Jenner Academy of the Arts

Edward Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts is a PK-8 school in the Cabrini-Green area of the Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. It is a part of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and was named after Edward Jenner.

In 1966 black parents boycotted the school in order to remove the white principal of Jenner. CPS transferred him to another school early that year.

Don Terry of The New York Times wrote that the school's atmosphere deteriorated after the October 1992 shooting of Jenner student Dantrell Davis, age 7. Davis was walking to school when he died. From March to October of that year three students, including Davis, were fatally shot within blocks of Jenner.

In 1997 the school had 570 students. That year the playground was in such a poor condition that children could not use it, and violent acts occurred in the vicinity of the school. In 1997 the head of CPS, Paul Vallas, stated that he may move students from the school building to another temporary location for safety reasons; 7th and 8th grade students had witnessed a fatal shooting in September of that year.

In the 1970-1971 school year Jenner had 1,920 students. In the 1996-1997 school year it had 625 students.

Its current campus opened in 2000. Enrollment had declined after Cabrini-Green was demolished.

In 2004 it absorbed the attendance boundary of Byrd Elementary School when it closed, and in 2009 it absorbed students from the former Schiller Elementary School zone when it closed. Its incidents of violence increased after merges with Byrd and Schiller schools due to placements of rival gang members together.

In 2007 the school had 600 students, and about 33% of students passed mathematics, readings, and science standardized tests administered by the state of Illinois. That year Steven Drummond of Education Week stated that while Jenner was still surrounded by poverty, violence "is not as prevalent as it once was". Mina Bloom of DNA Info wrote that Jenner had improved safety-wise since the appointment of principal Robert Croston, who received his degree from Harvard University. In 2015 Maureen Kelleher of Catalyst Chicago, a sister publication of the Chicago Reporter, stated that "safety has become less of a concern" due to gentrification of the area.

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