Katie Drews

Despite push, some students still lack devices, and some districts aren’t providing data about who’s logging on.

The Chicago school district also is paying out more than $100,000 to a special education teacher who says he lost his job after raising concerns about special ed staffing issues at the same Southwest Side high school.

Documents released after a judge lifts a publication ban against the BGA offer new details about failed oversight, warnings that were ignored and “mayhem” at high school pool on the Southwest Side in 2017.

Following BGA/Sun-Times investigation into special ed care at pools, Chicago’s school board is set to take up policy changes that would limit pool activities and focus lifeguard staffing.

Fourteen-year-old Rosario Gomez didn’t know how to swim, wasn’t wearing a lifejacket and had significant problems communicating. His drowning in a high school pool last winter fuels doubts about Chicago Public Schools’ ability to care for its special needs students.

By design, Illinois places an outsized reliance on revenue from local property taxes to fund schools. That has led to dramatic increases in property taxes across the state while also creating a worst in the nation gap in funding between rich and poor districts.

Parents, teachers and disability rights advocates say new oversight protocols keep kids from getting services they need, while BGA analysis raises questions about Chicago Public Schools’ claims that minority students are over-identified for special ed.

More than $10 million owed to the city teachers’ retirement fund is paid late, triggering at least $1.8 million in fines.