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The Sweetest News in the City · Walter Payton College Preparatory High School · 1034 N. Wells St. · Chicago, IL 60610

  • A reflection on Payton’s finals grading policy: adopting a new plan

    By Ella Schaffer, Staff Writer During the remote learning school year of 2020-2021, Walter Payton’s finals policy stated that final exams and projects couldn’t lower a student’s overall letter grade. Teachers that administered a unit exam, or other end-of-unit assessment instead of a final also had to provide students with the possibility of retaking such… Read more

  • Student-led organization plans to lead student walkout Friday

    By: Vivian Kaleta and Bridget Galibois, Copy Editors This Friday, students from across Chicago Public Schools are planning to participate in a Walk Out organized by Chi-Rads, an organization of CPS high schoolers. According to Chi-Rads, the intention behind the walk out is to have student voices heard regarding negotiations between Chicago Public Schools and… Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: CTU members approve the COVID-19 agreement reached with CPS

    By Vivian Kaleta, Copy Editor After five days of closed schools due to a dispute between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers ​​Union, CPS students returned back to school on Wednesday, January 12. According to the school district, no schools moved to school-wide remote learning today but in some schools individual classrooms switched to… Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: Schedule updates for student return to class

    By: Megha Khemka, Copy Editor/LSC Correspondent Tuesday marked the last day of school closures in the recent dispute between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union over student and teacher safety and district-wide COVID procedures. Payton students return on Wednesday, January 12th, for a seminar day, and all freshmen take the PSAT test as… Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: Students set to return to class on Wednesday

    By: Aaron Faier, Editor-in-Chief The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have appeared to reach a tentative deal to bring students back into classrooms.  As negotiations continued throughout the afternoon, there was optimism that a deal would be reached between the Union and the school district. Earlier a car caravan in the Loop was… Read more

  • Letter to the School Community from faculty

    Letter to the School Community from faculty

    The Payton Faculty wrote a letter to the school community about the shutdown and teachers’ viewpoint. Read it for more details. Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: Update on current status of District shutdown

    By Isabelle Ravanas, Editor-in-Chief After two days of cancelled classes, the Payton community was let know that class on Friday, Jan. 7 would be cancelled due to the current impasse between the CTU and CPS. As Omicron levels are on the rise, school districts across the country adjusted their protocols to mitigate the spread of… Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: CTU’s attempt to work remotely would mean no classes Wednesday

    By Megha Khemka, Correspondent The Chicago Teachers Union will vote on Jan. 4 to switch to online learning in response to the current spike in COVID cases throughout the country. If CTU decides on remote learning, school will be canceled for Wednesday. In a meeting at 4:30 PM today, CTU’s House of Delegates voted not… Read more

  • No more MAP Testing: Road to high school entrances unreadable

    By Ella Schaffer, Staff Writer This year, the NWEA MAP exam will not be used for any CPS school admission. The CPS High School Admissions Test will become the only admissions exam used for the determination of admission into various CPS schools. Testing for CPS students is to be held on November 9th while non-CPS… Read more

  • 2022 New Year’s Resolutions for Payton Students

    2022 New Year’s Resolutions for Payton Students

    By Ella Schaffer~ Payton students have diverse New Year’s traditions and resolutions, including spending time with family, improving time management, and prioritizing wellbeing and health. Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: Nationwide school shooting threat leads to increased security

    By Isabelle Ravanas, Editor-in-Chief This week, schools across the country were on high alert following the spread of a TikTok trend encouraging violence in schools on Dec. 17.  Originating in Arizona, “National Shoot Up Your School Day”, a TikTok challenge, encouraged students to shoot up or bomb “every school in the USA, even elementary.” In… Read more

  • What is a Local School Council?

    By Megha Khemka, Copy Editor Function Local School Councils are policy-making bodies whose aim is to empower parents, communities, students, and educational leaders, as well as give them a voice in decision-making processes regarding the school they serve. Most CPS schools, including elementary and secondary schools, have LSC committees, but only high school LSCs include… Read more

  • BREAKING NEWS: CPS announces first case of Omicron variant in the City of Chicago

    By Isabelle Ravanas, Editor-in-Chief CPS officials announced the first reported case of the Omicron variant in the City of Chicago and state of Illinois on Wednesday.  The Omicron variant was reported to the WHO on Nov. 24, though it is expected the mutation was evident throughout South Africa and Botswana earlier. The first case of… Read more

  • The effectiveness of Vaccination Awareness Day: an outlook on CPS

    By Vivian Kaleta, Copy Editor The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11 on November 2. After the sign off, the CDC allowed providers to begin vaccinating newly eligible children as soon as possible. In response, the City of Chicago closed schools to the district’s 330,000 students on… Read more

  • New principals in training at Payton – meet Resident Principals Kijek and Ofori

    By Bridget Galibois and Alexis Park, Copy Editors The goal of Payton’s two new resident principals, Ms. Kijek and Ms. Ofori, is to make sure the needs of every student are met. They can be seen around the building during passing periods, sitting in on lessons, or teaching history classes. “I am essentially supposed to… Read more

  • Meet Mr. Menon, a new addition to the Payton Math Department

    By Aaron Faier, Editor-in-Chief This interview has been edited for clarity. The Paw Print: What drew you to teaching? Mr. Menon: The opportunity to interact with so many different people and to also show that there’s value in leaving high school with a strong number sense mathematically. Also drawing me into teaching is the idea… Read more