The mass closing of public schools in Chicago should be the lead story on every news channel tonight. It is not. The fact is that a dozen years of No Child Left Behind and three-plus years of Race to the Top has persuaded the American public that closing schools is “reform.”
It is not.
It is a dereliction of responsibility. It is an abdication of any oath of office that a public official in this country takes. It is a betrayal of any commitment to equality of educational opportunity. It is a capitulation to corporate interests. I wish I could be in Chicago on March 27 to stand with the teachers, parents, and students who have been abandoned by Rahm Emanuel and all those who carry out his shameful orders to close neighborhood public schools.
Here is the statement of Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union:
CHICAGO –The Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the following at a news conference regarding proposed school closings:
“We are standing here today in the beautiful Mahaila Jackson elementary school in our city’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. This school was named for one of the greatest gospel singers in our nation’s history, a woman who sang at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s funeral, a woman who was instrumental in our Civil Rights struggle. Unfortunately, we are gathered here today not to talk about this pioneer or even about how this school does an outstanding job of providing a great learning community for some of our special needs students. We are standing here because this school, along with scores of others, has been targeted for closure by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago Public School district….
“Closing 50 of our neighborhood schools is outrageous and no society that claims to care anything about its children can sit back and allow this to happen to them. There is no way people of conscious will stand by and allow these people to shut down nearly a third of our school district without putting up a fight. Most of these campuses are in the Black community. Since 2001 88% of students impacted by CPS School Actions are African-American. And this is by design.
“Closing 50 schools is not grand or glorious. This is nothing to celebrate or marvel.
“These actions unnecessarily expose our students to gang violence, turf wars and peer-to-peer conflict. Some of our students have been seriously injured as a result of school closings. One died. Putting thousands of small children in harm’s way is not laudatory.
“There is no safety plan. There is no transportation plan. The city has already raised CTA fares and now they expect parents to put their five-year-old on a crowded city bus in order for them to get to school, when they used to be able to walk to a school in their neighborhood. The way this is being done is an insult and it is disrespectful.
“The CTU is the bargaining unit for 30,000 of the district’s employees SEIU and Unite HERE represent thousands more. Yet CPS did not feel obligated to brief any of us in advance of today’s announcements. Instead, they called a few aldermen last night and then summoned principals this morning at 6:00 a.m. to spring the news on them. They had no consideration for their employees or our students—at all. They have no regard for our parents. They do not care about the children of their employees, many of whom also attend our public schools.
“I also find it extremely cowardly for the Mayor’s administration to announce these actions while he is vacationing out of town. They are also making this announcement days before people are headed into spring break. CPS has spun our entire district into utter chaos, a management model perfected on Clark Street where they are headquartered.
“This city cannot destroy that many schools at one time; and, we contend that no school should be closed in the city of Chicago. These actions will not only put our students’ safety and academics careers at risk but also further destabilize our neighborhoods.
“This is why we intend to rally, united and strong, on Wednesday, March 27 to send a signal that we are sick and tired of being bullied and betrayed. Some of us are going to put our bodies on the line—because a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And when we declare the victory, some of us will sit back and sing the lines of one of Mahaila Jackson’s songs—How I Got Over.
“Rahm Emanuel has become the ‘murder mayor.’ He is murdering public services. Murdering our ability to maintain public sector jobs and now he has set his sights on our public schools. But we have news for him: We don’t intend to die. This is not Detroit. We are the city of big shoulders and so we intend to put up a fight. We don’t know if we can win, but if you don’t fight, you will never win at all.
“The people of this city can no longer sit back and allow this mayor, his school board and his corporate cronies to run rough-shod over democracy. They’ve turned their backs on affordable housing; turned their backs on job creation; and, now they’re turning their backs on our students, their families and our schools. We are tired of playing their school reform games. But who are the winners and losers? Who made the rules? And what do they keep telling the losers to keep them playing their games?
“We do not have a utilization crisis. What we have is a credibility crisis. CPS continues to peddle half-truths, lies and misinformation in order to justify its campaign to wipe out our schools and carry out this corporate-driven school reform nonsense. CPS continues to peddle an ‘underutilization myth’ and ‘billion dollar deficit lie’ as justification for their actions. When research and the facts prove them wrong they simply reconfigure their talking points in order to further perpetrate their sham and to keep us playing their school reform games.
“For the past several weeks there has been a resounding cry against school actions from parents, students, educators and community stakeholders. The Mayor and the CEO have ignored these petitions for justice at these hearings and apparently have not listened to single word that was said. Parents have been direct, loud and clear. Students have been loud and clear. Principals have been loud and clear. Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians have been loud and clear: DO NOT CLOSE OUR SCHOOLS! GIVE US THE RESOURCES WE NEED, RIGHT NOW, TO SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS AND GIVE THEM THE EDUCATION THEY DESERVE.
“Enough with the lies and public deception: School closings will not save money and taxpayers will not see costs benefits in two years. Why? Because vibrant school communities will be quickly transformed into abandon buildings, neighborhood eyesores and public safety hazards.
“This is the mayor’s 25% solution. Yet, who will be held accountable when one of our students is harmed as a result of these policy decisions? And, who will be the ones to ensure justice is served?”
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The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU’s website at http://www.ctunet.com.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s time to take this fight to the federal government. It’s obvious our state legislatures have turned against public education. If the people we elect don’t support our neighborhood schools, they should be turned out. Obama needs to get involved. Under his watch public schools have been marginalized and segregated. Arne Duncan never knew what he was doing and needs to step down. These schools should not be closed and teachers, parents and students have to agressive try to prevent this.
No offense to you, Paula, but, as others below this comment say (& it bears repeating until posters on this blog & other STOP commenting about Obama!)–forget about Obama & Duncan.
Everything we do to save public ed. MUST be local, where we’re at & grassroots. All of the communities who have taken action thus far
have affected change–Garfield H.S., L.A. (school bd. elections), Chicago (CTU CORE). Stand up where you are so you don’t fall!
School mpolicy is controlled by local politicians and yhe Govenor.
John, In Chicago, which has been a mayoral controlled city for 18 years and has never had an elected school board, when the mayor wants to take draconian actions, he gets the state legislators to enact new laws of his choosing. Our School Code is replete with different regulations for Chicago than for all other districts in the state, as indicated by the designation “cities with populations over 500.000” (there is only one city that size in IL)
Obama and Duncan are the very people responsible for exporting the school closure policies from Chicago and thrusting them on the nation, so you’re never going to see anything but support for that model from them.
All of these people are his friends. Hmmm…What kind of support will he give? We must begin real dialog about what is going on with public education beginning with Washington.
DITTO-DITTO-DITTO-DITTO
I really had faith in Obama…What is he doing?
STOP with the Obama comments–a truly LOST cause! Act locally to make a change.
Yes, Diane, cheap marketing feeds from and grows on ignorance! They perpetuate each other. EA
http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/the-in-box-i-was-told-my-school-was-slated-for-turn-around-and-was-provided-a-list-of-free-mental-health-services/
I disagree on one thing… Duncan knows exactly what he’s doing, as do Emanuel and Obama.
Agreed!
from the 2009 Annual Report of the Broad Foundation (Page 5):
“The election of President Barack Obama and his appointment of Arne Duncan, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, as the U.S. secretary of education, marked the pinnacle of hope for our work in education reform. In many ways, we feel the stars have finally aligned. With an agenda that echoes our decade of investments—charter schools, performance pay for teachers, accountability, expanded learning time and national standards—the Obama administration is poised to cultivate and bring to fruition the seeds we and other reformers have planted.”
“Who is Eli Broad and why is he trying to destroy public education?”
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net
Reading The Shock Doctrine might shed some light on Eli Broad et. al.: privatization, free markets, and smaller government. Sound familiar?
Right, Dincan knows exactly what he is doing and so does Obama.
Now we are talking real talk. Thanks for speaking the truth!
I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for Obama to get involved. He’s still looking for a comfortable pair of walking shoes. Who do you think bankrolled his reelection? It begins with Wall and rhymes with Sheet.
Karen, you and your cohorts are the leaders in preserving unions and the right for employees to negotiate today. It is like the last 100+ years did not happen. This is the result of students not really being taught history since Reagan and Bennett in about 1985. I want to thank all at the Chicago Teachers Union for being, seemingly, the only “Real” teachers union of a large school district in the U.S. Please do not stop what you are doing.
Also, when you look at the true history of Barack and Michelle Obama yes they were community organizers but really of what. That is never stated. Both made a lot of reputation and money from privatization of Chicago Public Schools. Barack since 1995 until he ran for the U.S. Senate was president of the Chicago Annenberg Foundation for Chicago Public Schools and all he really did is privatization. Michelle was one of Daley’s $100,000 club, she made $132,000 helping him with privatization.
Now look at what all that privatization has brought Chicago with most of your assets sold off for 99 years to private hedge funds and now they are sueing the hell out of the city on these stupid deals like the parking meters and parking garages.
We must also let people know that the “community organizer’s” political mentor, Valerie Jarrett was instrumental in the destruction and privatization of public housing in Chicago.
Obama is The Great Impostor, chosen to divide and ultimately destroy the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and sever it from its New Deal/Great Society roots.
Yes, most of his policies are vile.
There is virtually nothing progressive about him. At least with the GOP, who I oppose, you know basically what you’re getting.
With Obama, one needs to really read between the lines, read up on his agenda closely, and ALWAYS pay attention to not just what he is saying, but what he is not saying.
The great irony there is that one of the most famous high rise housing projects that was torn down in Chicago, the Robert Taylor Homes. was named after Jarrett’s grandfather, a former civic leader and Chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority.
Neo-liberals are so different from traditional liberal Democrats that it’s surprising they have any relation to the Democratic party at all. And yet, they have completely taken over the party.
A new Progressive political party that firmly supports labor needs to be established by marginalized liberal Democrats, in order to rally the 99% against the corporate tyranny that now dominates both the Republican and Democratic parties. (And that should happen like yesterday!)
It seems as though we are fast reaching a crossroads.
And our leaders are choosing the Road to Nowhere.
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-road-not-taken/
I am so sorry to hear what is happening to community schools in Chicago. The same thing is happening in southern Illinois but more so because of massive state budget cuts.
I am beside myself with the pain that Governor Quinn’s education budget proposal has caused in Illinois schools this spring. Schools were already struggling and many were in deficit spending. My daughter’s school, Dodds Grade School, in Mt. Vernon IL has been cut beyond the bone. Tuesday night they let go of three tenured teachers. The school was already having to double up on some classes and could no longer departmentalize their 6-8th grade classes as they did when my sons attended. My daughter’s teacher has taught for 27 years and she received a RIF notice. Aide positions were also cut. Our nice community school is dying. The culture and climate of the school has suffered beyond what anyone can imagine. Community schools hold the answers to many of our problems in society when they are fully funded and staffed. All of the students are known. They get the help and services they need. Parents are invited to come into the school for many functions and they become partners with the school in the process of education for their children. The children have opportunities that don’t exist when they are bused far away from their neighborhood school. It may look great on paper to disband these schools, but for society it is extremely detrimental. When I search the internet for stories on Illinois state budget cuts in education, hardly anything comes up. The local papers run a story or two, but it just doesn’t seem to matter. That is why I admire Karen Lewis and Diane Ravitch for being such strong voices for public education. I want to join their army!
Anne, you’ve been drafted! we need every voice we can in this revolution!
Find like-minded parents & community members where you live & fight this. Recruit retired teachers to help (especially if actives can be fired) WHERE YOU LIVE. Get together (organize, don’t agonize!)–sit in at board meetings, picket at schools, write letters to local papers (try as hard as you can to get media coverage-someone must know someone who knows someone). It CAN be done–there’s a great group of people (a lot of retired teachers) in Rockford,IL, who formed W.E.E. (Watchdogs for Ethics in Education). This group was very much responsible for the ousting of Rockford’s horrendous Broad superintendent. Yes, YOU can!
DITTO….
RETIRED TEACHERS CAN’T BE FIRED….THEY ARE MORE THAN WILLING TO HELP….THEIR IS A GROUP THAT MEETS IN MY HOMETOWN WITH THE LOCAL LAWYERS.
STILL IN ITS INFANCY…WILL BE HEARING FROM THEM IN THE NEAR FUTURE!
“The same thing is happening in southern Illinois but more so because of massive state budget cuts.”
Don’t believe the budget cuts lies – at the same time they’re “cutting the budget” they’re giving massive tax breaks and other goodies to all their corporate cronies and rich friends. There is no budget crisis – it’s a robbery crisis.
Just look at closed school names: Attucks, Banneker, Bethune, Garvey, King.. That says it all http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cps-school-closings-20130321,0,2802079.htmlpage
When the segregated Attucks school in St. Louis (Clayton) closed, it was 1954 and a new day for public education, integration, civil rights. I don’t think closing the Attucks School in Chicago will be deemed the same.
Think: The Hunger Games, 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New Wirld, and The Giver
It is all I think about. It feels like we have all wandered into a nightmare that is taking a very long time to wake up from – if we ever do.
I am a Detroit teacher and I am ashamed of what many of my members have allowed to happened to us. Shame on us! Ms. Lewis you are correct, we have allowed the powers to roll us over. However, we keep drinking the drink thinking better days are coming.
Please don’t become a Detroit. Stand and be the voice for the voiceless. Many in Detroit are watching and praying that Chicago do not become us. What a leader you are!
Ms. Lewis Please come to Detroit. We are dying because of a lack of leadership.
Help!
Karen Lewis is inspiring.
Yes she is! & I’ve been wanting to say, I like your new picture, Harlan!
I also wanted to add this Margaret Mead quote (forgotten, but found, again, on Miss Katie’s Ramblings {thanks, Katie!}), “A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
We will change the world, but we are in for a decade-long, hard fight.
Change-“Yes”-always
These Powers that Be think that people will stand by and watch as they trample the life out of our schools, our children, our communities, our towns, our cities, our counties, our states, and our country..They are so wrong..
Please, someone in the loop needs to bring a lawsuit or two and do it fast. Bring it all the way to the Supreme Court if needs be. Get people involved, get mad! Saturate the social media. Educate the masses.
LAWSUITS must be in the plan….
Read the NY letter to the parents. It is child abuse to the fullest extent!
Parents do not know what to do as they are left in the dark and this is done for a reason. The school districts that TEST out of their noses do not want parent involvement of any kind…
Diane, you used to argue that “underperforming” schools should be closed. Would you acknowledge that you also played some part in “persuading the American public that closing schools is ‘reform'”?
Fierper, I don’t recall ever arguing that “underperforming” schools should be closed. If I did, I was wrong. But I would be grateful if you would send me a citation.
You tie it to school choice and marketplace demand in this Times op-ed (penultimate paragraph below), but it’s closely connected with performance.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/01/opinion/let-our-schools-hire-and-fire-teachers.html
The school system does not need more centralization or decentralization. It needs a new vision. Here are some elements of such a vision:
Every school should control its own budget and personnel. It should have the power to select its own teachers, remove the incompetents (using due process), purchase its own supplies, employ contractors for minor repairs and hire its own catering service.
Except for capital budgets for new buildings, educational dollars should go directly to each school, based on the number of students enrolled, with extra dollars for students who are disadvantaged or disabled.
Every school should have a performance contract that clearly defines its goals for student achievement. Each school’s performance goals would be based on its pupils’ progress from year to year.
Every school should be managed by a council of parents and staff, by an experienced principal, by groups of teachers or by an organization (a university, a union) prepared to be accountable for student performance and fiscal integrity.
Every school should be rigorously audited for educational and fiscal performance.
The schools chancellor and the central board should set academic standards, administer citywide tests, sign performance contracts with every school and replace the managements of schools that fail to meet their own performance goals. The chancellor should have the power to close schools that consistently fail or engage in corrupt practices.
The central authorities should support the establishment of a wide range of schools, including single-sex schools, back-to-basics schools, progressive schools or anything else qualified educators wish to offer.
Parents ought to be able to send their children to the school of their choice, basing their decision on accessible, accurate information. Schools that no one wants to attend should be closed.
The neediest students should get scholarships to attend any accredited school, including religious schools. These changes would join responsibility and accountability in each school. They would encourage parent participation and provide diverse schools. They would focus on improving student performance instead of compliance with the regulations. Taken together, these changes would point the way to a school systems that educates all of New York City’s children, not someday, but now.
My mistake, you tie it both to academic performance (4th paragraph from the bottom) as well as marketplace demand (penultimate paragraph).
Fierper,
That article was published in 1995. As you may or may not know, I wrote a book explaining why I was wrong and detailing the evolution of my views, and how I responded to evidence. Why don’t you read it?
Yes, as I recall it, the 1990s were the decade when education reform, connected to school choice, accountability, and standards-based testing became a serious mainstream force. This was the groundwork for what followed.
I read your book, but it’s been a while. I recall your account of your disenchantment with market-based reforms generally, and NCLB/RTTT particularly, but I don’t remember anything about school closures, or any comparisons of what the evidence used to say versus what it now says. Re: evidence, was there a lot of evidence in the mid-1990s that competition through school choice and performance-based school accountability would improve schools? Evidence that later changed? Why I recall — and as you note, it’s been a long time — is that a lot of people argued in response that there was no evidence that these approaches would work, and that they were in fact part of privatization agendas. Is it that the evidence changed or that you began to understand consequences that you didn’t understand before?
And do you feel bad about the reforms you used to advocate? I’m not trying o be snide. It’s something I’ve always wondered and I feel I really don’t know one way or the other.
“Every school should control its own budget and personnel. It should have the power to select its own teachers,”
“Except for capital budgets for new buildings, educational dollars should go directly to each school, based on the number of students enrolled, with extra dollars for students who are disadvantaged or disabled.”
Have any public school districts ever tried this?
TC: In Chicago, schools were decentralized in the 88 and ever since, they have had local school councils and the principals hire teachers instead of them being assigned by the central office.
TC, See info about Local School Councils in Chicago here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_School_Councils
Flerper, For most of my career, I strongly disagreed with Diane on virtually all education issues. Then, a couple years ago, I ran into a favorable review of Diane’s last book that was written on the blog of a former college acquaintance of mine and I was intrigued to learn that Diane had changed perspectives. So I checked into it and saw that Diane was on Twitter and I decided to follow her there –and then on to this blog shortly after she started it.
I often run into Diane’s previous writings and wonder if she still thinks the same things now, so I can understand your curiosity. Most of the time though, I realize that what she wrote then is incompatible with what she writes today, so I have not pressed her on such matters.
Having personally experienced the “reform” tides over the past 40+ years of my career, I know that there were a lot of forces behind them and that Diane was one voice among many. So, I hold no ill-will toward her and I don’t feel that she is responsible for the hot mess we are in now. I’m very grateful that Diane has realized that the policies she previously promulgated are not in the best interests of children, teachers, schools, families and communities, and that today she is actively leading a national campaign to counteract them.
On the other hand, you have taken an in-your-face approach, repeatedly throwing Diane’s previous quotes up at her and asking about her part in the “reform” movement. I find that to be very rude, especially when you are here in Diane’s “living room”.
Clearly, Diane is all about making things right today. That should be enough mea culpa. Please stop confronting her about her past positions and start showing some respect for a very wise elder who has learned a lot from her life experiences. (2nd request)
I worked at one of the CPS schools that is going to be closed and, contrary to the administrative determination, it is not an “underutilized” school.
The school is truly an anchor in the community. Many teachers have worked there so long that their students today are the children of their former students, The teachers have devoted their entire careers to that school, to that community, and now they are losing their livelihoods. Their hearts are broken. This is all so utterly senseless.
As I recently commented in another blog, this “underutilized” garbage came up as we people wised up with the “standardized” (Pear$on tests: NEITHER valid nor reliable, THUS NOT standardized–thanks Todd Farley!) test scores making schools “underperforming.” So, now, they’ve tried another trick–schools are “underutilized.”
Won’t work–we won’t be fooled. To quote Karen Lewis once again,
“We are not Detroit. We are the city of big shoulders and we intend to fight.”
Yeah, the City Council seemed to get that Rahm should not be claiming to be closing schools based on “underutilization” while encouraging the opening of new charter schools at the same time, because they filed a resolution demanding a moratorium on charter expansion for the next school year They also stated that “the Board should adopt a policy that prohibits any charter expansion when neighborhood schools are being closed.”
Murdoch, Bloomberg, Gates, Broad et al. have a play book! They are steamrolling ahead so fast it is purposeful. Seems like we are constantly on the defensive. Not a good way to play a game. They’ve hit Philly, Chicago, Michigan,LA, …. Who is next? What if anything can be done to stop it? What district is safe? Many teachers still think this is another initiative that will just go away. ???
jaded, sorry this is not going away. The Big Boys have picked up steam!
Welcome to my world of the new school ‘reform’. I am from Detroit and we are still in shock of being run over by the train. In 2-3 years, we will become New Orleans with only 6-7 public schools. Sad and shameful that our so-called leaders are all silent on the destruction of public education.
Is this the result of No Child Left Behind? If so, why not get the federal law repealed.?Also, how does race factor into the mix? Another problem I’ve noticed is the American public doesn’t really understand what public unions are all about because the Republican party wants other Americans to hate them. We need for Karen Lewis and the CPS teachers to do a PR campaign to explain the true facts on teaching in American public schools.
Oops! I made a few mistakes in my original post.
Is this the result of No Child Left Behind? If so, why not get the federal law repealed?Also, how does race factor into the mix? Another problem I’ve noticed is that the American public doesn’t understand what public unions are all about. Most Americans think the strike was only for more pay and benefits. Thus, it was translated to CPS Teacher Union members are a bunch lazy and selfish Americans. They are now going to to rip off the American taxpayers of Illinois. The Republican Party wants to divide Americans between union vs. non-union citizens. We need for Karen Lewis and the CPS teachers to do a PR campaign to explain the true facts on teaching in American public schools.
Thank you Ms. Lewis for standing up against big business and special interest groups whose agenda is to destroy public education. The media has been brought and sold many $$$$’s ago.