Julie Vassilatos writes about the latest School closing by Chicago Public Schools. It is a heart-breaking story.
The school closing is a real estate deal, she believes. It’s about gentrification, not education.
“Presto change-o, remove the public housing and the mostly-black grade school from the neighborhood, bring in a not-mostly-black high school, and watch the property values go up, up, up.
“These kinds of moves are the reason behind the twitter hashtags #RahmHatesUs and #RahmDoesntCareAboutBlackPeople. Outrageous claims, I bet you’re thinking. But the folks tweeting these hashtags know that actions speak louder than words. And Rahm’s actions via CPS in this new round of school closures tell of a man who will push his agenda no matter how many people it harms, no matter how obviously racist it looks.
“CEO Janice Jackson was not in attendance at last week’s NTA closure hearing. Neither was anyone at all from the board. The mayor wasn’t there. There was a man with a presentation, however, one man, Chip Johnson from the FACE office. He chided the crowd to be respectful this evening, and not carry on in a rowdy fashion like last time. He listened impassively to the 50+ speakers given two minutes each, never taking a note, never answering a question, positioning himself as a neutral party but very much committed to the CPS plan. This entire proceeding transported me back instantaneously to the fall and winter of 2012/13’s terrible school closing hearings, and I was glad I went up to the balcony to watch because I knew that I would probably get emotional or inappropriate or both.
“Because these events are an exercise in awfulness. Listening to one little child after another beg–someone (which public official listens to these things, again?)–to keep open the school they love, occasionally through tears, is something only a masochist can willingly do over and over. Which is maybe why no one from CPS leadership ever shows up.
“Seven children spoke, some as young as first grade. I can’t even imagine the poise of a six-year-old who takes the mic in a cavernous church sanctuary in front of a few hundred people, but I think it has much to do with the bravery that comes from despair. These little ones all love their school and wanted to tell Chip Johnson so. They spoke of their love for teachers and school family, the building, the staff, their classes. One child knew that the reason they were taking his school was that it was a good building with good things. One child knew that the reason they were taking her school was that they could. And one middle-school aged fellow who spoke of NTA’s caring staff had to pause 3 times in order not to cry. That was my cue to start weeping openly up in the balcony.”
It is no longer novel. No one listens to the parents or the children. They are the ones being removed.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for calling our attention to this fine piece. Those interested might like to follow the twitter accounts of @CTU and @ILRaiseYourHand.
From the Hyde Park Reporter 24/1: students from the four high schools slated for closure marched to the UofC Lab School yesterday, in hopes of receiving a tour of the renowned school where the mayor of Chicago sends his own children. They were turned away by police: “A University Police representative told the group that the school had no further comment.”
See http://hpherald.com/2018/01/24/high-school-students-parents-education-activists-stage-action-u-c-lab-school/
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A really unconsionable action, with fans of “disruptive innovation” cheering this on, no doubt. Follow the money.
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You can bet they would listen to a rich person who spoke. No one has ever listened to poverty. But all revolutions a have started with bread riots. Wait for the fire.
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This meeting is a theater piece to give the illusion of democratic process without being legitimately democratic Rahm has sent his henchman to yawn and stretch and go through the process, but the meeting is meaningless, except for the people that care about their public school. They are the designated losers while the developers and politicians ready their wrecking balls. Who needs due process when there’s money to be made?
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This is different in detail but similar in the general sense to when Alvarez and Marsal and then Mayor Francis Slay closed the high performing Waring magnet school in 2003 in St Louis to put up a university sports arena.
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It is heartbreaking. Nobody puts any effort into making these lives any better. I’m so tired of the hate that never ends. I worked as a sub in subcenter South in Chicago. Lots of those schools needed repairs and the teachers’ parking lots were despicable. Rahm and his wealthy co-horts can do a lot better than this.
They are lives and they do matter.
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With democrats like Rahm Emmanuel, who needs republicans? Sheesh….
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