Jennifer Smith Richards

Jennifer Smith Richards is a reporter for ProPublica pursuing stories about abuses by powerful government institutions and private businesses throughout the Midwest. She is a former investigative reporter for the Tribune.

Students hurry to class Oct. 1 at Wells Community Academy High School in West Town. The school is among 10 Chicago Public Schools that lost the most students compared with district enrollment projections for this school year.

Some Chicago high schools drastically underenrolled

June 16, 2018 at 12:18 p.m.

Hirsch High School on the edge of the South Side's Grand Crossing neighborhood is stately, historic and nearly empty. Only 150 students are enrolled in a school built to accommodate...

Chicago public high schools’ enrollment crisis in charts

June 16, 2018 at 12:25 p.m.

Many of the high schools run by Chicago Public Schools have experienced steep declines in enrollment, particularly in the last decade. Some of the high schools -- once overflowing with...

Wells Community Academy High School in West Town fell 90 students below CPS enrollment projections and it stands to lose $900,000.

Chicago schools with enrollment declines face major budget cuts

August 19, 2019 at 12:12 a.m.

Chicago Public Schools expected 2,166 students at Schurz High School in the Old Irving Park neighborhood this year. But 156 of those students didn't show up and now, a month...

Which neighborhoods have the most rat complaints?

August 18, 2019 at 11:43 p.m.

Tribune illustration by Phil Geib City workers have been called to the same Lawndale address 88 times since 2011 to get rid of rats. Jeanette Pruitt is not surprised. Her...

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