Mila Koumpilova

Mila Koumpilova

Senior Reporter, Chalkbeat Chicago

Mila Koumpilova is a Senior Reporter at Chalkbeat Chicago. She previously wrote about higher education and immigration at the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis. Mila has also covered education at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and The Forum in Fargo, N.D. A former North Dakota Rookie Reporter of the Year, she has received recognition from the Education Writers Association, the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists and others. She is a graduate of the American University in Bulgaria and the Missouri School of Journalism.

District officials urged the school board to make ChiArts, a West Side contract high school, a district-run school, and winding down EPIC Academy, a South Side charter high school.

The board at the Chicago High School for the Arts, a 550-student campus on the West Side, decided not to seek renewal after this school year.

Yehiri Gonzalez is among the first cohort of the district’s Teach Chicago Tomorrow program to help graduates get teaching degrees. She started leading her own classroom this fall.

The search firm leading the hunt for Chicago’s next schools chief said more than 85 candidates applied. About 20 will soon interview with school board members and a source says interim CEO Macquline King is applying.

The overhaul is aimed at saving money and directing more money directly to schools. Some sources told Chalkbeat a new structure that aligns with Chicago’s school board electoral districts would replace the current network structure.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights wrote to the district that it has found its Black Student Success Plan and a policy on gender identity are discriminatory.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating the initiative the district unveiled in February. But the school board member heading the committee tasked with overseeing the rollout says it will proceed.

There are about 12,000 fewer students in CPS as of the 15th day of school, according to preliminary enrollment data analyzed by Chalkbeat.

Before Thursday’s budget vote, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office and Chicago Public Schools officials tussled for weeks over whether the district should take out a high-cost loan for a pension payment.