City Room™ - Education - Protesters Vow to Keep Fighting School Closings

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City RoomTM Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff

Protesters Vow to Keep Fighting School Closings
Produced by Linda Lutton on Thursday, February 26, 2009

Protest signs get a rest outside CPS central offices at 125 S. Clark St.

Sixteen Chicago Public Schools will be closed or revamped at the end of this school year. The Chicago Board of Education unanimously approved the plan yesterday.

The district says 12 of the schools are under-enrolled and 4 are performing poorly. Those four will see their entire staff dismissed.

Activist teacher Jackson Potter vowed that the coalition of parents, community groups and teachers opposed to the closings will keep fighting.

POTTER: We will continue on the legislative front, we’ve got a legal strategy, we will continue our pickets….We will not let up.

A bill making its way through the Illinois General Assembly would place a moratorium on school closings, and could affect those voted on yesterday.

The district says it can save on average nearly $1.9 million over five years on every elementary school it closes or consolidates.

After the vote, the board immediately turned over management of three of the four poorly performing schools to a nonprofit teacher training group.

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