ANTONIO L. HILL
EN 1420 COMPOSITION 2
22-May-15
MRS. BUGYIE
LARGEST SCHOOL CLOSURE IN OUR NATIONS HISTORY

The City of Chicago is full of history; we had the first skyscraper, engineers reversed the flow of the Chicago River to flow toward the Mississippi River, car radio,
TV remote control, and refrigerated rail car, and now we are a part of history once more with the largest school closing in our nation’s history. The Mayor of Chicago and the
Board of Education agreed to close 49 elementary schools and 1 high school.

The school closures were a necessary evil that will help the city save a struggling school system that by the way is the third largest the America. Currently the Chicago school system is showing a deficit of more than a billion dollars and with the closures of the school the city stands to save more than 400 million dollars. The money that can be saved will help the school system by providing more funding to the remaining school, building computer labs, and hiring teacher that funding has prevented over the years.
When a school is underutilized buy more than 45% and not meeting state ISAT testing standards, it should be considered a waste of tax payer money and should be looked at for closure or realignment.

There are a lot of concerns about the children that will be relocated to new school, parents are worried that their children will fall victim to violence due to they have a longer commute and gangs. What parents have to understand is that the Mayor and the Board of Education have a responsibility to the city and its kids to provide a good

educational system, so closing the schools will give them the opportunity to do just that, although some parents won’t agree, this isn’t just about their child but the betterment of the city and the school system. Some parent were asking about overcrowding of the other school with all the new kids coming in, why wasn’t this a concern when their children were in a school that was over 45% underutilized, I’ll tell you why, they are complaining now because the convenience of the school being across the street is gone. Mrs. Buygie, I know you said no I’s but I think that the school closures are a great thing for the city as for the budget and for the kids academically.

On May 21, 2013 the Board of Education voted to close 50 school and some of its programs. These schools closures come on the heels of a city budget that’s spiraling out of control, it’s said that the budget is upward of 32 billion dollars, some think that there will be lawsuits and protest against these closures. (Bacon, 2013) The
Mayor has given his full support of these closuring by say that they will generate millions in saving for the city, help pay down the city’s debt, and improve a struggling school system with a deficit of more one billion dollars. Chicago has the third largest school district in the nation and the Mayor and Board of Education felt that they had to act fast or see another generation fail due to bad educational system. (News, 2013)

The main reasons the Board of Education and the Mayor made this decision rest solely on the fact that the city is in a financial meltdown and the school system is looked at as being one of the biggest reasons for it. Another reason for the closure were that the schools weren’t meeting that mark on standardize testing, all of the schools that were selected for closure were well below the state average. One of the biggest reasons for the closures is to consolidate underutilized, with that factor they were view as a waste because the money couldn’t be justified for an underutilized school. (CNN, 2013)

There were promises made to the communities and to the schools that would be taking on the additional student from the closing schools. The Mayor promised that there would be additional funds for school programs and to enhance the schools facilities such as computer labs, hire librarians, and other personnel that they have been unable to hire due to lack of funding. Chicago isn’t the only city to use school closures as way of reducing cost or reducing declining enrollment, other cities include
Philadelphia, Detroit, and even Washington, over the past decade Detroit has closed more than 130 schools in trying to plug there deficit. This is becoming a trend in major cities as a way of cutting cost at the expense of education. (Local, 2013) School | CPS Board Vote | Outcome | Utilization Rate | CPS Performance Level | % meets or exceeds ISAT composite score | Elaine O Goodlow Elementary Magnet School | Closing | Earle will relocate to Goodlow building | 60% (378/630) | Level 3 | 59.5 | Francis Scott Key Elementary School | Closing | Ellington will receive students | 57% (306/540) | Level 2 | 62.6 | Jesse Owens Elementary Community Academy | Closing | Gompers will receive students | 68% (328/480) | Level 3 | 58.6 | Kate S Buckingham Special Education Center | Closing | Montefiore will receive students | 54% (35/65) | Level 3 | | Lyman Trumbull Elementary School | Closing | Chappell, McPherson and McCutcheon will receive students | 54% (389/720) | Level 3 | 73.9 | Martin A Ryerson Elementary School | Closing | Ward will relocate to Ryerson building | 58% (399/690) | Level 2 | 72.7 | Miriam G Canter Middle School | Closing in 1 year | Harte and Ray will receive students | 58% (228/390) | Level 3 | 76.1 | Robert Emmet Elementary School | Closing | Ellington and DePriest will receive students | 66% (458/690) | Level 3 | 69.9 | William J & Charles H Mayo Elementary School | Closing | Wells will relocate to Mayo building | 59% (408/690) | Level 3 | 62.2 | | | | | | | Williams Multiplex Elementary School | Closing | Part of Drake will relocate to Williams Middle & ES building and remain in Drake building | 66% (256/390) | Level 3 | 61.5 |

The community’s leaders and parents of the kids that will have to attend school in other areas are very concerned. Community Leaders are worried that the closing will disproportionately affect minority neighbors by taking money and jobs out of and already poor area. They don’t believe in the Mayors vision that it will save a significant amount of money. The Union was opposed to going to longer school days, being evaluated based on student performance, and loss jobs due to school closings that ultimately lead to 30,000 teachers walking off the job. The hardest hit by these closures were the employees and teachers from the African American and Latino communities which were the targets of the largest school closing in US history. The Union and Community looks at the closure as payback form the Mayor for the strike. The real question is how can you save money with this plan when students go to other school and the school will require additional funding. (Baichwal, 2015)

Many parents are worried that now that the neighborhood school is closing that their kids will have a longer walk to school, would/will be exposed to gang violence with having to cross gang boundaries to get to their new schools, overcrowding, and being separated from their friends and family. There are concerns as to why the Board and
Mayor didn’t look for other ways to fund the schools instead of the closures. Parent believe that the Board of Education used false and misleading information to justify its reasoning for the closure, they said that it was 46,000 student would be affect but it was only 30,000, claimed that 145,000 student were lost when it was only 75,000 and
47,000 of those had went to charter schools. (Bacon, 2013)

The students were promised better schools academically by the Chicago Public
School but what actually happened was this:
-35 percent to Level 1 or excellent schools
-44 percent to Level2 schools
-21 percent to Level3 schools, which are on probation

They actually went to:
-20 percent to Level1
-35 percent to Level2
-39 percent to Level3

So the Board of Education didn’t live up to what they had promised and a lot of the

students ended in worse situations. Also some of the schools have reported that the

additional funds that they were promised was never received.

There were 10 interviews conducted with mixed review on the topic, I took my top 5.
Paul Lund, Caucasian, 57 – He was more for the school closures because he feels that why should the city dump money into an institution that is supposed to be teaching and is not. Why are there so many teachers in a school when over half the school is empty?
Kimberly Reese, African American, 32 – She was definitely against the closures because her children’s school was on the list for closure. Her biggest concern was like most others with the kids going more than 2 mile away to get to school vice 2 blocks and the possibility of the children losing their friends.
Milton Torres, Latin American, 39 – Talking to him was interesting due to he isn’t affected by the closures but was concerned about how the Mayor and BoE would be using the money. He thinks that the money should be used to bus the kids to their new schools and making afterschool programs.
Aquasena Hill, African American, 37 – This one interview was the best because she is my kid’s mother. She’s on the fence about the closure because she think that all the school should have the same standards which they don’t and they could’ve taken the overcrowded school and moved kids to the underutilized school and this would have saved a lot of jobs for teachers. It’s only a good thing it the kids benefit from it.

Robert Smith, African American, 63 – Mr. Smith is a retired teacher. He thinks the school closures were necessary to shine light on the school system that he had been apart for 35 years. His thoughts are now teachers and can be held accountable, more funding for the school, better books and supplies, and hopefully more money for teachers. In conclusion the City of Chicago closed 50 schools with the hopes of clearing up debt and lost the support of the parent and some of it community leaders. To date the
Mayor and BoE haven’t yet to completely live up to its promises to the receiving schools, community leader, parents, and its kids. I still support it.

REFERENCES
Bacon, D. (2013, June 20). TruthOut. Retrieved may 15, 2015, from www.truth-out.org
Baichwal, R. (2015, Jan 22). One-Third os Students Affected by CPS Closures. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from www.abc7chicago.com
CNN. (2013, May 22). Illinois School Closures. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from www.cnn.com
Local, C. (2013, May 22). Chicago Schools to be closed. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from www.chicago.cbslocal.com
News, C. (2013, May 22). Chicago Board votes to shutdown 50 school. Retrieved May 15, 2015, from www.cbsnews.com