Chicago Public Schools Narrows School Closures List
By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 14, 2013 3:10PM
Chicago Public Schools narrowed its list of possible closures to 129 in a list the school system released late Thursday, as outcry against closing schools reaches a fever pitch from parents and a majority of aldermen call for a moratorium on charter school expansion during the 2014-15 school year.
CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett stressed the final list of closures would not include all 129 schools, but parents across the city, particularly on the South and West sides, are understandably nervous that the current round of closure discussions will fall on deaf ears and CPS has already made their choices.
Bennett and the school district have removed from closure consideration high schools, high-performing Level 1 schools and schools adding grades, schools with more than 600 students and a 70 percent utilization rate, and students that are considered on the rise.
Parents and other opponents of school closures argue that their neighborhood schools need to be utilized better by the district, instead of focusing on turnarounds and charter schools, and closing any schools would deprive their children of the only safe haven against violence (besides their homes) in their neighborhoods. Dwayne Truss, vice chairman of CPS' Austin Community Action Council, told attendees at a meeting Wednesday night, "CPS is perpetuating a myth that there's a budget crisis."
The meetings on school closures have become increasingly testy as CPS nears a March 31 deadline to submit its final closure list and has repeatedly said it needs to close underutilized schools to balance a $1 billion deficit next year. CPS currently has 403,000 students enrolled, but has space for 511,000 students. This has opponents of the closures focusing on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan for turnarounds and charter schools and asking where the money will come from, if the district is so strapped for cash.
The Sun-Times has published an amazing series of articles on the money given to United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), one of the larger players in the charter school game. UNO received a $98 million grant to build three schools, with much of the money being paid out in contracts to companies with ties to state Sen. Edward Acevedo, Ald. Ed Burke (14th), former mayoral candidate and Chicago School Board District President Gerry Chico, and UNO senior vice president of operations Miguel D’Escoto. D’Escoto resigned from his position Tuesday night, but UNO CEO Juan Rangel insisted the contracts awarded “followed the law.”
Below we've included copies of CPS' school closure list and an ordinance signed by 35 members of City Council Wednesday calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion during the 2014-15 school year.