Only surprise out of the first round was Solorio. #21 seed Solorio upset #12 seed Lake View a much more established program. Pictured above is Solorio pitcher Enrique Monzano(so) who pitched a complete game. Solorio faces Whitney Young next. bracket (FB photo)
Harlan 12, Urban Prep 0 (5 inn.)
Kenwood 14, Ag. Science 1 (5 inn.)
Lane Tech 14, Wells 0
Northside 12, Corliss 0 (5 inn.)
Solorio 6, Lake View 1
Taft 10, Prosser 3
Von Steuben 12, Perspectives-MSA 1 (5 inn.)
Young 12, Kelly 2 (6 inn.)
Josue Carias(fr) of Solorio makes his finals qualifying throw in the shot put. Carias had the top freshman mark of the day. New schools and charter schools definitely made their presence felt in the meet.
It cost an estimated $90-$100 million to build Solorio Academy - one of the most expensive high schools ever built in Illinois. Was it wise to spend that kind of money, when there are so many schools being underutilized; 139 are less than 50% utilized. (SA photo)
The CPS is broke. That's what they tell us. The CPS is expecting a one billion dollar budget deficit in 2014. (read here and here).
But whoever is making the decisions at the CPS sure are not making the right decisions to make it any better. First of all the CPS decided to make sure they go deeper in the hole after they gave in to the teachers union by giving the teachers an incredible pay increase after the teachers striked last fall.
The CPS is seriously considering closing 100 schools. The biggest reason is to save money because so many schools are being underutilized. In other words, we have too many schools with too few students enrolled. We have too many schools designed for a certain number of students, but the actual enrollment is way under the number that the school was designed for. The CPS also has too many schools. There are at least 20-25 CPS high schools with an enrollment under 500 students.
I feel that the last 15-20 years the CPS made way too many schools and now we are going to face to consequences.
Solorio soccer players practice at the state of the art new artifical field turf at Solorio. (SA photo)
Case in point, Solorio Academy. Solorio was completed in 2010. It has some of the best facilities in the CPS- complete with 5 computer labs, 6 lane swimming poool, an artificial field turf, and a really nice gym. The soccer and football teams are up and coming. I'm glad the students and the community get to enjoy a nice school.
But at what cost? It costs an estimated $90-$100 million dollars to build Solorio- one of the most expensive high schools ever built in Illinois. However, no one ever asked if we really need the school. So many schools are underutilized. According to a Tribune article: "The district says underuse will be the key factor in deciding what
schools to close. According to the list released Tuesday, enrollment at
330 of the 681 total schools is below 80 percent of what the district
has determined to be the ideal population. Of those, 139 schools are
only half full or less."
Was it really wise to spend $90 million (mostly Chicago tax payer money) when so many schools in the CPS are underutilized?
I know the southwest side of Chicago has a lot of people and may have needed another school. However, the CPS should have closed or consolidated schools in the other parts of the city BEFORE spending such a huge sum on another school.
Combine the decision to spend the money to make Solorio with other questionable decisions like giving the teachers their pay raise and you got some major reasons why the CPS is in such a financial mess.
Solorio Academy girls soccer team plays a match on the Solario field turf(?).
It is not official yet, but I am hearing word that Solario Academy in the west Gage Park neighborhood of Chicago is going to field a football team for the first time starting in the 2012-13.
Here is what a source told me:
"Solario Academy on 54th and St.Louis.A new school will be playing their first varsity season this year.Opening at home vs Reavis.Looking at their website,I see they have a pretty nice little football field with turf.It is nice to see.I wish them luck."
For those not too familiar with Solario (me being one of them), Solario is a new neighborhood school that opened in the 2010-11 school season. It added a freshman class with the start of the new school year. In the fall of 2013, the school will have it's first junior class.
No formal word yet on what football conference Solario will play in. I do know Crane, from the Inter-City 4 is closing and will likely not field a team in 2012-13. So Solario may fit in nicely in the Inter-City 4 playing against schools liek Farragut and Juarez.
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