South Loop Elementary School

Dear Parents, Students and Community,

 

After years of planning, brainstorming, and temporary solutions, I am proud to announce that South Loop School will be getting a new state of the art building for our children. Through all of this, you have accepted our short term solutions, shown patience and understanding, and have supported our long term vision. By continuing to send your child to our growing school you have shown great commitment to South Loop School. While it has been a long time of sacrifices from stakeholders, we have finally been rewarded.

 

I want to send a special thank you to our Space Planning Committee: Jennifer Rakstad, Carrie Smaroff, Lynn Pieper, Ellen Lorden, Ben Shanbaum, Anna Fazekas, Elizabeth Arena, Angela Stinson- Marti, Amy Johnson, and  Donald Therriault.  Over the past two years, they have dedicated their time in a number of ways to advocate for additional space for students. This includes school-led planning meetings, letter writing campaigns to our elected officials and CPS Board members, attending Ward meetings in order to address our overcrowding concerns, searching for real estate property in a mile radius of our current building, and planning and presenting to CPS, as well as the Mayor's office. 

 

All the work and progress completed by past working groups in the past 5 years is also greatly appreciated and I know that your hard work contributed to these exciting plans for South Loop School. 

 

Our new school will be built on a new location, will house 1200 students and will take approximately 3 years to be built. 

 

More information will be coming soon about the building plan and the timeline, and there will be opportunities to provide community feedback. Meanwhile, we remain committed to creating the best learning environment in our current facility until our new school is built.

 

On behalf of our Lion Pride, I want to thank Mayor Emanuel, Alderman Pat Dowell and CEO Dr. Jackson for their commitment to public education and the students of Chicago. They have worked with us diligently over the last two years. They have honored every meeting with me and/or with the committee, they have confidence in the growing success of our school, and therefore have expressed their dedication to helping us find a long term solution for our growing population. 

 

We will be forever grateful for all the work that has gotten us to this point. Please take a moment to send a thank you note to Mayor Emanuel and Alderman Dowell for their dedication and for building a new school for the greatest students in our city!

Yours in Education,

Mrs. Shelton