CHICAGO (CBS) — Neighborhood residents are pleading with the Chicago Public Schools to free up money to fix some serious problems at the Gale Math and Science Academy in Rogers Park, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
Members of the community group Chicago Light Brigade say Gale is facing a $310,000 funding cut, even though paint is peeling from ceilings and walls and the fire alarm system doesn’t work properly.
Chicago Public School officials say with student-based budgeting, schools with declining enrollments get smaller budgets so high attendance schools can better provide for their students.
Brigade spokesman Daniel Dilliplane suggests that is strangling Gale.
“What my concern would be is, why would you want to send your kid to a school where there is chipping lead paint on the ceiling? We see this as a pattern of disinvestment in our public school system,”
He says school officials should at least give the Gale school enough money to try to prove itself.
