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Keller Regional Gifted Center Staying Put, Official Says

By Howard Ludwig | November 2, 2016 5:28pm
 The Keller Regional Gifted Center at 3020 W. 108th St. in Mount Greenwood was being considered as a way to alleviate overcrowding at Mount Greenwood Elementary School. The plan has since been scrapped, according to a the principal at nearby Mount Greenwood School
The Keller Regional Gifted Center at 3020 W. 108th St. in Mount Greenwood was being considered as a way to alleviate overcrowding at Mount Greenwood Elementary School. The plan has since been scrapped, according to a the principal at nearby Mount Greenwood School
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DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig

MOUNT GREENWOOD — The Keller Regional Gifted Center has been taken off the table as an option to ease overcrowding at nearby Mount Greenwood Elementary School, according to Mount Greeenwood Principal Kate Reidy.

Reidy heads Mount Greenwood Elementary at 10841 S. Homan Ave. in Mount Greenwood and was in a brainstorming meeting Tuesday with Chicago Public Schools officials regarding on her booming student population.

In that meeting, Reidy was told that moving Keller from 3020 W. 108th St. to create a dual campus for Mount Greenwood — which is just 3½ blocks away — was not an option. She would not share additional details from the meeting, and CPS administrators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"I think there is definitely a solution out there," Reidy said Wednesday.

Ald. Matt O'Shea (19th) had proposed moving Keller, a gifted school that draws students from throughout the city, as part of his controversial elementary school overhaul proposal. Under that plan, Keller would have taken over the North Beverly campus of Kellogg Elementary School.

Kellogg would have merged with Sutherland Elementary School in Beverly as part of the plan O'Shea abandoned Oct. 10, which also would have directed money for needed facilities improvements to Esmond Elementary School in Morgan Park.

In an email to constituents, O'Shea stepped away from the merger of the Beverly schools but never directly mentioned Keller. This led to concern among Keller parents that the school of 240 students might still be at risk of moving.

O'Shea was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but he's previously pointed to statements made when pitching his school overhaul plan where he said his goal "would be to keep Keller in the neighborhood."

Despite all of that, Reidy emphasized she expects overcrowding to worsen at Mount Greenwood in the coming years. She predicted as many as 1,200 students as soon as next year at the school built for 990.

"I do not want to turn anyone away," she said.

Indeed, both Mount Greenwood and Keller are top-ranked schools, according to CPS. And Keller was recently ranked among the top schools by Illinois State Board of Education, which issued its annual report card last month.

Reidy's school currently has 1,109 students. She credited her teachers, students and parents for both the success and popularity of Mount Greenwood School, which has already filled two additions — totaling $13 million — in the last six years.

"We will find a viable solution for every member of our community," she said.

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