The Chicago Board of Education, six members appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, voted unanimously today to close 49 schools in the nation’s third-largest public school district, the New York Times reports.
The mass closure represents the greatest number of schools closed by one school district in one fell swoop ever. It also represents one of the single biggest failures on the part of school governance to consider the studied opinions of the most important stakeholders in our public schools, many of them presented in protests and joined by similar groups nationwide in solidarity.
Specific objections in Chicago ranged from safety issues, such as students having to cross gang turf lines to attend the “receiving” or “welcoming” schools, to charges of racial discrimination. Specific reasons given by Mr Emanuel for wanting to close the schools ranged from “underutilization,” which can easily be seen as a direct effect of policies implemented in the schools following passage of the No Child Left Behind law, to the inability to provide an adequate education for students at all schools in the city.
As of the beginning of the year, the district said it was planning to close 129 schools. Then the list was whittled down in March to 53, and finally, at today’s board meeting, four additional schools were spared.
“The greatest challenge facing our school system right now is that tens of thousands of children every year are trapped in underutilized schools and under-resourced schools,” the Times quoted Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, as saying. “We cannot maintain a system that cannot be sustained and does not benefit the children.”
The district’s own data shows the student population is down about 145,000 over the last decade, and the district has already closed more than 70 schools since 2001. By closing these 49 programs, the district hopes to save more than $500 million over the next 10 years, hoping to make a dent in a projected $1 billion deficit.
List of Chicago schools to be closed and receiving schools
- Altgeld E.S. → Wentworth
- Armstrong Elem Math & Science → Leland
- Attucks E.S. (2 year phaseout) → Beethoven
- Banneker E.S. → Mays
- Bethune E.S. → Gregory
- Bontemps E.S. → Nicholson
- Buckingham → Montefiore
- Calhoun North E.S. → Cather
- Canter Middle School → Hart, Ray
- Delano E.S. → Melody
- Dumas Technology Acad E.S. → Wadsworth
- Roque De Duprey E.S. → DeDiego
- Emmet E.S. → Ellington, DePriest
- Ericson Elem Scholastic Acad will NOT be closed
- Fermi E.S. → South Shore Fine Arts
- Garfield Park Prep Acad E.S. → Faraday
- M Garvey E.S. will NOT be closed
- Goldblatt E.S. → Hefferan
- Goodlow Elem Magnet School → Earle
- Henson E.S. → C. Hughes
- Herbert E.S. → Dett
- M Jackson E.S. will NOT be closed
- Key E.S. → Ellington
- King E.S. → Jensen
- Kohn E.S. → Cullen, Lavizzo, L. Hughes
- Lafayette E.S. → Chopin
- Lawrence E.S. → Burnham
- Manierre E.S. will NOT be closed
- Marconi Elem Community Acad → Tilton
- May Elem Community Acad → Leland
- Mayo E.S. → Wells
- Morgan E.S. → Ryder
- Near North → Montefiore
- Overton E.S. → Mollison
- Owens Elem Community Acad → Gompers
- Paderewski Elem Learning Acad → Cardenas, Castellanos
- Parkman E.S. → Sherwood
- Peabody E.S. → Otis
- Pershing West Elem Magnet School → Pershing East
- Pope E.S. → Johnson
- Ross E.S. → Dulles
- Ryerson E.S. → Ward
- Sexton E.S. → Fiske
- Songhai Elem Learning Inst → Curtis
- Stewart E.S. → Brennemann
- Stockton E.S. → Courtenay
- Trumbull E.S. → Chappell, McPherson, McCutcheon
- Von Humboldt E.S. → DeDiego
- West Pullman E.S. → Haley
- Williams Middle Prep Academy → Drake
- Williams Multiplex E.S. → Drake
- Woods Elem Math & Science Acad → Bass
- Yale E.S. → Harvard
