When parents and neighbors packed the lunchroom at St. Ignatius College Prep in University Village earlier this month to talk about a new West Loop magnet school, it was obvious that the neighborhood’s educational options aren’t enough.

West Loop schools clearly aren’t serving families in the area as well as they should, and it’s a problem. Whether it’s magnet schools that are too far away or local schools that aren’t performing up to snuff, local parents are dissatisfied with Chicago Public Schools.

But we question whether the new magnet school, slated to open in the former Thomas Jefferson Elementary building, will solve the problem. While another school in the neighborhood is certainly a good thing, the school won’t be purely for the neighborhood.

In fact, only 40 percent of the school’s slots will be reserved for University Village families. That’s not very many students — maybe not even enough spots to hold all the families who showed up at St. Ignatius on Jan. 11.

Don’t get us wrong — the idea of a school focused on math and science is a good one. As the U.S. tries to keep pace with other nations of the world, it’s clear that math and science are of the utmost importance. And the name STEM School (for science, technology, engineering and math) sure is catchy. It’s a good idea, and CPS should go for it.

But it’s just not a cure for the neighborhood’s school problems. There won’t be enough spots to fix the problem that exists, particularly as the West Loop continues to grow.

So we want to see some concrete plans for improving the other schools in the area. Let’s see a plan for turning around John M. Smyth Elementary, the school that University Village parents say isn’t good enough for their kids.

Instead of cutting and running to a new school, let’s fix that one. Instead of leaving behind parents and kids in a sub-par school, create a concrete plan for resuscitating it.

The plan for STEM came together quickly, and that’s not all bad. On some issues, like education, it’s good for the wheels of government to move quickly if they’re getting good things done.

But let’s see that same sort of urgency and haste in providing a new plan for Smyth. Aldermen Robert Fioretti (2nd) and Danny Solis (25th) spoke abstractly about STEM being “just the start” and about reviving Smyth.

Let’s cut the rhetoric. Let’s see some results. Let’s see them happen just as fast as STEM did. Let’s get a top-notch school for the whole neighborhood — not just 40 percent of it.