From a reader:
“I live in Chicago, and one of the 50 neighborhood schools slated to close is an excellent school named Miriam Canter Middle School. I like to think I came into the process with an open mind– I’m not averse to school closing, if necessary–but I was so disgusted with the town hall meeting that I made a very short video concerning the process. I would appreciate it if you reposted the video on your blog.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Irami Osei-Frimpong”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is exactly what happens in NYC Panel for Education Policy meetings. Teachers, parents and students come to beg that their school does not get closed or co-located, then Bloomberg’s eight appointees (on the 13 member “panel”) vote to close or co-locate the school.
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Thank you for posting this. This is outrageous and immoral. 30 is an ideal class size? That is an absolute disgrace. If you want success in an urban middle school do not even think about academic classes over 25.
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I continue to await a detailed plan by any of the NYC mayoral candidates for how to lower class sizes to 25, or 22, or anything in particular. Chicago could use a plan like that, too. Anyway, no one seems interested in producing such a plan. My conclusion is that they’re no more serious about lowering class sizes than Bloomberg or Emanuel. I’m sure that privately they all acknowledge they have no idea how it could be done.
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“Violent”: that is exactly right, it is exactly what these school closings are. And I couldn’t agree more that there is insufficient discussion of the community revolving about these schools.
Many many years ago I heard a friend burst with emotion in response to a news item declaring that a government that was busy creating refugees was a government busy declaring war; he was articulating the notion that uprooting families was tantamount to declaring war. I was a little surprised by the contention, and especially the vehemence with which it was expressed. But I have thought long and hard about this: it is true. Given that most people want nothing more than to live in peace in their communities, growing, raising and educating their kids and hanging around with friends and families, when this idyll is disrupted, this is tantamount to declaring war. It is as violent an act as they come.
What have the people of Chicago (and elsewhere) done to warrant that their own government declare war on them?
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If the public would actually fund the urban elementary schools, help the students who need assistance with food and general academic readiness, and keep the classes at a low size of 10-15, it would help alleviate the social, attendance, and academic problems that exist there. Then by the time they reach middle school, they would have the confidence and interest needed to actually want to be in school. At that point, the class sizes could rise. As it is, it “feels to me” like there is no real intent to help bring equity to those who need the skills to compete. So, we continue to segregate and punish those who have less means of getting a leg up in this society. It is a continuation of attitudes in the 1950s.
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The corporate sponsors of charter and other “schools” are destroying the schools which are the centers of the community. When the center is gone, it will be much easier to scoop up the surrounding properties for development. We are seeing this attempt in East Los Angeles as well.
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30 students per teacher is ideal? 36 is acceptable? Only to someone who has never taught, or been a student in such a large class!
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Pretty common in Utah, actually, and probably in many other states as well. I have TWO classes of 35. It’s certainly NOT ideal OR acceptable!
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I have 30 children in my Kindergarten classroom this year. Up from 20 the past years. I was told by administration it’s because Kindergarten children don’t take the standardized tests and they’ll be in smaller classes next year.
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This was a great piece of communication on the real problems with these school closings in Chicago with a good look at one school. Thanks for putting up this video. Video is very powerful at communicating. This one certainly does not hurt the argument against school closings and the crazy unthought out methodology used by CPS in what seems like a manner to cause the most pain for no reason. What are they doing with the money. Has anyone taken a real look at their financials such as the preliminary and audited actuals for several years back in a row as that is the only way you know what is going on. There is no other provable methodology as no money, no programs. Where does it go and in what amounts is it allocated for what reason is what it is all about. By doing that I found that LAUSD budgeted and did not spend for 10 years $250,000,000 or $2.5 billion that was interfund transferred to who knows where. This is how it works. If you do not have the real budgets and know what you are doing you will never be able to beat them as it is all about the money and power to them not education. “Follow the Money.”
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I just did a quick look at Chicago Public Schools Budget. They have about $5.1 billion in total revenue with about 400,000 students for a revenue/student of $12,750/student. They spend about 70% of their revenue on employees. I did not see benefits as a separate subject at what I looked at. Normal here is about 85% of the budget is on employees wages and benefits. LAUSD has about $10,700/student. I saw a lot of money in outside vendors and reliance on stimulus money being stated in their loss section when they knew that was unstable money and is over $250 million. There is lots of fat there I surmise. This is from only 5 minutes. Think of what some time by a CPA would find with some trained helpers. We do that here and we generally come real close to the same answer and we do this to make sure.
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Thanks for taking the time to watch the video. I wish I could research every one of the 50 schools slated to close in Chicago. I was naive enough to assume that the city administration had done just this. When I found out that the city had just applied a vulgar formula– counting bodies in a room, without even duly considering the way special education classrooms influence the calculation– I realized that these closings had very little to do with education or even the purported aim of balancing the budget. And when I saw that the city rode over the elected local school councils, without even asking the local school councils if the formula made sense given the particular way Canter serves as a neighborhood anchor, I realized that this was both dysfunctional and a horrible model of governance on whom this is imposed.
I haven’t studied all 50 schools, but I have studied this one, and Canter is neither “underutilized” nor failing its students. Closing Canter punishes students and teachers for investing in their education. Please, if you have a moment, send the video around your circles: post it on Facebook, tweet it, “like” it on youtube, and join the facebook group to save this school:
https://www.facebook.com/SaveCanterMiddleSchool
Sincerely,
Irami
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Irami,
You are not alone.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” -F. Douglas
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that’s a powerful video with a simple message– and is just unbelievable. As I watched, at about the 4 minute mark, it became clear why that particular school is being closed– it is successful as a traditional public school, which if you are trying to impose “alternative models” cannot be taken as good news. So this explains why a perfectly good, successful, thriving school in CHI is being closed down. Twisted logic but in a way, given the motivations pf the deciders, it makes a sick kind of sense. Truly tragic and this film makes it all too clear. Thank you for making it Irami
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