People need to know what is happening in Chicago because it is a previewof the national agenda for urban schools. Since 2004, under Arne Duncan,
Chicago has been closing neighborhood schools in African American and
Latino working class communities and turning them over to charter schools,
selective enrollment schools for new gentrifiers, or to an outside
“turnaround specialist.” We have been fighting for quality neighborhood
schools in every neighborhood and against these school closings every
year. This year Duncan, before he became Sec. of Ed, recommended closing
or turning around 22 schools on a few weeks notice. In the end the Board
of Ed. voted to go ahead and close or "turn-around" 16 neighborhood
schools, rocks of stability in their communities, each with a compelling
story to tell. We saved 6. We, a multiracial coalition of grass roots
community organizations, teachers, parents, and students are angry but not
surprised. They ignored research data (2 reports that disputed their
reasons for closing the schools), the data from the parents and teachers
and students who testified for hours and compiled elaborate piles of
documents in their defense. At the Board meeting, Board members admitted
not one had read the testimony from these hearings -- the tears, anger,
pleas, careful documentation and reasoned argumentation of hundreds and
hundreds of African American and Latino working class parents and children
and their teachers and administrators. This travesty of democracy and
disrespect, this crass closing of neighborhood schools for gentrification
and charter school give aways, this "cost cutting" on the backs of Black
and Brown communities is made possible in part because the mayor, who
works in collaboration with the most powerful corporate and financial
interests, runs the school system and appoints the Board of Education and
CEO of CPS. They are completely unaccountable. Now Arne Duncan recommends
Detroit (and what other cities?) follow Chicago’s lead with mayoral
control.
After candlelight vigils in the cold, many many community meetings, 2 mass
rallies and marches, a tent city sleep over in front of the Board of Ed in
subfreezing temperatures, and many other kinds of protests, we are tired
but unbowed. We are pushing for a retroactive moratorium on school
closings in the state legislature right now and regrouping for the next
phase. It's the parents, especially women, and youth and community members
who are the heart and soul of this fight. Their courage and determination
to fight, to picket and march and speak out day after day, to become media
spokespeople overnight, and to rise up as grassroots leaders should
inspire us all. It's a long fight because the stakes are high. People need
to know. This is the national education agenda on the horizon. We have to
stop it. For good coverage of the recent phase of our struggle see
http://www.substancenews.net/
Pauline
Teachers for Social Justice, Chicago
