The Chicago school system, the nation’s third largest, is in big financial trouble, with a billion dollar deficit coming up, falling enrollment, and a recent massive teacher strike over a contract dispute.
Now, MSNBC reports, after a heavily protested meeting where multiple people had to be thrown out, the Chicago Board Of Education voted 4-2 to close 49 schools and one high school program in the largest round of school closures that a single American city has ever attempted.
At one point, a man wearing a shirt from the Chicago Teachers Union stood up and walked out mid meeting saying “This is a farce. If you care about children, you should leave now.”
Opponents object to the closures because they say it disproportionately affects black students, that it will disrupt their educations, and that some students might have to cross gang territory.
Supporters say this is necessary just to keep the system solvent, and to try to fix the schools that remain.
Here’s the full list of schools being closed, via the Chicago Tribune:
Louis Armstrong Math & Science Elementary School
Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School
Arna Wendell Bontemps Elementary School
Kate S Buckingham Special Education Center
John Calhoun North Elementary School
Miriam G Canter Middle School
Ana Roque de Duprey Elementary School
Robert Emmet Elementary School
Nathan R Goldblatt Elementary School
Matthew A Henson Elementary School
Francis Scott Key Elementary School
William H King Elementary School
Alfred David Kohn Elementary School
Jean D Lafayette Elementary School
Guglielmo Marconi Elementary Community Academy
Garrett A Morgan Elementary School
Near North Elementary School
Anthony Overton Elementary School
Jesse Owens Elementary Community Academy
Ignance Paderewski Elementary Learning Academy
Francis Parkman Elementary School
Elizabeth Peabody Elementary School
Nathaniel Pope Elementary School
Betsy Ross Elementary School
Songhai Elementary Learning Institute
Graeme Stewart Elementary School
Lyman Trumbull Elementary School
Alexander von Humboldt Elementary School
West Pullman Elementary School
Granville T Woods Math & Science Academy ES
Elihu Yale Elementary School
Crispus Attucks Elementary School
John P Altgeld Elementary School
Benjamin Banneker Elementary School
Edward C Delano Elementary School
Dumas Technology Academy
Enrico Fermi Elementary School
Garfield Park Preparatory Academy ES
Elaine O Goodlow Elementary Magnet School
Victor Herbert Elementary School
Robert H Lawrence Elementary School
Horatio May Elementary Community Academy
William J & Charles H Mayo Elementary School
Pershing West Middle School
Martin A Ryerson Elementary School
Austin O Sexton Elementary School
Joseph Stockton Elementary School
Williams Multiplex Elementary School
Williams Preparatory Academy Middle School
Roswell B Mason Elementary School (high school program only)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-school-closings-2013-5#ixzz2U9xJOWFS
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