The Chicago Teachers Union doesn’t want Chicago’s public schools to end up like Detroit’s. The group posted a photo of an abandoned Detroit school to its Facebook page with the caption: “Tell Barbara Byrd-Bennett: THIS IS NOT DETROIT!”
Barbara Byrd-Bennett aided the closing of several Detroit schools while serving as chief academic and accountability manager for Detroit Public Schools. She became CEO of CPS in October last year. By December, she and CPS officials announced nearly 300 underutilized schools were eligible for shutdown.
Parents, teachers and local leaders became intensely vocal in their discontent–due in part to the Chicago Teachers Union’s campaign to inform communities about the closings.
The common argument: Too many of the listed schools are in minority, low-income neighborhoods, and community members say they don’t want–can’t have–these schools closed. Critics also fear the closings hint at attempts to privatize public schools.
The community outrage prompted CPS to trim the list to 129 schools. But opponents are still not satisfied and have less than a month to plead their cases. March 31 is CPS’ deadline to prepare a final list of schools to close–four days after the teachers union plans to “shut down the city” in protest.
Chicago Public Schools leaders,on the other hand, say the closing are needed. The schools are deteriorating, are poorly enrolled and adding to the city’s debt.
