Closing Schools: NOT a White People Thing
It appears the racist, segregationist school policies we find here in Jersey aren't confined only to our state. Chicago, for example, looks to be a national leader in disenfranchising people of color:
God Bless the Education Law Center
An internal Chicago Public Schools document obtained by the Tribune shows for the first time that the Emanuel administration has weighed how many elementary and high schools to close in which neighborhoods and how to manage the public fallout.Labeled a "working draft," the Sept. 10 document lays out the costs and benefits of specific scenarios — revealing that the administration has gone further down the path of determining what schools to target than it has disclosed.
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The most stark page in the document is a graphic that breaks down the 95 schools that could be
God Bless the Education Law Center
Let's take a minute to heap praise on the folks at the Education Law Center (ELC). While others dither around promoting failed "reforms," ELC fights for students where it really counts: funding and policy accountability. For example, ELC has led the fight to make schools safe, holding the NJDOE's feet to the fire for its inexcusable delays in repairing dangerously crumbling school buildings:
An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has ruled that the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE), by failing to adhere to expedited timelines for processing requests for emergent repairs to school buildings, “has violated the requirements of the ‘thorough and efficient’ clause of the New Jersey Constitution.”
The December 14 ruling by ALJ Ellen Bass responds to a legal action filed by ELC on behalf of students in NJ’s low-income “SDA districts,” challenging extensive delays by the NJDOE’s Office