Saturday, February 25, 2012

PUSH considers making a federal case out of CPS school closings - Chicago Sun-Times

PUSH considers making a federal case out of CPS school closings - Chicago Sun-Times:

PUSH considers making a federal case out of CPS school closings

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The Rev. Jesse Jackson meets the media after speaking at the School Board meeting Wednesday. | Brian Jackson~Sun-Times

Updated: February 25, 2012 2:18AM



Angered over recently-approved school closing plans, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition officials said Friday they hope to convince the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate resource inequities within Chicago Public Schools, including a policy that “starves’’ struggling schools of repair dollars.

Comments by CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley that CPS will not put construction dollars into schools that appear headed for closure in five or 10 years “just makes the case’’ of how unfairly CPS resources are divided. PUSH’s Janette Wilson said.

Such a practice “starves the schools and causes schools to fail even more, which gives [CPS] the