Catholic girls school in Chicago plans conversion to charter

From The Chicago Sun-Times: Maria High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood — plans to go out of business in 2013 after gradually converting to a coeducational, K-12 public charter school. Enrollment has dwindled from a peak of 1,400 in the 1960s and 1970s to a little more than 200. If Chicago Public School officials approve, a charter school chain, Catalyst Charter Schools Network, would open a K-9 school, called Catalyst-Maria, in the building next year. During 2012-13, Maria High would share the building with Catalyst. Maria’s days as an all-girls Catholic high school would end at the close of that school year, and the charter school would add grades 10 to 12.