teachers union.
The proposal divides the city into 20 districts, seven majority white, seven majority Black, and six majority Latino. It’s based on the city’s population, which is 33% white, not the school district’s, which is 46.5% Latino and 36% Black.
The board will go from seven members appointed by the mayor to 10 elected and 11 appointed. By 2027, a full-elected 21-member school board will be in place.
Leaders with the nationally-recognized charter school network said Wednesday they filed a lawsuit to keep control of its remaining two campuses serving Black boys in Englewood and Bronzeville. Chicago Public Schools has said it plans to keep the schools open under district management.
Chicago shut down 50 schools in one year with the promise of providing students better educational opportunities. A decade later, we want to hear from those impacted by that decision.
Four-year-olds will get priority, but officials say more than 30,000 spots are available across Chicago Public Schools and community-based early childhood providers. Families are encouraged to apply before May 2 to get an offer by May 19.
The election of a teachers union organizer over a former district chief in Chicago is a win for local progressives. It could also be a bellwether for public education policy in the historically Democratic city and beyond.
Chalkbeat Chicago sat down with Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson for a brief interview. He talked about being the last mayor with control of Chicago Public Schools, what he told his kids about his new job, and what it means to be a public school parent.
Johnson won with 51.4% of the vote, according to preliminary election results. He will be the last mayor with control of Chicago Public Schools.
Brandon Johnson’s biggest donors are teachers unions. Paul Vallas is raking in cash from wealthy individuals — some of whom have supported charter schools and other education reform efforts in Chicago.
A new mayor will face a school system with declining enrollment, a fiscal cliff, another round of labor negotiations, and the transition to an elected school board.
Chalkbeat breaks down Paul Vallas’ and Brandon Johnson’s positions on education issues.