It's All in the Name

Over the summer I e-mailed Jean-Claude Brizzard, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, to show him the magazine and get his feedback. He liked it and asked if there was anything he could do to assist me. I asked that he put me in touch with someone from CPS who could talk to me about the magazine.

On July 13, I went downtown to the CPS headquarters and met with two women. I showed them the magazines I have done in the past and explained what I was doing and where I planned to go with it. They were very nice and helpful. Though they couldn't assist me directly, they gave me some good ideas of which directions to try. This was mostly about funding. I know there are no extra funds in CPS, and that is one of the benefits of the magazine. Once it is funded (by advertisers or what have you), it is a free publication for the students.

At the end of the meeting, I was told that the name "CPSxpress" might be a problem, which I understood. They were worried that, with that name and only a limited number of schools involved, those that are not involved might feel excluded. That cannot be associated with CPS. So, they were going to run it by "legal."

Now I'm in the process of getting everything ready for the first issue this year, and that includes social media, a web site, this blog.... I e-mailed my CPS contacts to let them know and ask what has been decided about the name. They have still not heard from the Board, and without written permission, I cannot use CPS in the title or in subhead (Connecting Chicago Public Schools through words and art). It was also mentioned that I might not even be able to mention individual schools by name. I'm not sure about this last one, since I feel like the schools can do what they want with individuals and outside companies, but I might be wrong about that.

Hopefully I will speak with someone today. I really believe in this project, and I hope to move forward. My son came up with the title "NSxpress" (meaning North/South xpress), and I like that. I also like CKxpress (Chicago Kids), CYxpress (Chicago Youth) and CSxpress (Chicago Students). Perhaps this last one is the best, since it is the closest to CPS, which I have been using. The tagline could read: Connecting Chicago Students from the North to the South Sides...or something like that.

I'm happy to go in a different direction. I'm just ready to start moving.