"In less time than it takes to boil an egg" Chicago closes 50 schools.

[madfloridian]

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

CPS makes history, closing scores of schools in less time than it takes to boil an egg

History was made in Chicago Wednesday in about 90 seconds, but most of the folks who witnessed firsthand the death of a record 50 Chicago Public Schools didn’t even realize it.

Rather than list the names of the doomed elementary schools, the Board of Education took a single group vote on most of the closings that will affect some 27,000 children. The board secretary read out the numbers assigned to each resolution and asked for the vote.

But onlookers didn’t even get that, as the board president resorted to parliamentary maneuver to speed the process along.

“Madam Secretary, if there are no objections from my fellow board members, please apply the last favorable roll call,” Board President David Vitale said, referring to the previous vote of six ayes and 0 nays. And with that, the bulk of the history — 49 of the 50 schools closed — was made in a unanimous sweep.

Tone deaf to the audience:

SCHOOL CLOSING QUOTABLES

Columnist Mark Brown

In the end, the board was so tone deaf to its audience that on the crucial vote that closed most of the schools, they used the parliamentary maneuver of adopting the previous favorable roll call — instead of taking the extra 30 seconds to each say “yes” once more. The average person in attendance didn’t even know the closings had been approved until it was over. -- "CPS closings vote shows it’s time for an elected school board"

Sports writer Dave Zirin

It all starts with the person who seems committed to win the current spirited competition as the most loathsome person in American political life: Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The same Mayor overseeing the closing of fifty-four schools and six community mental health clinics under the justification of a “budgetary crisis” has announced that the city will be handing over more than $100 million to DePaul University for a new basketball arena. -- The Nation

[Wilms]

1. Thanks for all you do, madfloridian.

[HiPointDem]

8. +1

[moondust]

9. +1

[Divernan]

23. +1

[bvar22]

24. +1 here too.

This New "Privatized" American Century will not end well,
and I don't see anything that can stop it at this time.

[Canuckistanian]

26. +1

[Starry Messenger]

31. +1

A true treasure.

[woo me with science]

33. +1

[Octafish]

42. +1

Tops in Every Way.

[Rex]

47. +1

Cannot rec this enough. Would like to see a hundred +1 on down this reply or more. Mad is a DU treasure, someone that will NOT give up on the crisis we face in public schools.

And it is a crisis, if the private sector has it's way we will lose our public schools to pay for prisons...er pay for education.

[Little Star]

2. Rahm Emanuel should be ashamed of himself.

[Drale]

3. Rahm truely believes he's God

there for he can not be ashamed of himself.

[Chisox08]

5. I thought Daley was bad but Emanuel makes him look like a saint

[madfloridian]

32. Yes, he should.

Agree.

[tavalon]

34. Sociopathy and shame or guilt do not coexist

Rahm is a sociopath, hence, no shame nor guilt in that lizard.

[Chisox08]

4. It is sad to see what Rahm Emanuel is doing to Chicago.

He is putting thousands of children lives at risk in order for his charter school buddies can get those buildings. He claims there is a budgetary crisis but he has hundreds of millions of dollars to funnel into the hands of his friends like UNO and the company that is building the DePaul basketball stadium.

[KamaAina]

65. Oh, I see. Some shell company is building the arena for DePaul.

Otherwise Rahmbo would be handing the keys to the city's treasury over to a religious institution. Even he might not be able to get away with that.

[Divernan]

6. Rahm & his incrediby expensive ego trip: "Look at me, I'm the king of Chicago."

From the spin I've read promoting this development, Rahm is claiming the basketball arena complex will hugely divert tourist visits/dollars from people who otherwise would go to New York City or Las Vegas. Now I love Chicagoland - grew up near there - but people go to Vegas for adult entertainment and gambling - it has abandoned it's attempt to market itself as a family destination and is back to the Sin City image. And New York is a popular destination for people from all over North America and other international visitors, and offers vastly more than seasonal basketball games in Madison Square Garden. Chicago is a regional attraction. And the people who already go there for the museums & good restaurants don't need an additional basketball arena.

Rahm continues on his lifelong ego trip, the poor and the elderly be damned!

This plan, which includes an arena, new hotels (plural), restaurants and retail space is initially estimated at $195 MILLION; with $125 Mil. from taxpayers; $70 Million from hotel taxes; & $55 Million from tax-incremented financing. There is no mention of how much DePaul is contributing to this massive undertaking. Apparently ZIP!/b]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/taxes/chicago-mayor-rahm-emanuel-build-revenue-generating-basketball-arena

Alderman Pat Dowell on the city’s board said that building the new arena is about fostering economic growth, though the arena would have to compete with the existing United Center just a few miles down the road.

Marc Ganis, a local arena expert, called the plan complete lunacy. “It makes no economic sense whatsoever.” Ganis said, “As someone who has worked on projects like these for decades, I can tell you there is absolutely no way for this to make any sense in any way. It is not in the realm of possibility.”

Though Emanuel is eager to increase city revenue, he has wanted to abandon the Allstate Center, a facility closer to DePaul’s campus, for some time. His impatience may throw residents into debt, critics say.

According to a Harvard study in 2010, the cost of land, infrastructure, operations and lost property taxes involved in taxpayer funded sports stadiums and arenas increased taxpayer bills by 25 percent, from $89 million to $259 million.

So in addition to the "existing United Center just a few miles down the road", there's another sports arena, the Allstate Arena where De Paul University currently plays its basketball.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allstate_Arena

Construction cost $20 million
($55.7 million in 2013 dollars)
Capacity Concerts: 18,500
Basketball: 17,500
Ice hockey: 16,692
Arena Football: 16,143
Website www.allstatearena.com
Tenants
Chicago Rush (AFL) (2001–2008, 2010–present)
Chicago Wolves (IHL / AHL) (1994–present)
DePaul Blue Demons (1980–present)
Chicago Sky (WNBA) (2010–present)
Chicago Horizon (MISL) (1980–1981)
Chicago Sting (MISL) (1984–1988)
Chicago Bruisers (AFL) (1987–1989)
Chicago Express (WBL) (1988)
Chicago Skyliners (ABA) (2000–2002)
ArenaBowl II (1988) (WWE (1986-present))

Allstate Arena (originally Rosemont Horizon) is a multi-purpose arena in Rosemont, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League, DePaul University's men's basketball team, the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, and the Chicago Sky of the WNBA. It is located near the intersection of Mannheim Road and Interstate 90, adjacent to the city limits of Chicago and O'Hare International Airport.

[hack89]

7. Chicago population 1960 = 3.5 million. Chicago population 2010 = 2.7 million

shrinking population and tax base with the same infrastructure is a recipe for fiscal disaster. Consolidation makes perfect sense.

[HiPointDem]

10. you think these are the first schools they've closed since 1960?

[hack89]

11. Are the schools full or not?

if they close these schools and the remainder are not overcrowded then there was excess capacity.

[HiPointDem]

14. yes, the schools are full. the city used a formula that said 'optimal' class size was 30 students/

class, which is actually *higher than* previous policy, higher than classrooms in white parts of the city (which are not being closed), and higher than in the burbs.

there's no fucking underutilization. and schools have been and will continue to be closed due to age, population movement, etc.

closing 50 at once, all in black neighborhoods, has nothing to do with underutilization.

[Divernan]

18. Damn Straight,HiPoint!-national record for school closings in 1 yr!

Last edited Thu May 23, 2013, 04:57 PM - Edit history (1)

"largest single round of school closings ever undertaken in the country, and quadruple the number of school shake-ups Chicago has tried before in a single year.

And no one is talking about what this does to property values of lower income home owners - the folks who cannot afford private tuition at Rahm's preferred charter schools. Proximity to grade schools is a big factor in choosing where to live.

[madfloridian]

30. Manipulating the data to enrich corporate education coffers.

Exactly right.

[Divernan]

13. Firing union teachers;turning schools over to private operator is NOT consolidation.

This is the largest single round of school closings ever undertaken in the country, and quadruple the number of school shake-ups Chicago has tried before in a single year.

The vast majority of the 30,000 impacted students are African American and attend schools on the South or West Sides, or near former public housing developments.

Six grammar schools will see their staffs completely dismissed, in an effort to address chronic low performance. They are Barton, Chalmers, Dewey, O’Keefe, Carter, and Lewis. The management of those schools will be turned over to the nonprofit Academy for Urban School Leadership, an avowed favorite of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, boosting the group's total number of schools in Chicago to 31.

School closings are being pushed across the country as a cost savings solution, despite studies that show they tend to save little money.

The Chicago Teachers Union is threatening major protests and acts of civil disobedience to oppose the proposed closings, which won't be final until they're approved by the school board, expected to vote on May 22. The union says the underutilization crisis is “manufactured” and is meant to create chaos in the system, opening the door to privatization. Parents and teachers have challenged the district’s calculations of what constitutes “underutilization.” School officials have not produced any demographic projections, either for the city or the neighborhoods.
http://www.wbez.org/news/chicago-proposes-closing-53-elementary-schools-firing-staff-another-6-106202

[hack89]

15. They would still have to close schools

regardless of privatization - they have lost too many students. First it was white flight and now it the flight of the black middle class.

I don't know what the solution is but it is undeniable that they had too many empty seats - one estimate I saw said 100,000 empty seats.

[Divernan]

16. How about a link to "what you saw"? Perhaps a pm from Rahm?

And address the fact that 6 schools are NOT being closed but underhandedly being turned over to Rahm's favorite private operator.

[mopinko]

40. a great many schools are being closed because of the emptying out of public housing.

many really did need to be closed.

and as far as this- the time it took to cook an egg business, maybe the vote did, but the time from the start of the process was long enough to hatch and egg, grow a chicken, and when it started laying eggs, cook one of them.

i hope that they do a good job of repurposing these buildings. if rahm's previous efforts are any example, they will not be sold to the highest bidder, but to the highest purpose for an affordable price.

hate on haters. he is doing a lot of good things here, and doing them well.

[madfloridian]

43. He is destroying public education.

That is a fact.

[mopinko]

46. not sure how you destroy something that is already horrible.

stand around and do nothing, maybe. that's how it got horrible in the first place.

[Divernan]

44. Only 2% of Chicagoans strongly approve of the Rahmfather.

The phrase is "Rahmfather: The Best Mayor Money Can Buy."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/rahm-emanuel-approval-rat_n_2741939.html
"Good thing Rahm Emanuel isn't the sensitive type: A new poll indicates there is little love for the Chicago mayor, with just a measly two percent of Chicagoans "strongly" approving of the "Rahmfather." A new Crain's Chicago Business/Ipsos Illinois Poll out Thursday shows Emanuel's approval rating has tanked."

[Divernan]

45. Rahm's Napoleonic complex runs amuk w/grandiose $3 billion plans.

He's long been said to suffer from a Napoleonic complex- a colloquial term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. This term is also known as Napoleon syndrome, Short Man syndrome, Little Man syndrome and Small Man syndrome.

He's closing libraries, downgrading 911 services, slashing public schools, while simultaneously pushing for public-private partnerships with a $3 billion price tag. The more you look into what Rahm is pushing, the more it stinks. Instead of taking care of Chicago's people and neighborhoods, including tens of thousands of poor and struggling folks, he's planning pie in the sky civic projects which he can privatize. This requires him to gut the poorer parts of town.
So, here's the deal, as one person commented to this link:

"The mayor is proposing a massive $3 billion dollar business investment into the very same neighborhoods where he claims they MUST close untold numbers of schools due to an alleged 1 billion dollars CPS deficit?? Forget about your concert halls and beach trails, Mr. Mayor, and buy some books, libraries, counselors, more teachers for smaller classes, supplies, technology, updated buildings, and some working heat and air conditioning please!!!

"This plan is nothing more than gentrification and the disinvestment and ultimately displacement of low income communities of color. This mayor is a racist, classist, disgusting little man."

He wants "a permanent farmer's market to rival Seattle's Pike Place." He wants the country's longest urban bike trail: "The city also plans to install a protected bike lane along a 51-block stretch of State Street that would be the longest of its kind in the nation." (no cost estimate on that) Also a 1,200-foot-long “lakefront beach trail” between Hollywood and Thorndale at a cost of $4 million. He wants a permanent Gospel music venue to be touted as the New Harlem. He wants to draw tourists away from New York City and Las Vegas. Read the link to get the vast proportions of Rahm's ambitions. Here's a few:

"The mayor tells the Sun-Times the multi-billion-dollar price tag would be paid by private-sector and university projects, while the city would be on the hook for roughly $350 million via sources like federal, state, city land and transportation funds.
A “permanent farmer’s market” that could rival Seattle’s Pike’s Market. The nation’s longest protected bike lane. An Uptown Music District. A pedestrian bridge over Lake Shore Drive at 35th Street. An elevated, boardwalk bike trail at the Drive’s north end.

Those are just some of the ideas that could become a reality, thanks to a $3 billion plan that shows Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking Daniel Burnham’s, “make no small plans” mantra to heart. "Private-sector" investments or so-called "public-private partnerships" have long been interpreted as Emanuel's code for privatization, especially when hailed under the banner of cost-savings for the city.

"Chicago is reflective of the outsourcing that's been going on for years," Leonard Gilroy, director of government reform at the libertarian Reason Foundation said in a December Chicago Reader cover story on city privatization.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/18883658-418/mayors-strategic-vision-for-seven-neighborhoods.html

[marmar]

12. k/r

[Divernan]

17. Pew Charitable Trust disagrees with Rahm & Hack89. Oh!the effrontery of Pew!

Research is scant on the academic impact of school closings. But two studies—one in Chicago and one in an unnamed district in the Northeast—found that, in general, students displaced by closures do no better, and sometimes worse, in other traditional schools, in large part because they transfer to similarly low-performing campuses nearby.

Closing schools doesn't necessarily yield a financial windfall, because teachers often are shuffled to other schools and vacant school buildings are tough to unload, according to a 2011 study by Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia Research Initiative. "There is nothing easy about closing schools and it is extremely difficult to find productive uses for the buildings," said Emily Dowdall, a senior researcher at Pew.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=85899433986

[live love laugh]

19. I wonder who's going to be Chicago's next mayor? It won't be Emanuel. nt

[Divernan]

21. That's why he's jamming through this huge block of closings in one year.

It's politically expedient for his elite donors - and their ongoing contributions to whatever future campaigns Rahm plans for himself or other politicians he wishes to control.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-naison/erasing-history-in-chicago-and-other-places/10151363569306503?notif_t=note_tag
Prof. Mark Naison : One key component of this strategy is demographic inversion- moving the poor out of the center city into the periphery, where they will no longer be able to physically or politically threaten the global elites who will be working and playing in the redeveloped Center. This process is already well under way in cities like New York, Chicago, Washington and Milwaukee- with the result being that more poor people now live in suburbs than in cities...
... "Erasing History In Chicago and Other Places"

[lunasun]

27. They had a good and union backed candidate but Rahm won

[tritsofme]

35. Wanna bet? I say he wins in a walk

With President Obama's enthusiastic endorsement and appearance.

[Divernan]

20. Closings especially painful for special need students of color.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-21/opinion/chi-20130521-waitoller_briefs_1_black-students-closings-special-needs

The impacts will be felt in different ways by the more than 46,000 mostly black students who’ll be affected. But the action is likely to create a perfect storm in which students of color in special education - more than 2,300 pupils - are hardest hit.

The closings will require a close look at each such students’ Individualized Education Program to ensure that students' learning experiences aren't effected. This is a titanic task, as special education must not be provided in a generic way - per the Individual with Disabilities Education Act - but rather on individual bases. The rush to evaluate thousands of IEPs, communicate with thousands of parents, train teachers, and make sure adequate services are provided within a few months will make maintaining adequate special education difficult. Inclusion is a complex and time-consuming process demanding trust among school professionals, parents and students. Those efforts will be set back as students with special needs move to new schools.

Some classrooms are projected to be overcrowded as a result of the closings. Teachers could have too many pupils to serve the individual needs of students with disabilities, which may discourage IEP teams from placing students in general education classrooms. This would exacerbate a situation in which students of color are less likely to be included in general education than their white peers. While 60 percent of white special education students are included in general education classrooms for at least four-fifths of the day, that number drops to 45 percent among black students.

Moreover, students of color with disabilities are particularly affected by commuting through unsafe neighborhoods. An inability to pick up social cues, compulsive behaviors and low self-esteem put them at a higher risk of being the victims of, and participants in, acts of violence. CPS’ proposed safety plans have already been criticized for being generic. They’ll also pose more risks to students with special needs.

This combination of factors will make school closings doubly hard for students of color with special needs. The sheer magnitude and speed of these changes will be especially painful for what is already the school district’s most vulnerable population.

- Federico R. Waitoller, Department of Special Education, University of Illinois at Chicago

[madfloridian]

29. Good posts.

Thanks for sharing.

[Divernan]

22. Rahm's morally bankrupt move to cement economic inequality.

The Chicago School closings are part and parcel of a strategy for remaking the American metropolis as a center for spatial and economic transformations which will further cement economic inequality. One key component of this strategy is demographic inversion- moving the poor out of the center city into the periphery, where they will no longer be able to physically or politically threaten the global elites who will be working and playing in the redeveloped Center. This process is already well under way in cities like New York, Chicago, Washington and Milwaukee- with the result being that more poor people now live in suburbs than in cities- but for poor people who remain in cities, the elite's preferred strategy is intrusive, "stop and frisk" policing and the transformation of public schools into sites of draconian discipline where compliance and obedience are the preferred behaviors, strategies taken to the highest point of perfection by some of the nation's most celebrated charter schools.

Where do school closings fit in this elaborate strategy to scatter and neutralize the poor? Public schools in poor neighborhoods, even those whose test scores mark them as "failing," are important centers of community life, places where different generations of people interact and mark their connection to historical space. They contain memories of families raised, community arts forms celebrated, sports victories won, powerful friendships forged. If you ignore those experiences and reduce the school to its failures, you erase a communities history and make that community easier to divide and disperse.

Underlying School Closings is a world view which marks off residents of poor communities, not just the schools in them as failures, people who have to be dispersed, incarcerated, disciplined and divided for the Global Metropolis to prosper. It reveals the profound moral bankruptcy and cynicism pervading neo-liberal economic policies, whether they have a Democratic or Republican facade.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-naison/erasing-history-in-chicago-and-other-places/10151363569306503?notif_t=note_tag

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

25. Kicking and shame on those making bullshit excuses for this worhtless fuck of a mayor. nt

[Divernan]

36. Rahm's so indefensible, even the ususal PRO spinners are not posting.

I refer to those hard core "anyone or thing remotely connected to the Obama administration cannot be criticized" posters. And there's no denying that Rahm and Chicago are each just one degree of separation away from the President. Although Obama never sent his kids to the public schools - they went to the prestigious and very exclusive, private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

37. In my neighborhood they're closing good performing schools which are not

under populated by any means. But that's our fault. If us brown people had enough money to bribe this Joe Pesci character wannabe jerkoff. This wouldn't be happening. Sarcasm tag not needed.

[mopinko]

48. name names

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

63. I was thinking of Lorenz Brentano which had been put on the chopping block. But

today I found out it survived for now.

[mopinko]

64. see, this is the kind of thing that has exemplified the whole debate.

the schools that were "on the chopping block", even tho they never were. they fit the criteria for being underutilized. nobody ever said they were going to close them. except the rumor mongers.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

66. For one the massive pushback to save this school in particular

must've had something to do with. Because up until last month when it was profiled in Chicago Tonight the rumor mongers that they are) o it was scheduled to be closed. BTW how many schools are they closing in your neighborhood?

[mopinko]

70. i doubt it.

they pushed back at every school. and all across the city. prolly why brezard skipped out. he knew what was coming.
and shouldn't you be outraged that organized, well to do parents can save their school, but those who need it most aren't empowered to do that? (since you think that happened)

they didn't close any schools in my neighborhood. 3 met the criteria, but all had had recent large improvements, in fact one was only a few years old. all had something unique about them.
does that have something to do with something? aside from my being a lucky person to live where i live? where i chose to live so i could raise my kids around all sorts of people?
strength in diversity and all that.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

72. Sure it's probably wishful thinking on my part. The parents

protesting wouldn't have much of an effect on people like Mr Emanuel. But I was surprised at the amount of publicity the proposed closing of this school got. Which brings me to what the fuck are you talking about well to do parents? The people in that district are anything but. Still they felt more than empowered to defend their school.

No closings in your area? Good for you. That's great and it has a lot to do with your attitude. How many kids that you know are going to be affected by this? So who gives a shit, right?

Defend this jerkoff all you want. But the rest of us know who really has his ear when it comes to this city.

[mopinko]

73. i'm not defending him personally. if he moved in next to me, i would burn my own house down

to get out. he is a jerk.
but i think daley lost his taste for hard choices in about his second term, and things like this are left to clean up. i respect people who are willing to stand up, like he did, and say- i take the heat for this. but this needs to be done. nobody ever likes you when you make unpopular decisions like this- right or wrong-and it takes a jerk like rahm to say- i don't care. don't like me. i think this is right, and important, and i'm getting it done.

i've had to do that. i admire people who not only can do it, but who just jump right on to the next one.
i think it is long past time that somebody took ahold of this school system. i hope this doesn't become a poison grudge match to make it fail.
but this is chicago....

[lunasun]

28. future land grab imo close to the lake so disassemble communities as a start

Largest school closing in history and none on the north side ???
makes you want to go hmmm

Closing six community mental health clinics under the justification of a “budgetary crisis” but announced that the city will be handing over more than $100 million to DePaul University for a new basketball arena.... but it's OK DeP is on the N side........

[mopinko]

52. close to the lake?

huh?
http://www.wbez.org/news/chicago-proposes-closing-53-elementary-schools-firing-staff-another-6-106202

[lunasun]

59. see #58

[lunasun]

58. it wont happen over night and yes none are far from a lake/downtown in a large metropolitan area

Taxes are not high on the land now and property cheap all close to downtown and lake compared to far developing areas for business and residency
hey ever been by some of the area around what used to be cabrini green not that long ago?
That suddeenly became prime land as n. clybourn yupped up
and it had to go
bust out the minority community for the yups

"It's Time To Fight Back!" (words and music by Matt Farmer)

Nine times six
Fifty-four
Schools gettin' closed
Like never before

It's the most school closings
In history
But it ain't no
Scooby-Doo mystery

Gonna clear out
The neighborhood
Keep people movin' out
To Harvey and Maywood

Rippin' out
Community anchors
Push out the poor kids
Bring on the bankers

Where was Rahm
When the deal got done?
Out skiing
In the Utah sun

These are your schools, Chicago
And it's time to stand up

CHORUS
You've got to stand up
And show him who you are
It's time to fight back
Rahm has gone too far

Progressive poseur
Walkin' bulldozer
Union bustin'
Grade school closer

9.5
Landed a quick jab
South Side, West Side
It's a land grab

Lookin' for a tax base
Maybe a white face
All-out crisis
That he won't let go to waste

Runnin' schools
With the help of the fat cats
Treatin' poor kids
Like they were lab rats

These are your schools, Chicago
Tell 'em what to do, G

CHORUS
You've got to stand up
And show him who you are
It's time to fight back
Rahm has gone too far

Mad about the strike
So now he's strikin' back
Bully with a big stick
Hittin' the brown and black

Movin' kids
Like Monopoly pieces
Same old games
Class size increases

When you fight back
Rahm's like a rich dad
Tryin' to buy you off
With a brand new iPad

Air conditioning
For when you get hot
Got his fingers crossed
That you don't get shot

These are your schools, Chicago
Tell 'em what to do, G

CHORUS
You've got to stand up
And show him who you are
It's time to fight back
Rahm has gone too far

REPEAT CHORUS 3x





oh what about the west side cluster betwn the growing west loop and oak park along 290 you might say
Well still maybe 10-12 mi from lake at the farthest school in Austin
and oak park is close enough to still have the CTA lines

Oswego and Plainfield are not close to the lake or downtown for a business or residency imo
I guess it is a matter of one's perspective on what close is

[mopinko]

62. one's perspective, from here in chicago,

is that few of those schools are anything that anyone here would consider "near the lake". hell, not that many people consider me to live "near the lake", since it is a whole 8 blocks away.

and the land around cabrini was cleared out by the exit of manufacturing a decade before the buildings fell.

a few are in desirable locations. they will likely be adaptively re-used. in areas like the west side, well, after a few generations of rot, they will probably be knocked down.

[lunasun]

67. make that >ONE persons's perspective, from here in chicago ,....

Big diverse city - so each to his own

[mopinko]

69. we each don't get to decide how close we are to the lake.

dots on a map are what you would call a fact.

[SoCalDem]

38. Watch these addresses

I wonder how many of these "properties" will end up as gentrified condos..


Here is the list:

Altgeld Elementary School, 1340 W. 71st St.

Armstrong Elementary Math and Science, 5345 W. Congress Pkwy.

Attucks Elementary School, 5055 S. State St. (Closing will be delayed until 2015)

Banneker Elementary School, 6656 S. Normal Blvd.

Bethune Elementary School, 3030 W. Arthington St.

Bontemps Elementary School, 1241 W. 58th St.

Buckingham Special Education Center, 9207 S. Phillips Ave.

Calhoun North Elementary School, 2833 W. Adams St.

Canter Middle School, 4959 S. Blackstone Ave. (Closing will be delayed until 2014)

Delano Elementary School, 3937 W. Wilcox St.

Dumas Technology Academy Elementary School, 6650 S. Ellis Ave.

Roque De Duprey Elementary School, 2620 W. Hirsch St.

Emmet Elementary School, 5500 W. Madison St.

Fermi Elementary School, 1415 E. 70th St.

Garfield Park Prep Academy Elementary School, 3250 W. Monroe St.

Goldblatt Elementary School, 4257 W. Adams St.

Goodlow Elementary Magnet School, 2040 W. 62nd St.

Henson Elementary School, 1329 S. Avers Ave.

Herbert Elementary School, 2131 W. Monroe St.

Key Elementary School, 517 N. Parkside Ave.

King Elementary School, 740 S. Campbell Ave.

Kohn Elementary School, 10414 S. State St.

Lafayette Elementary School, 2714 W. August Blvd.

Lawrence Elementary School, 9928 S. Crandon Ave.

Marconi Elementary Community Academy, 230 N. Kolmar Ave..

May Elementary Community Academy, 512 S. Lavergne Ave.

Mayo Elementary School, 249 E. 37th Street

Morgan Elementary School, 8407 S. Kerfoot Ave.

Near North Elementary School, 739 N. Ada St.

Overton Elementary School, 221 E. 49th St.

Owens Elementary Community Academy, 12450 S. State St.

Paderewski Elementary Learning Academy, 2221 S. Lawndale Ave.

Parkman Elementary School, 245 W. 51st St.

Peabody Elementary School, 1444 W. August Blvd.

Pershing West Middle School, 3200 S. Calumet Ave.

Pope Elementary School, 1852 S. Albany Ave.

Ross Elementary School, 6059 S. Wabash Ave.

Ryerson Elementary School, 646 N. Lawndale Ave.

Sexton Elementary School, 6020 S. Langley Ave.

Songhai Elementary Learning Institute, 11725 S. Perry

Stewart Elementary School, 4525 N. Kenmore Ave.

Stockton Elementary School, 4420 N. Beacon St.

Trumbull Elementary School, 5200 N. Ashland Ave.

Von Humboldt Elementary School, 2620 W. Hirsch St.

West Pullman Elementary School, 11941 S. Parnell Ave.

Williams Middle Prep Academy, 2710 S. Dearborn St.

Williams Multiplex Elementary School, 2710 S. Dearborn St.

Woods Elementary Math & Science Academy, 6206 S. Racine Ave.

Yale Elementary School, 7025 S. Princeton Ave.

[madfloridian]

39. Or high-performing charter schools?

Leaving way too many to have to transport to schools far away from their old neighborhood schools.

Are those the addresses in Chicago?

[SoCalDem]

41. Yep.. You're right.. many will become charter

count on it

those were the addresses I found online.. google-map the addresses.. some look pretty nice

[mopinko]

51. it's the chicago school system. of course they are in chicago.

and mostly in the slums.

[lunasun]

68. Wow so people in poor communities are disposible or communities do not exist there in your mind

[mopinko]

71. the people are gone. that is the point that so many are missing. the kids are gone.

demographic shifts forced these closings. thousands of people that used to live in high rise housing don't anymore, because the buildings are gone. these buildings are empty. huge buildings operating for a few hundred kids.

and they aren't being thrown out of the school system. they are just going to a different school. if it is more than 1.5 miles from their house, they get a bus there.

communities exist there, sort of, but honestly, we are talking about neighborhoods that are still full of vacant lots from the riots in '68. people have moved on.

[sabrina 1]

55. Charter schools, run by some Corporation, maybe even a foreign Corporation.

The destruction of the Public School System continues unabated. Privatization of everything, that is the goal and Rahm is determined to push this Right Wing goal of many decades. Shame on him.

[mopinko]

49. bloody few. a couple of them in the next decade, maybe.

these schools are being closed because no one wants to raise kids anywhere near most of these locations. the few in danger of yuppification are so because that is who already lives in those neighborhoods. one and two kid families replacing double digit irish and polish catholics.

you don't know anything about these addresses, or this city, or the reason these changes are being made. you think you do, in your simple way. you don't. this post shows it for all to see.

[sabrina 1]

56. Then explain it to us. 'Slums' means 'poor' to me.

The best way to help the poor is to provide them with the opportunity for a good education. What is going to replace these schools, are should we deny the poor any education at all?

And what does this mean? one and two kid families replacing double digit irish and polish catholics.

Or this: you think you do, in your simple way. you don't.

[mopinko]

61. the city of chicago has gone through huge demographic shifts

over the last 40 years, including 20 years of tearing down hi-rise federal housing and displacing those residents both around the city and out to the suburbs, plus 30+ years of white flight to the suburbs on the kids 5th birthday.
a few new schools have been built in neighborhoods where families moved into new development as old industries left. almost no schools were closed. but many emptied out until they were at half their capacity.

all these things, and a whole lot more, including the cowardice of his predecessor, led up to this day. it is a million times more complicated than anyone here seems to grok.

so, your ??s-
most of those poor are already gone. they have schools were they went.
the second seems self-evident, but chicago has the same population trends as most places. families are getting smaller.

as for the last, reread para #1, and realize that lots of books have been written about those shifts and those attitudes, and why they happened. it is all anything but the simple discussions that i see here all day every day.

[sabrina 1]

50. Rahm Emmanuel, who does he really work for?

Thanks Madfloridian for everything you do to keep us informed about these issues. I hope someday soon, people like Rahm will be thrown out of office. He is a disgrace.

[AndyA]

54. Rahm works for whoever has the most to give him

He is a text book example of what is wrong with government in this country. Democrat In Name Only.

[AndyA]

53. Rahm Emanuel

DINO that stuffed government with lots of Blue Dog Democrats. Everything he touches seems to turn to shit.

Closing schools and clinics, but you can scrape together $100 million for a frickin' arena. Great job, Rahm. What an @SSHOLE.

[DirkGently]

57. Rahm's an absolute disgrace. (nt)

[madfloridian]

60. Indeed he is.

And he has no shame.