US: largest public school closing in history
Last week, Chicago announced the close of 50 public schools, the majority of them on the South and West sides of the city, the poorer neighbourhoods. The closings represent about 8% of the 681 public schools in Chicago, the third-largest school district in the country.
More than 400,000 students are enrolled in these public schools, a large majority of whom are black or Hispanic and from low-income families. Additionally, around 100 schools have already been closed since 2001 in Chicago where 88% of the students affected were black, according to the New York Times.
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Chief Executive of the Chicago Public Schools System (CPS), has claimed the district needs to reduce a $1 billion deficit. However, at the same time, the CPS officials have admitted that closing 54 schools will not reduce this year’s budget deficit, since all cost savings, plus additional financing of US$233 million, will be put into schools which will receive the students from those schools this year.
Byrd-Bennett has also argued that closing schools is about getting children ‘trapped’ in low performing schools to a better place. Nevertheless, the union has warned, moving schools doesn’t guarantee moving up. Recent studies have shown that only a very small minority of students affected by school closings in Chicago are placed into substantially better school environments.
Both EI’s affiliates in the US, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), have strongly condemned this decision. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)has warned this will ultimately harm the poorest of the city’s children, by forcing them to commute to schools farther away from their homes and to learn in overcrowded classrooms.
The issue of safety
In fact, the union has warned that some kids will be sent from a closing school in one gang's turf to a new school in rival gang territory. They will have to leave their neighbourhoods using what the Chicago Public Schools System calls safe passage routes. These special routes have been created by the city of Chicago so children can more safely navigate through gang territory to get to their new schools.
“A decision was made to purposefully send children through areas so dangerous they have to be protected by a safe passage route”, stated NEA President Dennis van Roekel. “The plan is to staff these routes withon-duty firefighterswho are not trained for this type of security, and who will still be expected to answer fire calls while guarding the route”, he added.
"Apart from what it means for the continuity and stability of children's schooling, the evidence makes clear these mass closings will destabilize neighbourhoods, and it has raised serious safety concerns for children in a city where there is already too much violence”, said AFT President, Randy Weingarten.
“Moreover, this school closure strategy is not what the people of Chicago want. According to a recent Chicago Tribune poll, just 19% of Chicagoans sided with this strategy”, she added.
A push for charters
Some teachers and community members consider this move could pave the way to push for more charter schools, some of which opened recently in the same neighbourhoods in which the city is expected to shut public schools.
Indeed, Chicago education representatives last year announced plans to open at least 17 more new charter schools in the District by next autumn.
Guaranteeing quality public education for all
EI stands in solidarity with CTU members, parents, students and the greater Chicago community, in their defence of Chicago's public schools and their efforts to guarantee equal educational opportunities for all children.
EI believes education outcomes should not depend on family background, wealth and ability to pay. Each person should be given the same chance of best developing their particular talents - according to both their abilities and needs – to fully contribute to the sustainable and democratic development of society.
Source: Education International
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