LAKEVIEW — Lake View High School is off probationary status.
The school, 4015 N. Ashland Ave., is now rated a Level 2 school in "good standing" due to a change in the way Chicago Public Schools calculated attendance.
Lake View initially dropped to a Level 3 "poor/probation" school from a Level 1 "excellent" school this year largely because it lost "trend" growth points, as Principal Lillith Werner explained at a special local school council meeting this year.
But it also lost attendance points partly due to two days added to the calendar last January that were were makeup days after the Chicago Teachers Union strike last fall. Many students missed those days because their families had already planned vacations, Werner said, and the two days showed dramatic declines in attendance.
Werner said the School Board had previously promised not to include those days in calculating average attendance, but Lake View's initial evaluation ended up including the days. Werner appealed the decision.
Without those two days in play, Lake View would be off probation, Werner had said.
Last week, the district decided to reconsider the school's rating and took out the two days that CPS decided were outliers in attendance. Lake View was one of three schools whose rating was impacted by the switch.
Mather High School in West Ridge and Budlong Elementary School in Albany Park also changed levels due to appeals, both moving from Level 2 "good standing" schools up to Level 1 "excellent" schools.
The past school year is the last time schools will be rated on the old three-tier evaluation system. Next year, a new system with five tiers will be used.
