Behind the racist school closings agenda
looks at what's driving the school closings in Chicago and beyond as activists prepare to protest at City Hall on March 27.
March 26, 2013
Students and parents at Lafayette Elementary School march against their school's threatened closure (Bill Healy)CHICAGO PUBLIC Schools (CPS) has set a dubious new record for school closings in announcing plans to close 54 schools, shutter 61 buildings and "turn around" six schools as part of 71 "school actions."
It's one of the most aggressive moves yet by so-called education "reformers," and its consequences will be felt nationally. The growing movement to defend public education will have to step up its efforts--not just in Chicago, but across the U.S.
In this city, there's nothing new in the substance of the policy--relegating Chicago's African American students to inferior education in the name of "reform." As Catalyst, the publication covering Chicago schools, notes: "Nearly 90 percent of the students in the closing schools are Black, though African Americans make up only about 40 percent of the district's entire student population" on the city's South and West Sides.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
In Chicago, join teachers, students, parents and community activists for aRally and March to Stop School Closingson March 27 at 4 p.m. at Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington.
Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis blasted Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the schools through his hand-picked board of education:
Closing 50 of our neighborhood schools is outrageous and no society that claims to care anything about its children can sit