Contact:
Matthew Greenberg (312) 409-8411

September 28, 2015

Chicago, IL –Over the summer the Chicago Board of Education “recommended” that Ogden close its International Gifted (IG) program since it is “redundant” with the International Baccalaureate (IB) middle years program and announced its intentions not to accept new student applications for the Ogden IG program.
      International Gifted programs are accelerated middle school programs that accept the most advanced students city wide who apply as 5th graders. IB middle year programs admissions are determined by a combination of neighborhood boundaries and lottery. To describe Ogden IG as “redundant” to an IB program is simply incorrect. While it is true that Ogden Elementary is overcrowded and that eliminating its IG program will help free up some space, ending one of the top middle school programs in the City of Chicago to ease overcrowding is short sighted. Moreover, this decision was made very quietly with little discussion, no notice and no community input.

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