CHICAGO (WLS) — Summer break is coming to an end Sunday for more than 300,000 Chicago Public Schools students.
Students are headed back to class tomorrow. Meanwhile, the school district is still facing a $734 million budget gap.
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It’s been a mix of emotions for students and parents. Students are ready to jump in as parents walk into a new CPS school year uncertain of what may come for the children. Community leaders are on the ready to help fill the gap.
From a colorful ice cream circus on the North Side, fresh cuts and new looks on the West Side, to bouncing it out on the South Side, the back-to-school vibes hit hard in every corner of Chicago.
“I’m very excited because my kids can get out of the house and go to school,” parent Ohjay Lamont said.
Summer is coming to a close, but the season’s end marks a new beginning for CPS students, bringing buzz and a bit of butterflies for CPS student Kaleb Kelly.
“I’m kind of nauseous,” Kelly said. “Kind of excited.”
The mixed emotions were being felt in other way this new school year as CPS gets ready to open its doors with a nearly billion-dollar budget deficit on its back, threatening cuts to student services as families continue to face higher prices for everyday needs on top of other mounting economic challenges.
“There’s a lot of hard times going on right now, parents are in need, a lot of job layoffs,” said Mona Skye with Rayfield Care Foundation.
Community organizers like Skye are hoping to help by hosting a back-to-school giveaway and resource event, handing out free backpacks, supplies and child safety kits while having fun.
“Just to be able to reach one and teach one, to give them a head start for those that don’t have it,” Skye said.
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“When groceries are this high and folks are trying to make sure they’re paying their mortgages and rents, these things make a difference,” 21st Ward Ald. Ronnie Mosley said.
At Madison and Western on the West Side, another school supply giveaway had a focus on fresh looks. ChiGivesBack hosted one of two Labor of Love events, where students were treated to free haircut and styles and little polish and glam.
Madison Street Barbers and Tips312 partnered with the non-profit to provide students a little confidence booster for the new school year.
“The goal ultimately is to bring joy back to kids,” ChiGivesBack co-founder John Boddie said. “If you go into things unprepared, I feel like confidence is one of those things to boost all the things.”
All of the efforts hoped to ease the strain on already strained families dealing with economic certainty while also wanting educational stability for their students.
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“If we don’t do it, it won’t get done. There are budget cuts that are happening,” Boddie said. “We try to make sure that we’re not operating in a silo but we want to make sure that all the resources that we have that we received that we give it right back to the community.”
Organizers like Boddie and Skye say they will continue to keep hosting the events as long as there is a need, hoping that one day they no longer have to.
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