VIDEO: Community Feedback to CPS: Zero School Closings
Hundreds of parents and teachers attended a meeting about school closures for the Ravenswood-Ridge network and refused to hear presentations by CPS officials.
A public meeting on school closures got so heated that a principal and dozens of students decided to leave Truman College on Monday night.
More than 200 hundred parents were shouting ‘Save our Schools” and “No School Closings, preventing Chicago Public Schools officials from speaking, ABC Chicago reports.
The meeting was the first of two rounds held by the Commission on School Utilization, organized by CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett to research school closings.
CPS officials were supposed to present metrics on schools in the Ravenswood-Ridge network which includes Bell, Chappell, Coonley, McPherson, Ravenswood, Waters, Budlong, Audubon and Blaine, among others.
The angry parents and teachers wouldn’t let officials speak, and some teachers refused to participate in the breakout sessions, DNAinfo reports.
"It was a disaster tonight," Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey told ABC Chicago.
Independent facilitators ran the meeting, which ‘set parameters’ for the press at certain points. Opening presentations were open to the media, but the breakout sessions run by the facilitators were closed. Reporters were allowed a one-minute walk-through for observation.
Updated: CPS officials released a statement Wednesday night that showed appreciation to participants:
"We thank the hundreds of community members that came out tonight to engage CPS around our District's utilization crisis, which is stretching our limited resources much too thin and depriving schools of the supports they need to provide all children with the well-rounded education they deserve."
The next meeting for the Ravenswood-Ridge network is Feb. 16, where officials said they’d name specific schools considered for closure. CPS has a March 31 deadline to list all schools on the chopping block.
Byrd-Bennett said high schools and high-performing schools are off-limits for closure discussions.
The Chicago Tribune reported Jan. 23 that fewer schools were in danger of closure than originally projected.
Early estimates showed more than 100 schools on the chopping block. The committee has now said fewer than 50 schools could be closed. That number could also shrink to 15 because of logistical problems with shifting teachers and students.
However, CPS officials said at Wednesday’s board meeting they did have the resources necessary to close a large amount of schools.
The proposal for school closings stems from a $1 billion budget deficit and a drop in the CPS student population over the past decade. The schools are serving 403,000 students with the capacity for 511,000, according to a CPS release.
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Read more:
- CPS to Answer School Closure Questions in February
- Fewer Schools Headed For Closure, Source Says
- Local School Closing Plans Detailed in CPS Document
This story has been updated with more information and video.
PJS
11:58 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Has a community meeting about anything ever gone "well"?
NJG
10:28 am on Monday, February 4, 2013
"The proposal for school closings stems from a $1 billion budget deficit and a drop in the CPS student population over the past decade. The schools are serving 403,000 students with the capacity for 511,000, according to a CPS release."
Except that last year CPS claimed about a $1 billion deficit, yet when the end-of-year Audited Financial Report came out, they had a $500 million surplus. It's funny how every time CPS wants to screw parent, students and teachers they have a "deficit" that magically disappears. Not ha ha funny, smelling funny. Here's the CTU press release on the topic: http://www.ctunet.com/blog/extra-extra-the-curious-tale-of-the-cps-press-release-budget
They also claim that they have "511,000 seats" for 403,000 students. Yet, I have reviewed guidelines for school utilization that say 80% is the optimal ratio of students to "seats." It certainly does not consitute a "crisis."
The drop in CPS student student has been about 5% over the past decade. That does not justify closing 15% of our schools. CPS keeps saying that the school-age population in Chicago has dropped 145,000 kids. However, the percent of school-age kids enrolled in CPS has risen dramatically. So the drop in actual enrollment has been small. These people keep on lying...
Charlie Garrido
5:59 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
CPS and the Mayor are simply attempting to privatize the public schools. The charter schools are neither better or cheaper than the public schools once adjusted for the fact that they do NOT take in all students and can expel troubled students. Lastly the billion deficit is due the back payments to the pension that CPS has NOT paid for over ten years.