Dyett High School in Chicago closed but members of the local community are continuing a hunger strike to demand that it reopen as a district-run neighborhood high school.
Blogger Fred Klonsky says it is a scandal that the media in Chicago have ignored the community’s fight to save Dyett.
He quotes at length from an article that appears in “In These Times” that explains the reasons for the protest and its goals.
“The high school has long been in the process of closing. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced in 2012 that Dyett would be “phased out,” meaning after 2012 no new students would be admitted, as a result of low test scores, and the building would be closed when the last class graduated.
“Three years later, Dyett’s doors are now closed. But the fight to reopen the school is heating up. On Monday, August 17, 12 parents and neighborhood activists began a hunger strike, under the banner of the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School, to demand that CPS make a decision on the future of the school and reopen it as a district-run, open-enrollment, neighborhood school that would allow all students to attend regardless of grades.”
What exactly is the point of closing so many schools, so many of which were the heart of their local community?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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Now if Randi showed up with Hillary, this “could” show that they really care for blacks and parents and children and “social justice”, outside of FB soundbites.
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Amen.
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Don’t hold your breath…
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It’s come down to this! Horrors.
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I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that a hunger strike for more charters would get greater media attention.
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Why not have a teach in at the building? Do some underground organizing, pick a day for a takeover, start teaching. Press might get it when cops are called out.
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Dyett parents and the community have made their CHOICE very clear, and they have a detailed plan to put it in place as well, so why are Rahm and his appointed board not acknowledging and supporting their choice? Do they not believe in real choice? Can parents only choose from (rubber stamp) what the “reformers” have decided that they can choose from? THAT is the blatant lie of the sales pitch of “choice”. CALL OUT RAHM AND CPS FOR THEIR HYPOCRISY! Call Rahm’s office at 312-744-3300
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I was reading a piece from one of the strikers. She can no longer live in the neighborhood as the neighborhood is being gentrified. When the public housing was torn down it was not replaced with housing stock for the former residents, and those who could afford to stay are slowly being driven out as rents are raised. closing the only open enrollment public high school is the last step in destroying the neighborhood. The city is slowly driving low income residents out. Eventually, they will have to reverse their policy requiring city workers to live in the city. Only the six figure managers will be able to afford it.
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Here’s the link http://edushyster.com/in-chicago-hunger-striking-to-save-a-school/
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Thank you.
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I want to support these courageous people. I just gave money and I can fast tomorrow. I will call the phone number for Mayor Rahm. What else can I do?
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They can’t eat money. Call Randi.
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Randi is already showing up there today.
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Who is Randi??
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Randi Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers union. See her Aug. 26 speech of support to the hunger strikers here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr8XbM78GSo
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You ask: What exactly is the point of closing so many schools, so many of which were the heart of their local community? How’s this for an answer? Real estate has a dollar value. Children do not. Close these schools and you destabilize the surrounding neighborhood, where families have remained because of the schools. Soon (or eventually) they will move away, leaving the area clear for ‘redevelopment’ and ‘investment’.
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Dyett parents and the community have made their CHOICE very clear, and they have a detailed plan to put it in place as well, so why are Rahm and his appointed board not acknowledging and supporting their choice? Do they not believe in real choice? Can parents only choose from (rubber stamp) what the “reformers” have decided that they can choose from? THAT is the blatant lie of the sales pitch of “choice”. CALL OUT RAHM AND CPS FOR THEIR HYPOCRISY! Call Rahm’s office at 312-744-3300
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I continue to be shocked at how little publicity this is getting. Dyett is just one school of the many, but it represents the many. I did fast today, which is nothing compared to the ten days these community leaders have suffered.
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Montana teacher, be sure to read the post about Dyett this morning, at 11 am EST
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