{"id":382397,"date":"2010-03-02T23:59:01","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T04:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/press-releases\/school-board-unanimously-approves-college-prep-academy"},"modified":"2010-03-02T23:59:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T04:59:01","slug":"school-board-unanimously-approves-college-prep-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/382397","title":{"rendered":"School board unanimously approves college-prep academy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>The Springfield School Board on Tuesday approved plans to open a small college preparatory academy next fall, after concluding that it\u2019s worth the extra $120,000 to run the program.<\/p>\n<p>Some board members described the decision as a leap of faith. The vote took place during a meeting at which 154 contractual employees were released from their jobs and one board member proposed looking at more ways to trim next year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n<p>The Capital College Preparatory Academy, a partnership between the Springfield School District and the Springfield Urban League, would enroll only 100 sixth-graders next year, but is designed to grow gradually to include students through 12th grade. Students would follow an extended school day, attend Saturday sessions, wear dress clothes and take all-male and all-female classes.<\/p>\n<p>The cost of the program\u2019s first year will be about $120,000, including $20,000 carried over from the current budget. <span id=\"more-21782\"><\/span>While the program would become more expensive as grades are added, district officials said they are pursuing corporate donations they hope will keep the district\u2019s financial obligations low.<\/p>\n<p>Overcoming questions about the academy\u2019s financial impact, board members said the program, designed to prepare at-risk students for success in college, fills an urgent need. The board voted unanimously to open the academy pending approval of a contract with the Urban League. (The 6 to 0 vote did not include Cindy Tate, who was absent.)<\/p>\n<p>Board member Bill Looby described it as a \u201ccrucial endeavor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my mind, this is a program that is desperately needed,\u201d said board president Art Moore.<\/p>\n<p>The school is scheduled to open next fall at Feitshans Academy, 1101 S. 15th St.<\/p>\n<p>The board also discussed whether more budget cuts are needed beyond the $5.3 million recently proposed by School Superintendent Walter Milton for next school year. Milton, who is in Washington, D.C., was not at the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to consider other ways to cut this budget,\u201d said Cheryl Wise. Looby requested the job descriptions of non-classroom teachers and central-office administrators and school officials who are not assigned to a single school.<\/p>\n<p>The release of the 154 contractual employees \u2013 including 85 certified staff members \u2013 is a routine action taken every year by the district on employees serving one-year contracts. District personnel director Alexander Ikejiaku said the employees will be offered \u201cfirst dibs\u201d on new job openings.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pete Sherman can be reached at 788-1539.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article from <a  href=\"http:\/\/www.sj-r.com\/news\/x1520845095\/School-board-unanimously-approves-college-prep-academy\" title=\"School board unanimously approves college-prep academy\" rel='nofollow'>The State Journal-Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Distributed via <a href=\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\" rel='nofollow'>Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/DSz_7e40g31nXrrjzeolDs99AMU\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/DSz_7e40g31nXrrjzeolDs99AMU\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/DSz_7e40g31nXrrjzeolDs99AMU\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/DSz_7e40g31nXrrjzeolDs99AMU\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.chicagopressrelease.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?a=cw5eiX8na84:kTCNz7zgJok:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.chicagopressrelease.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?a=cw5eiX8na84:kTCNz7zgJok:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.chicagopressrelease.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?a=cw5eiX8na84:kTCNz7zgJok:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/windycitynews?i=cw5eiX8na84:kTCNz7zgJok:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/windycitynews\/~4\/cw5eiX8na84\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Springfield School Board on Tuesday approved plans to open a small college preparatory academy next fall, after concluding that it\u2019s worth the extra $120,000 to run the program. Some board members described the decision as a leap of faith. The vote took place during a meeting at which 154 contractual employees were released from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-382397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}