Chicago is on the verge of becoming a failed city. Gun violence is still on the rise in the streets, the city's governement is crippled by a massive budget deficit and not even the educational system is on solid footing. On Wednesday, Chicago's Board of Education voted to shut down 50 public schools in the third largest district in the nation. The decision will result in the largest public school closure in U.S. history.
Via The Huffington Post:
The Chicago Board of Education voted Wednesday to close fifty Chicago Public schools, one of them delayed a year, in the nation's third-largest district making it the largest single wave of planned public school closures in U.S. history.
After the vote, few schools were spared from the list of 54 schools originally proposed for closure.
A handful of schools — Leif Ericson, Marcus Garvey, George Manierre and Mahalia Jackson — got an eleventh-hour reprieve ahead of the vote after CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett withdrew her recommendations to close the four schools, while delaying the closure of one school — Canter Leadership Academy — for one year and tabling the turnaround of one other school — Clara Barton Elementary, the Tribune reports.
"History will judge them for the tragedy they have inflicted upon our students; and it will not be kind," Chicago Teacher's Union President Karen Lewis said.
Ahead of the closing vote, Byrd-Bennett said, "Like it or not, the system does have to change," ABC Chicago reports. Borrowing a favorite refrain from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, she emphasized, "We can no longer embrace status quo because the status quo is not working for all of Chicago's children."
