CPS - News, Photos and More on the Windy Citizen

School is a joke, and getting suspended is an easy, cool way to get free days off while impressing the ladies.

That is what Senn High School sophomore David Shamon thought before he faced a jury of his fellow students last year.

“I didn’t get what I was doing was wrong,” Shamon said. “Kids and adults don’t listen to each other a lot of times, but when people the same age with the same mind tell you what’s up—it clicks.”

Stories that fill the pages of the recently launched Chicago Public Schools alumni Web site are as unique and diverse as the graduates who have walked the schools' hallways over the 100 years or so:

The search for the owner of a 1954 class ring, found buried in a garden, engraved with the initials GPE.

"Memories of Mr. Wahle's 'Magneto' machine," shared by a 1970s grad.

Tales of separate playgrounds for boys and girls at Mulligan Elementary in the 1940s.

Students have always recognized the teacher's record book as the holy grail of the classroom. Make the grade book disappear, and you can start with a clean slate.

Grades, attendance, and teacher's notes are concealed in the green soft-cover notebook seen only at the beginning of class, and always by the side of its keeper in the hallway.

Mayor Richard M. Daley on Tuesday again called for more state funding for schools in announcing a plan to increase technology education.

“The state of Illinois is suffering in regards to education. If you constantly fight for ego and personality, then nothing gets accomplished," said Daley, alluding to continued wrangling between the state legislature and Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Just ten months removed from the slaying of his 16-year old son, Blair, Ronald Holt still struggles to fill the void left when his son became the 20th Chicago Public Schools student killed by gunfire.

“I feel like something very precious was taken from us,” Holt said. “I feel like we have been robbed… and I feel that I am echoing the sentiments of all the parents who are in my position.”

MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Anti-war opponents attended a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday morning to denounce current military recruitment policy in the city's public high schools.

Before the meeting, the American Friends Service Committee organized a rally that drew more than a dozen protesters carrying signs and pamphlets in the lobby of the board's downtown headquarters. They were decrying military recruiters' virtually unlimited access to Chicago Public School students.

"These recruiters come to the school, have access to the school and can pull [students] out of class," said Patricia McCann, Iraq war veteran and AFSC member. "I would just like to see [a] policy protect the rights of students and not the rights of recruiters."

The American Friends committee recommends that military recruiters be required to give 48 hours notice before visiting high schools. Committee members have been working with the CPS board since August on the issue. According to Darlene Gramigna of the AFSC, their recommendation of 48-hours notice is a good first step in terms of dialogue. That recommendation will certainly not be their last, she said.

Gramigna also hopes that new board policies will be more friendly toward organizations like the AFSC, which are also considered recruiters. She wants to make sure that students signing up for the military fully understand the commitment they're making. She also wants to make them aware of alternative ways to serve the country.

CPS Board of Education President Rufus Williams said the policy is on the agenda for discussion this month.