Some 300 Chicago students will soon be the first graduating class of the Barack Obama College Preparatory High School, according to new plans announced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
On Thursday, Emanuel, who also served as the president’s first chief of staff in the White House, said the city plans to open the selective-enrollment high school in time for the 2017–18 school year.
The school will help alleviate the high demand for selective-enrollment schools, to which more than 16,000 students applied for just 3,200 seats. It will become Chicago’s eleventh such school.
In its first year, the school will enroll a 300-person freshman class, and add students each year until reaching a total of about 1,200 students, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Emanuel said the president is aware of the $60 million project and is “excited about it.”