Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Put school closings behind us? 'NO WAY'! Families occupy classrooms at Lafayette.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Put school closings behind us? 'NO WAY'! Families occupy classrooms at Lafayette.:

Put school closings behind us? 'NO WAY'! Families occupy classrooms at Lafayette.

by Mike Klonsky

Three weeks ago, a well-orchestrated call could be heard, coming from Clark Street and the 5th Floor at City Hall. "“We are putting the past behind us,” Byrd-Bennett said. “It is time to turn the page” on school closings. Yesterday, the community resistance movement answered back.

As the first wave of schools were being shuttered, with more than 850 CPS teachers and staff being fired, angry parents, teachers and community groups protested outside the auditorium where Byrd-Bennett spoke,

"There's something about these folks who use little black and brown children as stage props at one press conference while announcing they want to fire, lay off or lock up their parents at another press conference," CTU president Karen Lewis said. 

Rosemary Vega and family stand-in at Lafayette. Credit: OCPress/Twitter

The community also rallied outside of Lafayette School to support families who occupied classrooms in a last-ditch effort to save their