Boston School Committee approves expanded closure plan

[Joanne98]

An angry overflow audience of around 700 students, parents, teachers and other school staff witnessed the unanimous vote of the Boston School Committee last Wednesday in favor of an expanded school closure program aimed at offsetting a $63 million deficit in next year’s budget.

The December 15 meeting followed a now well-established pattern. An extended period of so-called “public comment,” lasting several hours, was used to allow the audience to let off steam, while having no impact on the committee who had already made their decision long before the meeting was held.

Throughout the summer and fall, Boston Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson claimed to be listening to the concerns of “the communities” while pressing ahead with the initial proposal to close five schools and transform a sixth into a charter school. At a series of public meetings, attempts were made to justify the closure program as “reforms” aimed at improving eduction throughout the city. The plan was titled “Redesign and Reinvest: Our path to academic success” in an attempt to hide its real aim―a fundamental attack on public education.

At meeting after meeting, angry parents respectfully asked the school committee to take account of the unique qualities of the facilities slated for closure. The response from the overpaid automatons on the platform was to not only proceed with the five school closures, but to almost double the number of schools slated to close. The delayed announcement of the additional schools was a deliberate ploy to divide opponents and prevent a city-wide mobilization against the closures. The expanded list was revealed just two weeks prior to the scheduled vote.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/bost-d21.shtml

We need to start keeping track of what happens to the empty schools. We KNOW the secret plan of the conservative filth is to auction off school properties to the corporate schools and then force us to pay taxes to them when they open them back up. They'll try to sneak this by and do it really really quietly so we have to pay attention.

[MedicalAdmin]

1. Another scam - they will buy the old buildings on the cheap ...

and then lease them back to the schools once they reopen them. Included in that lease price will be money for "reasonable improvements."

If the DOJ and the courts and the cops won't do anything about this, then the people need to. Find 'em and fry 'em, I say.