Karen Lewis reacts to Chicago school board’s decision:

Karen Lewis Reaction to Chicago Board of Education’s Vote to Close the Largest
Number of Schools in an Urban School District in U.S. History

CHICAGO – Today, Chicago Teachers Union Karen Lewis released the following statement on the largest school closings in U.S. history:
“Today is a day of mourning for the children of Chicago. Their education has been hijacked by an unrepresentative, unelected corporate school board, acting at the behest of a mayor who has no vision for improving the education of our children. Closing schools is not an education plan. It is a scorched earth policy. Evidence shows that the underutilization crisis has been manufactured. Their own evidence also shows the school district will not garner any significant savings from closing these schools.

“This is bad governance. CPS has consistently undermined school communities and sabotaged teachers and parents. Their actions have had a horrible domino effect. More than 40,000 students will lose at least three to six months of learning because of the Board’s actions. Because many of them will now have to travel into new neighborhoods to continue their schooling, some will be victims of bullying, physical assault and other forms of violence. Board members are wishing for a world that does not exist and have ignored the reality of the world we live in today. Who on the Board will be held responsible? Who at City Hall will be held responsible?

“Members of the Board of Education, the school CEO, the mayor and their corporate backers are on the wrong side of history. History will judge them for the tragedy they have inflicted upon our students; and it will not be kind.

“Our fight for education justice has now moved to the courts, but it must eventually move to the ballot box. The parents are amazing leaders in their school communities and because of this administration’s actions we have all become closer and more united. We must resist this neoliberal savagery masquerading as school reform. We must resist racism in all of its forms as well as the escalating attacks on the working –class and the poor. Our movement will continue.”

Susan Spicka is a public school parent in Central Pennsylvania and a strong advocate for high-quality public education. She wrote this post after her daughters finished their NINTH days of state testing in elementary school. The sentence that bowled me over was when she said her fifth grade daughter was crying for fear that if she didn’t do well, her school might not meet AYP. Why should this burden be placed on the backs of little children? Should they be afraid that their poor performance will cause their teachers to be fired and their school to be closed? There is a touch of sadism in these federal policies, as well as child abuse.