City Room™ - Education - Groups Organize Against School Closings

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Groups Organize Against School Closings
Produced by Chip Mitchell on Monday, January 12, 2009

Gregory Willis, a special-education teacher at Chicago’s Carpenter Elementary, says closing that Near West Side school will hurt his students. (WBEZ/Chip Mitchell)

Chicago school officials this week are planning to announce about two-dozen schools to be consolidated or closed later this year. The district says its chief aim is improving academic performance. But some community groups are organizing to block the plan.

A tentative plan has come to light through district briefings with parent and teacher groups. Five schools would merge into others, six would close altogether, five would begin to phase-out, and at nine schools the district would fire all the teachers. The district says new charter and contract schools would takeover some of the buildings.

Some parents, teachers and students are coalescing in opposition. About 500 gathered at Malcolm X College this weekend.

BROWN: There is a national movement to privatize education.

That’s Jitu Brown of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization.

BROWN: Where is the national movement to guarantee that our children can go across the street to a world-class school?

The school board could vote on the closings January 28. The opponents are planning a protest outside that meeting.

Chip Mitchell, WBEZ.

View locations of schools the Chicago district is tentatively planning to close or change.

CLOSING
* Carpenter: Students will go to Ogden, Talcott and Lozano.
* Las Casas Occup. High School: Students will go to neighborhood schools.
* Nia Foundation: Students go to neighborhood schools.
* Peabody: Students will go to Ogden, Talcott and Lozano.
* Princeton: Students will go to neighborhood schools.
* South Chicago: Students will go to neighborhood schools.

CONSOLIDATING
* Abbott: Merged into Hendrix.
* Davis Developmental Center: Merged with Hughes in a new building.
* Global Vision High School: Merged into New Millennium.
* Medill: Merged into Smith-Joyner.
* Schiller: Merged into Jenner.

PHASING OUT
* Key: Students will go to Ellington.
* Lathrop: Students will go to Johnson and Lawndale.
* Hamilton: Students will go to Blaine, Burley and Audubon.
* Reed: Students will go to Banneker, Parker and Nicholson.
* Best Practice High School.

TURNING AROUND (staff to be replaced)
* Bethune.
* Curtis.
* Dulles.
* Fenger High School.
* Holmes.
* Johnson.
* Lavizzo.
* Ross.
* Yale.

sheila neville, South/Matteson // Tuesday, January 13, 2009 @ 8:36 AM

As an educator working in a low income area, I find that many African-American students want good grades but are not willing to study. They use profanity, will not bring materials to class, nor will they listen to their instructors. They will bring their electronics to class and socialize. Parents should be responsible for their students. Teacher are always blamed for low performing schools. I don't feel that a teacher would choose a profession that is low paying to make students dumb.

Meg Olson, Hyde Park/Chicago // Friday, January 16, 2009 @ 2:58 PM

It breaks my heart to see that Best Practice High School is going to be "phased out." When I was working on my teacher certification at National-Louis University in 2002, one of the key texts that we read was "Rethinking High School," where educational experts Harvey Daniels and his colleagues looked at what was wrong with the model of traditional high schools and talked about how and why they formed Best Practice. I am not sure what has happened over the past several years, but I suspect that even the most hopeful visionaries have been crushed by NCLB legislation and the anxiety that has spread throughout the Chicago Public Schools.

Karl Barnes, Ashburn // Saturday, January 17, 2009 @ 5:04 AM

Looks like it is time to begin to organize home schooling since they Board of Education are begining not to participate in the education of the children.

Rick, Chicago // Sunday, January 25, 2009 @ 10:10 AM

shelia, your comments reflect a mindsets and conclusions that we do not need in schools. You should be ashamed of yourself--you are definitely part of the problem.