Education news and schools coverage from the Chicago Sun-Times

Teachers union accuses ousted member of being a ‘spy’ for CPS

The official charge involves doing “the union and the cause of union labor, definite harm.’’

But Chicago Teachers Union officials are calling Marc Wigler “a spy,’’ a “stool pigeon” and a “rat’’ following his April 24 ouster for life from the union for allegedly feeding …

City to give $2 million to companies that hire City Colleges grads

In a commencement address to 3,300 graduates of the City Colleges of Chicago Saturday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a $2 million stipend to be paid to companies that hire those grads. The money covers their pay for the first month of work.

Emanuel’s favorite teacher remembers young Rahm: ‘He was smart, he was curious’

A self-proclaimed history buff, Mayor Rahm Emanuel credits his interest in history to his favorite teacher of all time — New Trier West High School history teacher Larry Grote.

“He taught me the beginning part of, kinda, critical thinking,’’ Emanuel says on a Teaching Channel …

Illinois 8th graders stuck below national average in science tests

Despite increased national calls to step up the focus on science, Illinois’ average eighth grade science scores were stagnant and stuck below the national average, results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress released Thursday showed.

Morton High School board censures member over racist post

A west suburban high school board voted Wednesday to censure a fellow board member for a racist post on his Facebook page, despite calls from hundreds of parents in Cicero and Berwyn requesting his resignation.

Quinn surprises ‘perfectionist’ CPS teacher with Golden Apple award

Gov. Pat Quinn may have interrupted a kindergarten class at Chicago’s Murray Language Academy Wednesday to surprise teacher Elizabeth Luna with a Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence, but he didn’t interrupt Luna’s lesson. Crayons in hand, her five- and six-year-old students worked diligently at …

Columbia College president plans to retire in 2013

Columbia College Chicago President Warrick L. Carter announced Tuesday he will retire in 2013, one year earlier than planned. Carter first took the reins at Columbia in 2000, and has the longest tenure of any other sitting college or university presidents in Chicago, the college …

House passes bill that spares state rep $444,500 in disputed taxes

SPRINGFIELD — State Rep. Monique Davis’ Democratic friends in the Illinois House spared her from a tax bill of at least $444,500 on Tuesday. By a 60-54 vote, with Davis voting present, the House entered into the legal dispute between the longtime South Side lawmaker and the Chicago Board of Education over her refusal to pay back rent and leaseholder taxes on her district office, which is in a school-owned building.

High school grads setting up online gift registries

Like brides-to-be and expectant parents, high school graduates are using online registries to help friends and family pick out gifts that match their lifestyles.

Chicago school-lunch workers win raises

Chicago Public School lunchroom workers will receive a minimum 2 percent raise for at least two years and see a five-year freeze on converting “cooking” kitchens to “warming kitchens” under a deal announced Thursday.

Senate votes to abolish scandal-plagued scholarship program

The Illinois Senate voted Thursday to end a scandal-tainted, century-old program in which legislators have doled out tuition waivers to the children of campaign donors and other political insiders.

Controversial legislative scholarships could be ending soon

Illinois’ top Senate Democrat dropped his resistance Wednesday to abolishing the state’s scandal-tainted legislative scholarship program and advanced a measure that would kill the waivers this fall. The legislation carried by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) moved out of a Senate subcommittee Wednesday. Cullerton called the scholarships an obvious “distraction.”