Chicago police officer and nonprofit leader Kenneth Griffin. (WTTW News)

Kenneth Griffin said as a young man growing up in Englewood, he didn’t have many positive interactions with the police. That’s part of the reason the trained chef became a Chicago police officer — to create connections between young people and police in his community.

(WTTW News)

Northwestern baseball coach Jim Foster was fired Thursday amid allegations of misconduct, three days after football coach Pat Fitzgerald was dismissed because of a hazing scandal.

Northwestern University football coach Pat Fitzgerald appears on “Chicago Tonight.”
,

“Since Friday, I have kept going back to what we should reasonably expect from our head coaches, our faculty and our campus leaders,” Northwestern President Michael Schill said in a statement Monday evening. “And that is what led me to make this decision. The head coach is ultimately responsible for the culture of his team.

Head football coach Pat Fitzgerald of the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, on Oct. 8, 2022. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images via CNN)
,

The investigation determined that Fitzgerald and other coaching staff members did not know about the hazing, but “there had been opportunities for them to discover and report the hazing conduct,” the university said in a news release.

(WTTW News)

“I think this might be the first time in CPS history … that you have a board that’s made up of almost every one of us has some experience with CPS — either we’re parents, we’ve served on (Local School Councils), we were students or we were educators,” new board appointee Mariela Morales said

(WTTW News)

Selections include head of a local education advocacy group, special education advocate

Brandon Johnson announced that Jianan Shi, the executive director of Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education since 2019, will serve as the board’s president after former president Miguel del Valle stepped down after his term expired last week.

The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. (WTTW News)
,

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, a policy that withstood challenges reaching as far back as 1978. Now, higher education institutions wishing to achieve racially diverse student bodies have to find a new way forward.

A sign reading “cancel student debt” is seen outside the Supreme Court, Friday, June 30, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo / Mariam Zuhaib)
,

The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, effectively killed the $400 billion plan, announced by President Joe Biden last year, and left borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume by late summer.

Activists demonstrate as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions, in Washington, Oct. 31, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)
,

The court's conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

(WTTW News)

The district’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year will contain $4.8 billion in school-level funding, which officials said is an increase of more than $240 million over last year.

Chicago Board of Education President Miguel del Valle appears on “Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” on May 15, 2021. (WTTW News)

Miguel del Valle, who has led Chicago’s Board of Education since 2019, announced he will be leaving his post at the end of this week.

Jones College Prep High School is pictured on Nov. 7, 2022. (WTTW News)

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez notified Jones College Prep parents and families Monday that Joseph Powers has retired after serving as the high school’s principal since 2008.

Heather Hutto, executive director of Bristow Public Library, center, along with former President of United for Libraries Skip Dye, left, and Executive Director of the Digital Public Library of America John Bracken, right, speaks during a panel discussion about understanding and combating book bans at the American Library Association's annual conference and exhibition on Friday, June 23, 2023, at McCormick Place in Chicago. (AP Photo / Erin Hooley)

Book bans and how to fight them is a major focus of this year’s American Library Association conference. Librarians may attend sessions aimed at helping them confidently counter book challenges, fight legislative censorship and ensure the freedom to read.

(Courtesy of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago)

Research shows that kids in mentorships are more likely to graduate high school and enroll in college, have lower rates of substance abuse and overall report better feelings of self-esteem and confidence.

Youth activists organized a peaceful march to then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home on Aug. 13, 2020, to demand the removal of resource officers from Chicago Public Schools. (Matt Masterson / WTTW News)
,

Austin High School will remove one of its two school resource officers, while Marshall High School has voted to remove both of its SROs. Even so, the contract total will actually increase slightly due to increased salaries for the CPD officers assigned to schools.

(WTTW News)

Classes may be finished, but beginning Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools will offer free meals to students at hundreds of school buildings throughout the city during the summer months.