Live blog: First day of classes for CPS

Continual coverage as 403,000 Chicago public school students return to classes after unprecedented school closings and stepped-up efforts to keep children safe.

First day photos | Safe Passage Routes | School's Out Forever | Today's weather |

Safe Passage home    Permalink 6:27 p.m.

A student waves at a police officer as he and his brother leave their first day of school Monday at James Weldon Johnson Elementary School at 14th and Albany. Many students from the closed Pope Elementary School at 19th and Albany have been transferred to Johnson. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

Parent on Safe Passage: "It's not gonna work ..."    Permalink 5:37 p.m.

A parent whose child attends Haley Elementary School on Chicago's South Side criticizes the city's Safe Passage routes. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

Principal: 'Everything ran smoothly'    Permalink 4:56 p.m.

Wanae Norals, 13, second from right, listens to eighth grade teacher Esther Johnson at Haley Elementary School in Chicago on Monday. Wanae is one of the students from West Pullman Elementary who started at the new school today. (Jose M. Osorio/ Chicago Tribune)

Haley Elementary Principal Rhonda Larkin said the day went more smoothly than she had anticipated. She had worried about bullying and fights between students from West Pullman Elementary, which closed, and students at Haley.

But there were no fights or complaints of bullying, she said. And while the school doesn’t yet have a count on how many students from West Pullman showed, Haley did receive a number of students from other schools that closed, she said.

"Nothing happened on Safe Passage, nothing happened inside the school. No one was (hanging) )out in the hallways,” Larkin said. “Everything ran smoothly."

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
Safe Passage workers call it a day    Permalink 4:45 p.m.

Students are diverted on the Safe Passage route home as police investigate a crime scene at the corner of Marquette and Lowe streets on the first day of school at Mays School, which moved into the former Banneker building at 6656 S. Normal in Chicago. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

At 4 p.m, an hour after school let out, Safe Passage workers left their posts around Mays Elementary in Englewood.

The walk home went smoothly except for a section of the Safe Passage route on Marquette Road and Lowe Avenue where police closed off part of the sidewalk for a crime scene.

Police on the scene wouldn't say what happened but it appeared a screen had been removed from a ground-level apartment.

A police forensics officer took photos of the scene and a pair of officers asked pedestrians -- including children and parents walking home from Mays -- to walk in the street so as to not upset the crime scene. A police officer on the scene said no one was hurt in the incident.

John Chase
Students teach new classmates 'how we do things' at new school    Permalink 4:35 p.m.

Teri Watson, 33, with daughter Tatyanna Parker, 8, left, and friends daughter Heaven Taylor, 8, walk by empty lots along a designated Safe Passage route on State Street after classes at Curtis Elementary on the first day of school. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

Inside Curtis Elementary, students made an effort to make each other  - both veterans of the school and new students from the now-shuttered Songhai - feel at home, said Shamya Hopkins, a 10-year old, 5th grader who has been at the school for four years.

"We focused on welcoming the new people to Curtis and showing them how we do things here," she said. Shamya said she had about nine new students from Songhai in her class.

"I told them there are expectations. We keep our mouths closed in the hallways. We follow directions. I told them in a nice way,” she said.

Tatyanna Parker, 8, said she enjoyed the first day at her new school. But as the 3rd grader walked home under a pink and black umbrella to block out the sun, it was clear it had been a long day.

"I'm tired and hot," she complained. "It would be good if I had a fan behind me."

Tatyanna’s mother, Terri Watson, 33, brought the umbrella because she knows her daughter gets annoyed with the sun. They walked from the school, south down State Street on the Safe Passage route.

While Watson and her daughter and a neighbor stuck to the designated route, dozens of other children did not. Some split through a vacant lot across the street from the school and others hustled down South Michigan Avenue. Some children crowded up in a nearby candy store before scattering down their various walks unprotected.

"I mean it feels safe as long as the police are out here," Watson said. "But the snow and the ice is going to be the real test. They gonna be out here then?"

Lolly Bowean
Safe Passage: Two opposing views    Permalink 4:28 p.m.

A volunteer talks about how productive the Safe Passage route was to Curtis Elementary School on the South Side, while a parent says the route was still dangerous for her children. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

Dad after first day at new school: 'It's all good. I like it.'    Permalink 4:23 p.m.

George Carter said he took off work early to pick up his two boys from Johnson Elementary School in North Lawndale. "I always picked 'em up at Pope (the school that closed) and I'll pick 'em up here too. It's all good. I like it."

Asked what she learned in school about safety today, Danaja Furlow, 10, a 5th grader at Johnson, said:  "My teacher told me that whatever someone might say to you in the hallway, you have to stay even and always show respect ... Oh, and don't play with scissors."

David Kidwell
Mayor cancels walk with students after confronted by protesters    Permalink 4:11 p.m.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel visits the 1-3 grade classroom at O'Toole Elementary School on first day of school. The students were learning about the universe on their first class back. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel was scheduled to lead a group of children from Cather Elementary School on the West Side to a nearby community center for after-school programs after classes let out this afternoon.

But after protesters from the grassroots group Action Now turned up at Cather with a bullhorn and pamphlets, urging a boycott of Chicago Public Schools, Emanuel abruptly dropped that plan, got back in his SUV and left.

Action Now member Windy Pearson said the group thinks the Safe Passage plan is inadequate, given the violence that occurs in many Chicago neighborhoods at all hours of the day. "We have people dying in our communities in Safe Passage zones," Pearson said.

The mayor headed instead to nearby UIC College Prep High School, where he watched a geography class for a few minutes, then shook hands with students and teachers when the school day ended.

Afterward, Emanuel made a brief statement to reporters, hewing to his frequent themes of the importance of a longer school day and the improving graduation rates for CPS high school students.

The mayor did not respond when asked why he cancelled the short walk with Cather students.

John Byrne
Heavy police presence as classes let out at Ward    Permalink 3:56 p.m.

Schoolchildren meet Chicago police officers as they walk home on a Safe Passage route from Laura S. Ward Elementary School in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the first day of school. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)

By 2:30 p.m., Safe Passage workers had not yet returned to the street corners around Ward Elementary on the West Side but police seemed to be everywhere.

Marked vehicles circled in advance of the day's final bell at 3 p.m. An unmarked sedan stopped one beat-up Chevrolet outside the school and, after an a brief conversation, the officer hustled the driver alone.

"I've never seen it like this," said Robert Williams, 67, who has lived in the area for nearly 50 years.

The city cleaned blocks around the neighborhood and removed basketball goals on Ward's playground a week ago. He said that helped move drug dealers off the corner of Lawndale and Ohio. Williams said more than one gang operates in the area, and that has led to regular shootings this summer.

A Streets and Sanitation pickup truck circled as workers picked up litter a block south of the school on North Lawndale. Minutes later, scores of kids emerged from school. Most with smiles.

One boy could be heard to complain about the merger of Ryerson and Ward. "I'm the only boy in my class that went to Ryerson," he said loudly. All his friends were in another room.  "Every last one," he said.

One Safe Passage worker near the school, who declined to give her name because her employer had not authorized her to speak to the press, said the day had been orderly at Ward, inside and out.

"The kids came together quite well," she said.

Jeff Coen
Safe Passage prepares for afternoon bell    Permalink 3:12 p.m.

An hour before school was to let out this afternoon, Safe Passage workers lined the route outside Curtis Elementary in the West Pullman neighborhood. Uniformed Chicago police officers stood in the front of the building waiting for the children to be dismissed.

"It went great today, I didn't hear about any incidents," said Eric Wilkins, 42,  a volunteer with the school. Wilkins wore a T-shirt that read "Songhai & Curtis Working Together." Songhai Elementary is the school that closed.

"We made sure they got in school safely and we want to get them home safely," he said. "These are our kids. And all of us from the neighborhood are going to make this smooth. We're working out here part-time, but we're with these kids nonstop. We gotta make it work."

Lolly Bowean
Mayor walks the talk    Permalink 2:26 p.m.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel joins parents and students on their way to O'Toole Elementary School for the first day of school. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)

Safe Passage to James Weldon Johnson Elementary    Permalink 1:57 p.m.

Students arrive for the first day of school at Johnson Elementary School at 14th and Albany.  (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

Students en route to Mays Elementary School    Permalink 1:52 p.m.

Chicago police officers escort students along Marquette Boulevard to Mays Elementary School in the Englewood neighborhood on the first day of school. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)

Body found in Englewood trash bin, half-block from Safe Passage route    Permalink 1:46 p.m.

Chicago police investigators look through an evidence site on the 5900 block of South Emerald Avenue, two blocks north of where a body was found hours earlier on Monday. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Streets and Sanitation workers made a gruesome discovery a half-block from a Safe Passage route this morning: The body of a man in a trash can in the Englewood neighborhood.

The workers found the body as they were collecting garbage around 10 a.m. in the 700 block of West 61st Street, according to police.

The body appeared to be a man in his 30s who suffered multiple trauma, authorities said, citing preliminary information. A cause of death is pending an autopsy Tuesday, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The body was discovered about a half-block from a Safe Passage route for children who attended the shuttered Bontemps Elementary School last year and have been transferred to Nicholson Technical Academy at 6006 S. Peoria St. about four blocks away.  Read more

Carlos Sadovi
At Haley, new desks and air-conditioned classrooms    Permalink 10:32 a.m.

Students and parents look over a chart for incoming new students at Haley Elementary School in Chicago. Haley is a receiving school for students from the now closed West Pullman Elementary. (Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

On the playground outside Haley Elementary, students and their parents searched their names on a list while officials helped them line up into their homeroom classes.

"Thank you boys and girls for your straight lines. Thank you parents for coming out here," principal Rhonda Larkin said.

School was supposed to begin at 845 a.m., Lines organized by homeroom outside school began entering the building at 8:53 a.m.

About 10 families were still getting registered in gymnasium in the morning. By 9:10 a.m. the hallways were clear. Larkin helped get stragglers and those not yet registered into classrooms.

Eighth grade teacher Esther Johnson told students they would not be getting laptops today but would get to use textbooks. She warned students against breaking the laptops or misusing them.

Forty students were registered for school on Monday, 20 of them from West Pullman, the school that closed.

Haley was spiffed up for the first day with new window screens, new desks and chairs and air-conditioned rooms nicely cool.

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
Welcome to Castellanos Elementary    Permalink 10:15 a.m.

Castellanos Elementary School principal Virginia Jimenez greets students on the first day of school in Chicago on August 26, 2013. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)

In Engelwood, a photo op and hope    Permalink 9:50 a.m.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel walks north on Damen Avenue with Reginald Wesley, left, and his daughter Asharie Wesley, second from left, on their way to O'Toole Elementary School on the first day of school in Chicago. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)

In the Englewood neighborhood, Mayor Rahm Emanuel took a stroll along a Safe Passage route with Reginald Wesley and his 9-year-old daughter, Asharie, who was headed to her first day of 4th grade at O'Toole Elementary School. 

After walking past a group of firefighters manning the Safe Passage route on Damen Avenue, Wesley said he's thankful Emanuel is working to make his daughter's walk to school safer. But he's skeptical about what happens after the mayor is gone and the media attention dies down.

"If they keep it up, it could be good," Wesley said. "But the mayor's only one man. If it's just for publicity, that won't do too much good."

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who joined Emanuel at O'Toole, insisted the Safe Passage initiative will remain strong after the TV cameras stop showing up. "We don't do things for media attention, we do things because it's the right thing to do," he said.

Jackson Potter, staff coordinator for the Chicago Teachers Union, turned up at O'Toole as well.

After shouting at Emanuel to use TIF money to shore up the school district's finances, a salvo the mayor ignored, Potter called Safe Passage "a band-aid" that fails to address the causes of violence.

"It's only budgeted for a year, and of course right now they have all the police, fire trucks and everything to show this big spectacle," Potter said as a police helicopter buzzed over O'Toole. "But in reality, there's no guarantee this is going to be here a year from now, and there's plenty of routes that children come before the Safe Passage routes are available, after school when it's late and they're in after-school programs. They can't guarantee their safety."

With many schools facing substantial budget cuts this year, it would have made more sense for Emanuel to provide adequate funding for schools to be able to keep on staff counselors who can help identify conflicts before they turn violent in neighborhoods around schools, Potter said.

"That would have been something to indicate that they were serious about really addressing he problems that exist in the community," Potter said.

John Byrne
Top cop: 'It's the first quarter. It's starting off well and we feel good'    Permalink 9:34 a.m.

With a police helicopter circling above Goodlow Elementary Magnet School, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he visited five Safe Passage routes this morning and was pleased with what he saw.

"Today is, for lack of a better term, it's opening day," McCarthy said "I'm really pleased with what I'm seeing as far as who's out on the routes."

Although several shootings have taken place near or along Safe Passage routes in recent weeks, McCarthy said those incidents happened before the routes were being monitored.  "This is a saturation deployment strategy," he said. "We didn't deploy until this morning."

McCarthy said he's encouraged by the number of parents he's seen walking their kids to school as well. "The thing that I'm seeing, that I'm enjoying the most, is I'm seeing small groups of kids being walked to school by their parents. . .This goes to the heart of what we've been talking about since I've been here."

McCarthy said the only way to measure success is zero incidents, but acknowledged "it will take some time" to get to that point. "If this were a football game, it's the first quarter. . .It's starting off well and we feel good."

Ellen Jean Hirst
School's Out Forever    Permalink 9:32 a.m.

On the first day of school, Tribune photojournalist Brian Cassella visits the buildings that sit empty after being shut down by the Chicago Public Schools. (Top row) Jean D Lafayette Elementary, 2714 W. Augusta Blvd. in Humboldt Park. Opened 1893, closed 2013. (Bottom row) Graeme Stewart Elementary School, 4525 N. Kenmore Ave. in Uptown. Opened 1907, closed 2013. For more photos from Brian Cassella's project, visit http://trib.in/1fexEqF.

'I feel safe now. . .They're shooting too much out here'    Permalink 9:21 a.m.

Brandy Miller and her friend Mekyla Harris were running a half-hour late to get to Curtis Elementary. When they started walking to school, there were Safe Passage workers stationed on every corner. There was even a fire truck posted in the 117th block of South State Street.

For Brandy, 10, who is starting 5th grade at a new school, it was a relief. "It's long but I feel safe now because the police are down here," she said. "They're shooting too much out here."

Brandy said she started out early today but didn't want to walk alone. By the time she got her friends together and made it to Curtis, they were about an hour late for school.

"I don't like this walk. . .It's too long," said Willie Jones, 12, who is starting 8th grade at Curtis after previously attending the now-closed Songhai Elementary. "And we got to cross the train tracks. It's scary."

"We don't know when a train is going to come," his sister, Mekyla, 11, chimed in.

Harold Davis, the director of American Enterprises, which is coordinating Safe Passage security for Curtis,  said the morning went smoothly. He said his workers had to direct some students who were cutting through the alley to walk the main route, but other than that, the morning was uneventful.

"All of this has been a coordinated effort with the police, fire departments, the parents and community," he said. "The issues aren't with the children. The issues have been generational conflicts with their parents and grandparents. And the kids just react to what they hear the grown-ups say.

“Now these adults have to speak to each other ,” he said. “Their  kids are in school with each other. This community has to heal."

Lolly Bowean
After school bell rings, clean-up crews and police cruisers remain    Permalink 9:16 a.m.

In the Englewood neighborhood around Mays Elementary, Safe Passage workers left their posts at 9 a.m., exactly one hour after school started.

But the neighborhood remained active as Streets and Sanitation crews continued to clean up under viaducts and empty lots and police cruisers drove up and down the streets.

John Chase
East Garfield resident voices concern about Safe Passage plan    Permalink 9:11 a.m.

Ronnie Bernard, from the East Garfield neighborhood, talks about the Safe Passage program, expressing concern about its future. (Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune)

Building commissioner shows up at Mays school    Permalink 8:55 a.m.

The massive city presence outside the new Mays Elementary included  the city's building commissioner, Mike Merchant, who was monitoring crews clearing an area about a block away.

Merchant said the city demolished seven abandoned buildings on the southeast corner of West 66th Street and South Parnell Avenue.

That's by the site of one of the city's most notorious crimes: The 1998 rape and murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris. A park named after Harris is on Marquette Road, along the Safe Passage route.

Merchant said the city tore down at least 41 buildings in the neighborhood and secured at least an additional 300 in preparation for the start of school.

John Chase
Buses on hand for some Haley students    Permalink 8:52 a.m.

The first bus heading to Haley Elementary, which is designated to take in students from the shuttered West Pullman Elementary, left at about 8:15 a.m. with only seven kids on board.

Another bus left 15 minutes later. School starts at Haley at 8:45 a.m.

Daniya Welton, 6, her hair neatly braided, was among those on the bus. She wore the school uniform of white shirt and navy blue shorts. She said she was nervous about her first day.

Her grandmother, Mae Welton, got her on the bus. Safe Passage workers said adults had to walk to school and couldn’t get on the bus.

Welton said the bus was convenient but she was nervous since she wouldn't be able to see Daniya walk into her classroom.

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
At Johnson school, parents arrive before Safe Passage workers    Permalink 8:44 a.m.

Renee Carter walks her daughter Kaniya, 7 to school at Johnson Elementary for her first day back to school. She had been going to Pope Elementary, but it closed down. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

Safe Passage workers assigned to Johnson Elementary were to start their patrols at 8 a.m, a half-hour before the scheduled start of school.

It wasn't early enough for many parents who came to meet teachers at their kids' new school.

"I didn't see any yellow vests, not one," said Andrea West, who walked her 11-year-old, Andrey Jones. "I guess I am early?"

None of the Safe Passage workers would speak to media, telling reporters they were told not to speak publicly about their jobs.

David Kidwell
In East , Safe Passage workers report no incidents    Permalink 8:41 a.m.

Students head back to school along the Safe Passage route to Laura Ward Elementary school as Chicago Police watch the street. (Alex Garcia/ Chicago Tribune)

Laura Bass, the Safe Passage supervisor for Ward Elementary, said she was satisfied with her group's performance on day one. She acknowledged not having the middle of blocks covered, but said her 12 workers were at intersections.

"There are some long blocks out here," Bass said.

She said the goal was to be out 30 minutes prior to the start of class.

Told some parents were concerned about not seeing workers early enough, or about not seeing enough workers, she said she was at Ward herself at 7 a.m.

"But it's the first day, so we'll take a look at it and see what's what," she said.

She said nothing else about the morning surprised her and there were no incidents. "I don't think we could have been better prepared in terms of meetings,” she said.

Jeff Coen
Englewood: 'It's bad this way. This ain't no safe zone, it's a war zone'    Permalink 8:37 a.m.

Third grader William Hawkins, third from left, looks back at his sister as they are escorted by Chicago police officers along Marquette Boulevard to Mays Elementary School in the Englewood neighborhood on the first day of school. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)

In Englewood, Nicole Williams walked her son Darrell to the new Mays Elementary, which is in the building formerly occupied by Banneker Elementary and is more than a half mile away from his home.

The Safe Passage route along West Marquette Road between Halsted Street and Normal Avenue was bustling with police cars, Streets and Sanitation department trucks, Park District crews, Buildings Department workers and police officers walking the sidewalks as children made their way to the first day of school.

More than a dozen Safe Passage workers lined the way, but Williams remained skeptical as she crossed Halsted with her son, who is entering the 4th grade.

"It's bad this way. This ain't no safe zone, it's a war zone," she said.

Williams said it was unusual to see such an increased presence of city workers in the neighborhood. And while she liked it, she wasn't sure it would last past the first week of school.

"We'll see. I hope they stick around," she said.

CPS closed Banneker Elementar, and moved students and staff from Mays, about a half-mile west, to the old Banneker building at Normal and Marquette.

Students who attended Banneker last year had the same walk this morning as they had last year. That was the case for Cordell Cook, who walked his son Drevon to school this morning and said he planned to use the Safe Passage routes all year.

"Knowing Englewood, anything can happen any time, so it is best to be safe and use the Safe Passage," Cook said.

John Chase
Safe Passage at Rosario Castellanos Elementary School    Permalink 8:33 a.m.

Safe Passage workers pass Rosario Castellanos Elementary School in Chicago on the first day of school. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)

Parent wonders how long police will patrol neighborhood    Permalink 8:31 a.m.

"It's going to be a huge adjustment because of the distance," said Tiffany Kerr, who walked 7-year-old daughter Tamilya Kiser to Johnson Elementary this morning.

Tamilya said she is used to seeing police uniforms in her neighborhood, but her mom said she fears the huge police presence today will be short-lived.

"To be honest, I think it will be like this for the first couple days and that will be it,” Kerr said. “This is a really strong drug area."

David Kidwell
'Don't eat, don't be on the phone. Show respect'    Permalink 8:28 a.m.

Jeremiah Thomas, right, walks to the first day of school with his uncle, Scott Robertson, as students head back to school along Safe Passage routes at Laura Ward Elementary school in Chicago.  (Alex Garcia/, Chicago Tribune)

At Ward Elementary, Safe Passage worker William Carter said he was told to be out by 7:30 a.m. and to be watchful. "Don't eat, don't be on the phone. Show respect."

He said things were going smoothly just before 8 a.m.

Eighth grader Paul Anthony Lawrence attended the old Ryerson school, whose building is now Ward Elementary. He walked past Carter and cut across a litter-strewn lot toward the school. He said his big worry was gang violence and kids not mixing well.

A 15-year-old was shot not long ago near the playground, he said. "That is not cool," he said.

Children were orderly going through the school’s doors at 8 a.m.

One Safe Passage worker greeted everyone at a nearby corner. "Good morning, little people"

Jeff Coen
Police patrol gang border in Little Village    Permalink 8:24 a.m.

A Chicago Police vehicle passes a Safe Passage sign outside Cardenas Elementary School on the first day of school in Chicago.  (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)

The police presence around Cardenas and Castellanos elementary schools in Little Village began to increase about a half hour before the 8:30 a.m. start time.

Two officers on foot patrolled the heart of the Safe Passage route: A few blocks of Millard Street designated to conduct students from the shuttered Paderewski Elementary in Lawndale.

Closing Paderewski introduces an influx of African American students from a gang-infested section of Lawndale to predominantly Hispanic schools along Central Park Avenue, a corridor police say has long been a contested border between two Latino gangs.

Yellow-vested Safe Passage monitors occupied several street corners, especially high-traffic intersections at Cermak Road and Ogden Avenue.

David Heinzmann
Today, 8th grader glad to have mom along    Permalink 8:20 a.m.

A Safe Passage route to Laura Ward Elementary school in Chicago is devoid of Safe Passage volunteers on Monday morning.  (Alex Garcia/ Chicago Tribune)

Tina Williams and her 8th grade son Emanuel said they expected more Safe Passage workers on the route to new Ward Elementary in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.

Workers were at most corners, they said, but not in the middle of the block.

Williams’ son Emanuel attended the old Ward last year and said his classmates worried about gangs and fighting at the new school. He was glad his mother walked him to school today.

If not for her, would he have worried about not having more adults on the route? "Yeah, a little bit," he said, somewhat sheepishly.

Jeff Coen
Some students show up with shirts from closed school    Permalink 8:15 a.m.

As a protest, some students going to Curtis Elementary School in West Pullman wore shirts from their old school, Songai Learning Academy.

While some parents complained about the lack of Safe Passage workers, the vendor in charge for the Curtis route said 14 workers aggressively walked the route.

The vendor said the morning has gone smoothly.

Lolly Bowean
Longer to go, 'but it's OK. This is a better school'    Permalink 8:11 a.m.

"I have to walk a little farther, but it's OK," said Ruthie Blake, who escorted two of her three children, ages 6 and 5, to Johnson Elementary. "This is a better school."

Blake said she is encouraged by the police presence.

"Usually any time they start something like this, it never lasts too long," she said of the Safe Passage initiative. "I hope they stick to it because it's needed."

David Kidwell
The walk to school in West Pullman: 'Why no people here?'    Permalink 8:09 a.m.

In the West Pullman neighborhood, Christopher Jackson and his three siblings walked past boarded-up houses and overgrown lots on their way to Curtis Elementary School.

Last year, they attended the now-closed Songai Learning Academy. Today, they walked past closed fast food restaurants and across railroad tracks as they moved from their home on 119th Street and South Lafayette north on State Street -- a  designated Safe Passage route.

Although there were no Safe Passage workers patrolling for much of the walk, Christopher remained optimistic about the first day.

"I'm tired. It was a long walk," he said. "It's good. We ain’t did a long walk like this in a long time. We needed the exercise."

Christopher's mother Myra Gregory was less amused. As she walked her children the four long blocks, carefully keeping them in a single file line while she protected them on the outside, she bemoaned the lack of promised protection along the route.

"So why it's no people here?" she said as she escort her children, wearing their new black uniforms and carrying book bags. "It's dangerous. The signs are up but there's no one out here. I'm upset."

Once the family got a block from the school, they spotted a group of police officers. But for much of the walk, they were alone.

"This is crazy," Gregory went on as the family walked further north on State Street. "All the talk they've been talking about this and ain’t nobody out here for blocks. If we were at Songhai, my kids would have been to school."

To avoid any danger, Delores Kimbrough drove her son to school this morning. Demari Rucker, 5, also transferred from Songhai to Curtis. And she said she would likely continue to drive him for the rest of the year.

"It's fine," she said. "I'll just drive him. That way I don't have to worry."

Lolly Bowean
'Safe Passage signs all over, but stuff still goes on'    Permalink 7:56 a.m.

Jevin Sims, 6, walks between two Chicago Police Officers outside Johnson Elementary School on the first day of classes. Sims  attends STEM Magnet school and will wait for the bus in front of Johnson Elementary School. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

Renee Carter drove to Johnson Elementary School in the North Lawndale neighborhood to deliver her 7-year-old daughter Kaniya.

"We have Safe Passage signs all over, but stuff still goes on," she said. "I wouldn't walk here for anything."

Carter said she used to walk her daughter to Pope Elementary, which closed and sent its students to Johnson, "but here we have to cross a main street and these two streets close by are really known for drugs and trouble."

She said she is still deciding whether or not to keep her honor roll student enrolled. "I don't think so."

David Kidwell
Safe Passage workers on the job    Permalink 7:53 a.m.

Two Safe Passage workers go over their routes outside Benjamin E. Mays Academy in the Englewood neighborhood on the first day of school.  (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)

Walking to a new school: 'We prayed before we left the house'    Permalink 7:43 a.m.

Safe Passage worker William Carter watches as students head back to school along a Safe Passage route at Laura Ward Elementary school in Chicago today.  (Alex Garcia/ Chicago Tribune)

At 7:30 a.m., the first children headed to the new Ward Elementary on the West Side -- and were largely unsupervised except for their parents and police patrol cars on corners north of Garfield Park. Families walked by freshly boarded buildings.

CPS has joined Ward and Ryerson Elementary schools amid a storm of parent protest. The combined school is in the old Ryerson building in the 600 block of North Lawndale. Classes were scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. today.

Diana Thomas walked her first-grader, Jeremiah, to school. She said she expected more Safe Passage workers -- or at least some.

"I did, from what they said it was going to be," Thomas said. "But I'm the type of person who just prays nothing's going to happen. We prayed before we left the house."

Just after 7:30 a.m., about a dozen Safe Passage workers appeared near the school and began fanning out across neighboring blocks.  Nearby Ebenezer Community Outreach is providing the workers.

Jeff Coen
Mayor greets early birds with apples and high-fives    Permalink 7:38 a.m.

Carrying a basket of apples and dispensing high fives, Mayor Rahm Emanuel welcomed a handful of students to their first day of classes at Von Linne Elementary School this morning.

The mayor got to the school in the Avondale neighborhood more than an hour before classes began, so the playground was empty except for about five early arrivers. He toured a small garden with principal Renee Mackin, then touted his longer school day and full-day kindergarten initiatives.

"In order for them to live up to their potential, all of us as adults have to live up to our responsibilities," Emanuel said with Ald. Deb Mell looking on. The mayor then headed to the South Side to walk a Safe Passage route.

John Byrne
Keeping students safe at Benjamin E. Mays Academy    Permalink 7:34 a.m.

Chicago Police officers take position at Benjamin E. Mays Academy in Chicago to insure the safety of students on the first day of school. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)

City watchful, wary as CPS begins classes    Permalink 6:56 a.m.

Chicago police gather Monday at Benjamin E. Mays Academy in the Englewood neighborhood on the first day of school. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)

About a year after a strike shut down Chicago Public Schools for seven days, 403,000 students return to classes Monday in a district shaken by school closings, hammered by budget cuts and forced to confront safety concerns with an unprecedented increase in security.

It figures to be another turbulent year as Mayor Rahm Emanuel presses forward in his quest to fix the city's broken school system.

Chicago Public Schools starts the year with 47 fewer elementary schools — two more will close later — and one less high school program, moves that affect 12,700 students. There will be fewer teachers and staff in schools: The district laid off more than 3,000 employees over recent months. About half that number were teachers, but that will be countered by the hiring of about 1,000 teachers for vacant positions.

New this year will be more than 600 yellow-vested Safe Passage workers hired to get kids whose schools were closed to their new schools safely. Read more

Citing bias, groups call for boycott of classes    Permalink 5:15 a.m.

Activists from several Chicago community groups have called for a one-day boycott of Chicago Public Schools because of what they say are discriminatory practices against poor African-American and Latino students.

The group is asking students to skip school Wednesday and parents and supporters to forgo a Chicago Board of Education meeting to attend a rally in front of the board's downtown office, followed by a march to City Hall.

"They will learn more about democracy in the streets of Chicago than they would in a month of classes," Sarah Simmons, a member of Parents 4 Teachers, said at a news conference.  Read more

Training to keep students safe    Permalink 5:10 a.m.
CPS plots safe routes for children    Permalink 5:00 a.m.

Earlier this month, Chicago Public Schools officials released maps of routes where security will be provided for the thousands of children going to new schools this year.

The so-called "safe passage" routes are designed to smoothly shift students from 47 schools being closed this year to nearby schools. (Click HERE to see maps)

Parents have voiced concern about children crossing rival gang territories and passing empty buildings and vacant lots. Some of them have complained that CPS has been late releasing the maps. Read more

Tribune staff