Walter Burnett's 27th Ward one of the neediest wards in the city, by the board's definitions. For decades, students from high schools across the city transferred to Jones Commercial after their sophomore year to prepare for office jobs at Loop companies. The school's close proximity facilitated an extensive work experience program. Buckney, who added college-prep courses while she was principal at Jones, says the area's changing residential demographics demand a new program. Students will still be able to choose a business style program, but not for secretarial jobs anymore.
Officials say they are looking at alternative sites as well.
At both Jones and Near North, teachers, parents and students have protested the board's plans, and their travails have been chronicled in a series of articles in Substance , a muckraking, teacher-produced monthly newspaper. Vallas has denied that the new magnet high schools are intended to lure the affluent. In a redevelopment area on the Near West Side, Riis Elementary recently saw its rehab plans disappear. Riis has a faulty heating system and drafty windows, which force some students to wear their coats to class during winter. Principal Susan Milojevic didn't learn of the cancellation until a reporter told her of it.