WHEREAS, the City Colleges of the City of Chicago perform a vital service in educating the youth of Chicago so that they have the skills needed in the workforce of the 21st Century and to be productive members of our great City; and
WHEREAS, over tens of thousands of students have dropped out of Chicago Public Schools and are therefore unprepared to enroll at City Colleges because they lack a High School diploma and the fundamental skills needed to succeed in college; and
WHEREAS, the vision of the Middle College Program at the City Colleges is to provide a unique, comprehensive and quality alternative education program to reclaimed youth who might otherwise be lost to the community and society; and
WHEREAS, there are currently Middle College Programs at Olive-Harvey College and Truman College which provide individuals the opportunity to obtain a High School diploma and the skills needed for college; and
WHEREAS, the City Colleges may eliminate these programs in June of 2016 at both Olive Harvey and Truman College; and
WHEREAS, this decision will dramatically reduce the opportunities so desperately needed by countless students; now, therefore, ^j-
BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council, through its Committee on Education and Child Development, conduct hearings to determine if the City Colleges is in fact going to eliminate the Middle College Programs, and if so, obtain from City Colleges a rationale therefore; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committee invite the Chancellor of the City Colleges of and appropriate representatives of the teachers of the Middle College Programs; and
Alderman Patricks. O'Connor, 40th Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that invitations to testify be extended to appropriate representatives of the education community, in addition to such other persons as ti Committee deems appropriate.