Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants Chicago public high school students to show they have a plan for what’s next before they can get a diploma.
Emanuel’s proposal would add one more big item to the graduation checklist for high school seniors: proof they’ve been accepted into college or the military, or a trade or a “gap-year” program. The requirement would also be satisfied if the student has a job or a job offer.
Emanuel says the point is to get CPS students in all parts of the city to stop seeing high school graduation as an ending and get them to consider what’s next.
The plan could just be an effort to prop up the Chicago City Colleges system. They have continued to struggle with “softened” enrollment numbers, as the system also looks at burning cash reserves and making cuts because of the state’s protracted budget impasse.