Education – Page 68 –

A handgun and loaded magazine were found inside a backpack in an Evanston Township High School student’s gym locker on Oct. 9, 2026, according to school administrators. The 17-year-old student who possessed the gun has since been taken to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. (Brian Cox/for the Pioneer Press).

Handgun, loaded magazine found in Evanston Township High School student’s backpack

By Claire Murphy

October 12, 2026 at 1:37 p.m.

Evanston police said the 17-year-old male student who had the gun has since been taken...

Cole Rogerson works on a graphic organizer during a seventh-grade English language arts class on Sept. 25, 2026, at Hinckley Big-Rock Middle School in Big Rock. The school banned cellphones and aims for their students to do more work on paper. (Dominic Di Palermo/for the Aurora Beacon-News)

In the age of AI and social media, one west suburban school district goes analog

By Molly Morrow

October 12, 2026 at 9:27 a.m.

After instituting a cellphone ban two years ago, Hinckley-Big Rock School District 429 has now...

The East Aurora School District Administrative Center is at 310 Seminary Ave. in Aurora. (R. Christian Smith/The Beacon-News)

Fewer than half of East Aurora elementary and middle school students on track in reading and math, data shows

By Molly Morrow

October 11, 2026 at 6:00 a.m.

The district says it's taking steps to address gaps in student readiness like offering professional...

Portage High School students hold up signs and chant during an anti-ICE walkout on the school's football field on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)

Students lead walkouts at three Northwest Indiana high schools to protest ICE

By Doug Ross

February 12, 2026 at 5:14 p.m.

Hundreds of students in Portage, Griffith and Munster held walkouts Thursday to voice their opposition...

Former Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez speaks with members of the press at CPS headquarters on March 31, 2025, in Chicago. An outside firm hired to find a permanent replacement for Martinez is withdrawing from the process. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

CPS board members accuse Mayor Brandon Johnson of ‘sabotage’ in CEO search

By Kate Armanini

February 12, 2026 at 6:50 p.m.

A group of six Chicago Public Schools board members blasted Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday,...

Valeria Reyes waves the Mexican flag while spinning around on the shoulders of Eleazar Herrera during a school walkout protesting the actions of ICE agents on Feb. 11, 2026, in Broadview. Over 300 students from Proviso East High School, Proviso West High School and Proviso Math and Science Academy walked out of school and marched to South 25th Avenue near Roosevelt Road to protest the actions of federal officers and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

In a flurry of walkouts, Chicago-area students continue protest of ICE: ‘This is what our world has come to’

By Molly Morrow

February 11, 2026 at 4:51 p.m.

Several hundred high school students from Proviso Township walked out of their classrooms Wednesday morning...

Claire Jakubiszyn, director and founder of Blazing Star School, works with students on pen and ink impressions on Feb. 5, 2026. Blazing Star is a microschool in Chicago, enrolling almost two dozen children, ages 5 to 14. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

‘Free the kids’: Why more Chicago families are turning to homeschooling

By Kate Armanini

February 11, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Homeschooling has burst from the ideological fringe to the center of Chicago’s education landscape.

Patrick “PJ” Henning taught high school and grade school students and led school bands for 46 years. (Family photo)

Patrick ‘PJ’ Henning, who led school bands throughout south suburbs, died at 77

By Bob Goldsborough

February 12, 2026 at 2:18 p.m.

Patrick "PJ' Hennings and his father, Leo, led bands including at Queen of Peace, St....

Students in Aurora stage walkout on Monday, three charged, Aurora police say

By Molly Morrow

February 10, 2026 at 4:35 p.m.

The walkout joins a string of other similar protest actions across the Chicago area in...

Don Ligon and Jessica Null, social workers at Bremen High, helped create The Braves Closet, where students who need clothes or toiletries can get them for free. (Janice Neumann/Daily Southtown)

Bremen High School’s Braves Closet offers help with discretion in a comforting space

By Janice Neumann

February 10, 2026 at 12:54 p.m.

Bremen High School has long had clothing and hygiene products available for students in need,...

The Hemingway Birthplace Museum in Oak Park, home of the Hemingway Foundation, which is offering a series of writing contests this spring. (Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park)

Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park contests open to aspiring writers

By Myrna Petlicki

February 10, 2026 at 5:04 a.m.

Recognition, publication and financial awards are among prizes in competitions offered by the Ernest Hemingway...

Alicia Ferro picks up her third grader and kindergartener from St. Jerome Catholic School in Chicago’s Armour Square neighborhood on Jan. 30, 2026. The Archdiocese of Chicago announced that the school will be closing at the end of the school year. Ferro and her father are graduates of St. Jerome. (Chris Sweda/baiduhai)

Parents push back on school closures after archdiocese says time to mobilize has passed: ‘We were blindsided’

By Hope Moses

February 10, 2026 at 6:18 a.m.

The Archdiocese of Chicago's plans to shutter St. Jerome and Sts. Bruno and Richard has...

Hammond Central High School students wave flags and hold up signs as they participate in an anti-ICE walkout in front of the school on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)

‘We’re fighting for what’s right’: Hammond Central students protest ICE in walkout

By Maya Wilkins

February 9, 2026 at 3:34 p.m.

'We're fighting for what's right': Hammond Central students protest ICE in school walkout