The values of Payton's four Cs-Character, Compassion, Curiosity, and Courage-continue to be acted upon in numerous ways. To wit:

-Sophomore, Gloria Kevluciate, was elected to serve as the student representative on the Local School Council. We welcome her voice and ideas and offer many, many thanks to the tremendous thoughtfulness of our graduating LSC representative, Lucian Black, who has served on the LSC for the past two years.

-34 Cheers to Sarah Esslinger, our Counseling Intern, who was named Graduate Student of the Year by the Illinois School Counselor Association.

Payton was recognized as the 5th smartest public high school in the United States by  Business Insider.

-34 Cheers to senior, Brooke Gardner, for being named to the IHSA All-State Academic Team!

-Our junior class posted a 29.9 average on the recent ACT.

-34 Cheers to Brianna Scott and Chris Herrera, who both earned the Gates Millenium Scholarship. Congratulations to them, their elementary and high school teachers, and their parents.

-34 Cheers to two of our phenomenal debators, Lenny Brahin and Luisa Cusick, who placed in the top 20 in the national Tournament of Champions.

-Our seniors have been hearing back from colleges. It is exciting to learn where they will be writing the next chapters of their life's story. Much goes into the college application process from both the family and school. Notable thanks to our counselors and teachers who wrote thousands...literally thousands...of college and scholarship recommendations for our students.

On a broader and quite important note, the CPS will issue budgets to schools in June. As of this writing, CPS has a $1.16 billion shortfall (out of a $6.4 billion budget). Unless the shortfall is addressed by CPS, City Hall, the Governor, and the State Legislature in very short order, CPS will impose the largest budget cut in its history. This would negatively affect many of Payton's people and programs. If an 18% budget cut comes to Payton, it would impact our course offerings, extracurricular programs, class sizes, and the depth and breadth of our faculty. We have been and will continue to advocate for our people and programs, and we have tendered many suggestions as to how the budget shortfall can be lessened, but please know that we-and all other CPS schools-are facing a sizeable cuts. We will be given more information in June, so it is currently not known what specific impact budget cuts would have. This general information is offered now so that there is no surprise if cuts do occur. A promise: we-the Payton administration, the Instructional Leadership Team, and the Local School Council-will tirelessly and thoughtfully advocate for the needs of our students and faculty. We have done so in the past, and you have our commitment that we will do so again. We will keep you appraised.