Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider talk here about school closings in Boston. Berkshire recently read sociologist Eve Ewing’s phenomenal book about school closings in Chicago, so the podcast approaches the Boston events from the perspective of the victims. If, like me, you seldom listen to podcasts, here is the transcript.
It is simply a matter of fact that corporate reformers never close schools in white communities, only in communities where parents are apparently powerless. The school closings serve the purposes of gentrification. The excuse is always “test scores,” but the effect is replacement of one group of people by another, more affluent group. It happened in Chicago, it will happen in Boston.
Boston plans to close schools serving some of the city’s most vulnerable students, so they can be redistributed to other schools. As the exchanges in the program show, these students will suffer from the changes and the displacement.
I urge you to listen or read this segment
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Actually, there are a group of people who see themselves as school reformers, who have closed rural schools, serving mostly or all white students. Over the last 20 years, as more research came out about the value of small public schools, greater resistance developed to school consolidation in rural communities.
A variety of research shows that
* Sometimes rural consolidation did, and sometimes it did not result in the financial savings that had been projected as a purpose for consolidation.
* Sometimes achievement (as measured by test scores and or graduation rates improved after consolidation, and sometimes it did not.
Here’s a link to a publication that reviews some of this research.
Click to access Dollars_and_Sense.pdf
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That is an irrelevant point. Schools close when towns and communities are depopulated.
That is entirely different from closing well-loved urban schools because their test scores are low, then turning the building over to a private corporation so it can open a charter school and select the students it wants.
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Diane, I am responding to the comment that “It is simply a matter of fact that corporate reformers never close schools in white communities, only in communities where parents are apparently powerless. ”
Having spent a lot of time in rural communities, I’ve learned that there is huge resentment about school consolidations there – and that many who live in rural America blame corporate interests for consolidation pf their schools. These folks also are ‘well loved” in many cases.
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Sorry I meant these “rural schools also are well loved.”
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Jim Crow….
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There’s been what seems to be a real upsurge in charter parents objecting to the constant opening/closing chaos in Detroit.
They have had it with experiments on their kids, based on the videos I’ve seen. I thought it was interesting that they manage to get heard despite the private boards and lack of transparency.
Apparently no one gave them the memo that “choice” is intended to replace “voice” – they seem to be demanding some kind of coherent, rational system of public schools instead of the ridiculous gimmicky “disruption” ed reform lifted from the CEO’s they admire.
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Posted at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Have-You-Heard–Jennifer-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Corporate_Podcast_School-Reform-181122-27.html
with a comment that links to your search field on school closings.
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Congrats to you, Jennifer, Jack, and especially the McCormack teachers who highlighted the deficiencies of the initial plan, and advocated for a different approach. And congrats to BPS for listening and learning:
“BPS changes plans for McCormack Students”
“For members of the McCormack school community, this latest development brings hope that in navigating the challenges that lay ahead as the school prepares to close, perhaps the voices of those most impacted by the decision will finally be heard.
“‘The shift [by the BPS] is really in recognizing that a school is not just a school building, but a community of people,” said Avashia. “You can’t do change to people, you have to engage them in that change.””
https://www.baystatebanner.com/2018/11/28/bps-changes-plans-for-mccormack-students/
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