“Now I got to go to a new school where I don’t know anybody, said young Jaquan Douglas, a junior at Harper school on Chicago’s South Side in response to the news that his school was closing and that he would have to go to a new one after it was announced that CPS was proposing closing four schools last week, in the Englewood neighborhood, with the goal of building a brand new $85 million school, to provide enhanced learning, said school leadership.
After the near deluge of bad publicity from the 2013 closing of 50 schools, the largest in Chicago history, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has now chosen a different tack to merge, consolidate, and build, plus solicit community input, in a series of public meetings to be held in January, with a school board vote in February.
The latter is somewhat dubious as to how much value, or input, will be heeded, but in an age-old Washington sleight of hand trick, it holds out promise, but in the end, delivers little, since the plan is already cast.
“We do need to open this up for more public debate and discourse,” CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson said. “A comprehensive school management plan is needed, and that’s something that we have to keep working towards.”
Of particular interest to Emanuel is to not to alienate the black community any more than he did with the 2013 closings, or the suppression of the Laquan McDonald tape, showing the young black teemager getting shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer; and which after a court-ordered release, there were demonstrations and calls for his resignation.
The recent news pitts school economics against demographic changes that have seen an outward move from the city, mostly from African American families seeking solace from gun violence, crime, and depressed quality of life.
One glaring exception is the conversion of the National Teachers Academy, an award winning elementary school, whose students score high on standardized test, is known for its racial and economic diversity, among other characteristics, into a high school.
“NTA students would move into buildings controlled by the nearby South Loop Elementary School, which will take over NTA’s attendance boundary. That plan continues to face stiff opposition from a well-organized group of NTA parents and teachers.”
“No one is going to argue integration is not a good thing. Integration is a great thing,” said Elisabeth Greer, NTA’s school council chair, after a protest in front of campus on Friday morning. “But there is natural integration, and then there is, essentially, forced busing — which brings two communities together by force.”
CPS plans to spend $85,000 on a racial “equity analysis” of the plan, Jackson said.
That alone makes observers, lawmakers, and longtime residents to try and discern a pattern here. Some are looking at increasing gentrification as the reason, others see a misguided use of public funds, and others sheer inertia in a system overrun by politics.
It’s easy to explain the zero enrollment at some schools, or the decreased enrollment at others, which some observers did not consider as burdensome as four years ago, when enrollment was greater; yet these recent moves send a mixed message. For example Manley has a recent enrollment of 95, but there was 500 total enrollment in 2013. Some critics argue why wasn’t it closed much earlier?
Numbers alone do give some sign for action, for example, in a study done by local PBS affiliate, WTTW, 32,000 students left the system; some for South and West suburbs, presumably for better living conditions, that might also include better schools. And, some might have migrated to nearby charter schools.
Some reported figures decrease the numbers to 20,000, in the nation’s third largest public school system, but many cannot agree as to how the handle the decrease: merge, close, or build anew seem to be the only current options, in the lack of a cohesive plan.
Paradoxically, there have also been 39 new schools in the last five years, since the closing; and five of them are alternative schools.
Where does the money come from, many Chicagoans are asking, from this cash-strapped system? According to the Chicago Sun-Times, “About $12 million was put aside in capital funding from a new capital tax, but that won’t cover all the costs, CPS spokesman Michael Passman said.”
“But three open-enrollment neighborhood schools will use a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to turn into magnets: Jungman and William H. Brown Elementary School, 54 N. Hermitage, both in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, and Claremont Academy Elementary School, 2300 W. 64th St. Jungman, which has CPS’ second-best Level 1 rating, will remain a neighborhood school and offer extra spots through a lottery,” the paper also noted.
Also unveiled were plans to open two selective enrollment K-8 campuses next fall, one on the site of a former charter school near the Bronzeville community, the other in a former Catholic Archdiocese school on the Southwest Side next fall.
“Across Chicago we are expanding quality school options, ensuring every student has access to a world-class academic experience and providing every family with a range of quality options for their children,” Emanuel said in a statement, mixing the ying with the yang, say his critics.
Perhaps as an indicator, “All three serve predominantly low-income children, but no guarantees exist for current students or children in surrounding neighborhoods. Magnets tend to be wealthier and whiter than CPS as a whole, as do classical schools.”
Pleased by the decision, is “Cederrall Petties, principal at Earle STEM Elementary School in Englewood, said he’s excited about the plans for the new Englewood high school. “We will have a state-of-the-art high school built in our community that will afford our students with the opportunity to continue their educational experience,” he said.
“The Chicago Teachers Union has said the district would be better served providing more money for the four schools it plans to close. Reported CBS local affiliate, CBS Chicago, “This is an outrage,” said CTU staff coordinator Jackson Potter. “You can’t begrudge people for wanting something better, but that’s precisely why we need to invest in schools like Robeson, TEAM Englewood, Harper. We can’t abandon Englewood.”
One overlooked aspect with the desegregation from predominantly black and brown students to schools that are less so, is having students traveling through dangerous areas pockmarked by gang violence to reach their new schools, that has some wondering of the logic of CPS leadership; especially since it faced this same problem before, and had to hire people to protect the children, as they travelled to new schools.
Next up for financial consideration are so-called classical schools, that will require minimum test scores for admission, and “CPS is covering the cost associated with the new classical schools with Capital Improvement Tax funds. The district said it had budgeted roughly $12 million of borrowed money for the cost of the classical schools, but that it expected to spend more on both projects. The district is leasing the St. Turibius building [used for one] from the archdiocese, a district spokesman said, at an annual cost of $414,000,” reported the Chicago Tribune.
Reaction from the Chicago Teachers Union, was predictable, with their prior statements, and this news brought no exception: “This is a mayor who has done nothing to address the needs of our struggling neighborhoods, or the needs of the Black and Latino students whose schools he chronically underfunds and neglects,” union Vice President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement. “His actions are contemptible.”
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