Photograph; as a designated “welcoming school,” Johnson School of Excellence on the West Side got upgrades to technology. But only 34 students out of 145 from shuttered Pope Elementary are enrolled at the school, according to CPS figures | WBEZ/Linda Lutton
By Linda Lutton | Originally Published at WBEZ Radio. October 14, 2013

Far fewer students from Chicago’s closed elementary schools are enrolled where the district thought they would be this fall.

Just 60 percent of 10,542 students* from Chicago’s shuttered elementary schools ended up at so-called “welcoming schools,” despite efforts by the district to woo them with promises of improved education, safe passage to school, and sweeteners like iPads, air conditioning and new science labs.

The districtinsisted throughout the summer that 80 percent of students from closing schools were enrolled at their designated welcoming schools. Even the first day of school, CPS said 78 percent of impacted students were attending their welcoming schools. The district made $155.7 million in capital and technology investments at the schools, which it will pay off for the next 30 years.

But enrollment figures obtained by WBEZ through an open records request show CPS overstated enrollment at the receiving schools by more than 2,000 students. The enrollment snapshot, taken on the 20th day of school, also shows:

  • 496 grammar-school children from shuttered schools do not seem to be enrolled anywhere at all, inside CPS or in other districts. They are listed on district spreadsheets as “To be determined” and are from nearly every closed school.
  • Students from closed schools have scattered throughout the system, attending 410 different schools—even more than initial counts indicated.
One school in North Lawndale provides a telling example. Just 12 students out of 196 from shuttered Henson Elementary enrolled at Charles Evans Hughes, the designated welcoming school. The remaining students have scattered to 34 different schools. Nine students left the district, and 12 are completely unaccounted for.

At Johnson School of Excellence, a designated welcoming school for shuttered Pope Elementary, just 34 kids enrolled from Pope—77 percent of Pope students went elsewhere.
Diaspora: Students from closed schools have scattered throughout the system

“De facto” welcoming schools, with the total number of students they have enrolled from closed schools

Closed School Number of different CPS schools where students are now enrolled
ROSS 57
ALTGELD 47
WOODS 47
LAFAYETTE 44:
PARKMAN 44
TRUMBULL 44
KOHN 43
BONTEMPS 42
EMMET 42
OVERTON 41
MAY 40
LAWRENCE 39
BETHUNE 38
GOLDBLATT 38
MAYO 38:
CALHOUN 37
POPE 38
HENSON 35
SEXTON 35
SONGHAI 35
STOCKTON 35
KEY 34
MARCONI 34
OWENS 34
DUMAS TECH ACAD 33
Johnson principal Alice Henry says she and her staff personally called every one of the Pope students. Many chose to go to schools closer to their homes, she says. And the school closings process took a toll too.

“You know, during the hearings and during that entire process, it’s a pretty tumultuous, ugly process,” said Henry. “And feelings are developed, some problems kind of develop. It may take a year.”

School board member Andrea Zopp is also taking a longer view, and says the capital and technology investments the district made will attract students eventually.

“Over time, I think that will shake out. These schools are going to be community hubs. And I think they’re going to draw—like good schools do—they’re going to draw kids and families back into the neighborhood schools, and that’s the goal.”

Some schools not designated as welcoming schools took in more students from closed schools than designated welcoming schools. But the “de facto” welcoming schools didn’t get technology or capital upgrades, and are not part of the district’s $12 million Safe Passage program. And a number of them struggle academically, meaning children from closed schools are attending schools that may be performing worse than the closed schools they left.

“De facto” welcoming schools, with the total number of students they have enrolled from closed schools

School Designated welcoming School? Number of students from closed schools
KELLMAN No 159
LANGFORD No 86
METCALFE No 76:
CHALMERS No 64:
MOOS No 53
CATALYST CHTR – HOWLAND No 52
CROWN no 49
CARTER No 46
PENN No 46
LOWELL No 45
PARKER No 44
IRVING No 43
Some 375 students from closed schools now attend Chicago charter schools, the figures indicate; 239 left the school district.

Receiving schools that did best at enrolling students from closed schools were those where the building didn’t close. For instance, Pershing Middle School closed, but the building itself remained open, and staff from Pershing Elementary moved in and took over, making it a K-8 school. Ninety percent of students from Pershing Middle stayed for the transition.

Asked about the fact that just 60 percent of students from closed schools enrolled in their designated welcoming school, spokeswoman Becky Carroll said CPS supports parents’ right to choose where to enroll their children.

“Thousands of parents every year choose to enroll their child at a different school in our district –or even outside the district—and we support them in those choices,” Carroll wrote in an email. She wrote that the “far majority” of parents from closed schools chose to send their children to their designated welcoming school, and those children “are now receiving a higher-quality education with the resources they need to succeed and thrive in the classroom.”

Regarding the nearly 500 students the district cannot account for, officials have said district employees have called, written and gone door to door looking for them.

Percent of students from CPS closed schools attending their designated welcoming school

Closed school Total number of impacted students Designated welcoming school Number of students attending designated welcoming school % attending designated welcoming school(s) Did CPS name more than one receiving school?
ALTGELD 335 WENTWORTH 235 70.1%
ARMSTRONG, L 92 LELAND 48 52.2%
BANNEKER 261 MAYS: 214 82%
BETHUNE 315 GREGORY: 23
BONTEMPS 239 NICHOLSON TECH ACAD 71 29.7%
CALHOUN 234 CATHER 115 49.1%
DELANO 259 MELODY 217
DUMAS TECH ACAD 241 WADSWORTH 183 75.9%
DUPREY 92 DIEGO 46 50%
EMMET 316 DE PRIEST 95 30.1% yes
EMMET 316 ELLINGTON 111 35.1% yes
FERMI 191 SOUTHSHORE 154 80.6%
GARFIELD PARK 132 FARADAY 49 37.1%
GOLDBLATT 213 HEFFERAN 100 46.9%
GOODLOW 285 EARLE 198 69.5%
HENSON 196 HUGHES, C 12 6.1%
HERBERT 205 DETT 162 79%
KEY 283 ELLINGTON 170 60.1%
KING 204 JENSEN 84 41.2%
KOHN 323 CULLEN 14 4.3% yes
KOHN 323 LAVIZZO 47 14.6% yes
KOHN 323 HUGHES, L 167 51.7% yes
LAFAYETTE 306 CHOPIN 209 68.3%
LAWRENCE 318 BURNHAM 240 75.5%
MARCONI 177 TILTON 65 36.7%
MAY 386 LELAND 285 73.8%
MAYO 326 WELLS, I 242 74.2%
MORGAN 157 RYDER 101 64.3%
OVERTON 284 MOLLISON 146 51.4%
OWENS 250 GOMPERS 175 70%
PADEREWSKI 150 CARDENAS 24 16% yes
PADEREWSKI 150 CASTELLANOS 38 25.3% yes
PARKMAN 156 SHERWOOD 52 33.3%
PEABODY 211 OTIS 162 76.8%
PERSHING MIDDLE 175 PERSHING 158 90.3%
POPE 145 JOHNSON 34 23.4%
ROSS 272 DULLES 117 43%
RYERSON 326 WARD, L 261 80.1%
SEXTON 309 FISKE 218 70.6%
SONGHAI 258 CURTIS 104 40.3%
STEWART 196 BRENNEMANN 117 59.7%
STOCKTON 299 COURTENAY 247 82.6%
TRUMBULL 206 MCCUTCHEON 11 5.3% yes
TRUMBULL 206 MCPHERSON 50 24.3% yes
TRUMBULL 206 CHAPPELL 98 47.6% yes
VON HUMBOLDT 264 DIEGO 169 64%
WEST PULLMAN 233 HALEY 76 32.6%
WILIAMS MIDDLE 80 DRAKE 58 72.5%
WILLIAMS ES 211 DRAKE 169 80.1%
WOODS 274 BASS 127 46.4%
YALE 157 HARVARD 67 42.7%
GRAND TOTAL 10,542 HARVARD 6,335 60.1%
Source: CPS data, WBEZ analysis. This table excludes preschool students, all students from shuttered Buckingham and Near North special education schools, and special education “cluster programs.” CPS has also excluded these students from its calculations of enrollment rates at welcoming schools.


*The district’s 20th Day figures show a total of 11,126 students attended kindergarten through 7th grade last year at 47 schools that closed for good in June. Of those, 584 were enrolled in two special education schools or in special education “cluster programs”; 10,542 were in general education programs.

Original data from Chicago Public Schools is attached below.