Fewer CPS students

October 1st is the official count day for CPS enrollment as it was the 20th day of school. The numbers aren't good for the most part. There are 10,000 fewer students attending CPS schools this year than last year and since 2011 a staggering 41,000 fewer students are going to the district schools. The hardest hit sector was the elementary school segment which finds that 7,000 less students this year than last.

According to CEO Janice Jackson some of the loss of students can be 'chalked up to declining birthrates and national immigration trends.' Jackson went on to add 'that CPS has held onto a consistent rate of school-aged children over the past five years.'

One of the elephants in the room not addressed by Jackson is the effect of declining student enrollment to selective and private schools. Also not mentioned is the overall decline of CPS students due to the loss of the population in the city. And that final point about abandonment, particularly on the south side and south west portions of the city, caused by poverty and the loss of a job base was never cited as a factor in the loss of students in the school system.

It's as if no one wants to touch that.

Dick