Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'When you close a school you open a prison'

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'When you close a school you open a prison':



'When you close a school you open a prison'




THE PIPELINE... Hundreds marched Monday night from Lawndale to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center to call for an end to what they call the “school to prison pipeline.” Activists began their march with a rally at Paderewski Elementary, a school that was among the more than 50 closed in 2013, down Ogden Avenue to the detention center.
Padlocks
Members of nearly 30 different community activist groups said they wanted to see more investment in education alternative programs for youth, rather than in prisons.
“Somebody once told me when you close a school you open a prison,” said Malcolm London, a member of the group Black Youth Project 100, as demonstrators placed and tied small padlocks to the fence in front of the school. “We’re placing these padlocks to symbolize being locked out of our systems,” said another demonstrator. -- Chicagoist