West Town Academy

West Town Academy
West Town Academy
Address
	534 N Sacramento Blvd; Chicago, Cook County, Illinois 60612; United States
Information
School type	Charter Public School
Established	September 1998
Founder	William Leavy
Status	Open
Oversight	Chicago Public Schools
Dean	Kendall Holliday
Principal	Diane Rodriguez
Staff	10
Faculty	8
Grades	Secondary
Age	17 to 21
Number of students	200
Average class size	25
Language	English
Hours in school day	8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Campus type	urban
School colour(s)	Blue and White
Athletics	Basketball, Flag Football, Volleyball, Bowling, Softball
Athletics conference	Chicago Area Alternative Education League
Team name	West Town Warriors
Accreditation	Illinois State Board of Education
Newspaper	West Town Times
Communities served	West Side of Chicago
Affiliation	Youth Connection Charter School and Alternative School Network
Website	http://www.westtownacademy.org

West Town Academy is a part of Greater West Town Community Development Project, a communitarian non-profit organization working toward development on the West Side of Chicago.

The school originated as a GED program aimed at Chicago high school dropouts. It became a fully state-certified high school in 1998 and has been retrieving "disenrolled" minority students from the Chicago Public Schools system through its association as a campus of Youth Connection Charter School.[1][2] It also operates as an independent high school through the enrollment of students who are wards of the court and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. This situation makes West Town Academy both a public and private school simultaneously.

The school and its parent agency have hosted many local, statewide and national politicians. Then newly elected state senator Barack Obama was the commencement speaker for the class of 2000. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Illinois governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn, and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner have all used it as a podium to make policy statements. Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry and then candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois Obama held a campaign event in its original location during the 2004 campaign.

The school was founded by William Leavy, who is also director of its parent organization, The school moved to its new location, 534 N Sacramento, Chicago, IL, in June 2010.

References

Grossman, Kate N. Chicago Sun-Times. Schools pressured to dump bad students, critics say. January 9, 2004. pg. 8.
Olszewski, Lori. Chicago Tribune. 1 in 5 blacks drop out. November 11, 2003. pg. 1.

External links

Home page

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[1] Grossman, Kate N. Chicago Sun-Times. Schools pressured to dump bad students, critics say. January 9, 2004. pg. 8.

[2] Olszewski, Lori. Chicago Tribune. 1 in 5 blacks drop out. November 11, 2003. pg. 1.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
List of schools in Chicago Public Schools
K–12 schools	Ogden International School (K–8 zoned, high school unzoned)
7–12 schools	Disney II (magnet) Harlan (9–12 zoned, 7–8 unzoned) Kelvyn Park (7–12 zoned) Kenwood (9–12 zoned, 7–8 unzoned) Lane Tech (alternative) Lindblom Math & Science (alternative) Morgan Park (9–12 zoned, 7–8 unzoned)
Attendance area high schools	Amundsen Austin Back of the Yards Bogan Bowen Chicago Vocational (9–11 zoned) Clemente Corliss Curie (9–10 zoned) Dyett Farragut Fenger Foreman Gage Park Hancock (attendance zone phasing out) Harper Hirsch Hope Hubbard Hyde Park Juarez Julian Kelly Kennedy Lake View Lincoln Park Manley Marshall Mather Orr Phillips Richards Roosevelt Schurz Senn Steinmetz Sullivan Taft Tilden Washington Wells
Alternative and magnet high schools	Agricultural Sciences Alcott College Prep Brooks College Prep Chicago Academy Clark Magnet Crane Medical Prep DeVry Advantage Dunbar Vocational Jones College Prep King College Prep Northside College Prep Payton College Prep Prosser Career Academy Raby School for Community and Environment Simeon Career Academy South Shore Int'l College Preparatory Uplift Community High School Von Steuben Metro Science Westinghouse College Prep Young Magnet
Contract high schools	Chicago Excel Academy Chicago High School for the Arts Chicago Technology Academy
Charter high schools affiliated with CPS	Chicago International Charter School Chicago Math and Science Academy CICS Northtown Academy Noble Network Perspectives Urban Prep Young Women's Leadership Youth Connection Latino Youth West Town Academy
Military academies	Air Force Academy High School Carver Military Academy Chicago Military Academy Marine Leadership Academy at Ames Phoenix Military Academy Rickover Naval Academy
Attendance area K–8/PK–8 schools	Bell Clinton Arthur Dixon Nettelhorst Pritzker
Alternative and magnet K–8/PK–8 schools	Inter-American Magnet School Lenart Regional Gifted Center
Middle schools	Phoebe A. Hearst Fine Arts Magnet School
Special education schools	Vaughn
Former high schools	Calumet Chicago High Chicago Talent Cooley DuSable Englewood Tech Flower Vocational Harrison Tech Las Casas Occupational McKinley Near North Robeson
Former K–8 schools	Jenner
Former 7–9 middle schools	Moses Montefiore Academy
Works	The Curators of Dixon School
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