A new magnet school could open in University Village as soon as this fall, if the board of Chicago Public Schools approves a new plan presented Tuesday night.

The school would take over the now-vacant campus of the former Jefferson School at 1522 Fillmore St.

CPS officials said the school would be called STEM Magnet School, which would match its focus on science, technology, engineering and math.

The plan will go before the school board Jan. 26, and if approved, the new school would start accepting applications for students between kindergarten and third grade in March. Eventually, it would host students through eighth grade.

“There’s an incredible unmet demand at this location — we couldn’t be more excited for a totally new opportunity for the public,” Abigayil Joseph, head of CPS’s office of academic enhancement, said in a presentation to a packed house of residents at St. Ignatius College Prep on Roosevelt Road Tuesday night. “We don’t have a science, technology, engineering and mathematics academy in the city of Chicago, so we’re excited to bring the first.”

The new school comes after months of lobbying by West Loop residents for more, and better, schools in their neighborhood, highlighted by failed plans to expand other local magnet schools.

However, as a magnet school, STEM wouldn’t be a pure community institution. Like the rest of Chicago’s magnets, only 40 percent of open slots would be guaranteed for children who lived near the school. The other 60 percent of seats would be opened up to students city-wide, who would be admitted on the basis of testing and merit.

Robert Fioretti, 2nd Ward alderman, said opening the STEM school would help the community as a whole, though he still wanted to see more attention paid to the local school, John M. Smyth Elementary.

“Opening a school like this will help CPS catch up and meet the needs of the community,” said Fioretti. “It’s very important for CPS to commit resources to a school like this … but we’re still asking CPS to put resources into another local school in the area, Smyth, which has a dynamic principal, to make sure it has the resources it needs to continue to improve.”

Ald. Daniel Solis (25th) said he was behind the school as well.

“If you really look at this, it’s a win-win situation. It creates more spots in the citywide magnet schools and it creates more slots in the immediate community,” Solis told the crowd. “At the same time, I really don’t frankly think this is enough. What we’re proposing today is not a neighborhood school, it’s a magnet school.”

Bob O’Neill, a community activist who’s lived in the West Loop for 30 years, said he was happy to see the school coming. Adding the anchor of quality education would help the neighborhood and the tax base, he said.

“We have to continue in the city of Chicago to keep people — taxpayers, good parents and students — in our schools, otherwise they go to the suburbs and you will lose a huge urban battle,” said “We need their money here, and this is a great step in the right direction.”

Lou Marolda, who lives two blocks away from the school on Fillmore, wasn’t happy with the idea of a magnet school replacing Jefferson.

“The STEM School is a magnet school — your children may not get into this,” Marolda said to the crowd. “I’m in support of the Jefferson School opening instead, so that the neighborhood students who live here can go there.”

Genita Robinson, who’s running for alderman in the 2nd Ward to unseat Fioretti in the upcoming election, said that while she supports the school, she’s not sure what will become of the rest of the neighborhood’s schools.

“I guess what I wish for is that we had an advocate for a comprehensive plan for all our community schools,” Robinson said. “There’s no question we need more quality schools, but they’re not talking about where the money’s coming from.”

CONTACT: bmeyerson@chicagojournal.com