School Background
Towering eight stories above the Chicago cross-streets of Division and Western rests Roberto Clemente Career Academy (RCCA). A monolith of black steel beams, Clemente's vertical campus looks more like an office building rather than an educational domain. At one time the school contained 3,000 students, but due to the influx of elementary charter schools and their collective suggestion to their students not to attend Clemente, our school population slid down to 1,100 students. A year ago, we only had 880 students. At that time, 96% of our population was on free and reduced lunch and 21% of our students were Special Education students. Additionally, we have a mixed student population, with about 69% Hispanic, 27% Black, and 4% other. 2 Despite the changes that have occurred in the building, RCCA is once again a growing neighborhood school.
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